The number of applications for marketing licenses submitted by Israeli defense companies and defense product exporters fell by 20% in 2015, according to figures released today by the Defense Export Controls Agency (DECA) in the Ministry of Defense. These are applications submitted to DECA for scrutiny even before the defense companies or arms dealers offer defense products to foreign customers.
According to DECA's figures, some 40,000 applications were submitted to it last year for selling defense products to about 190 countries. DECA explains the decline in the number of marketing applications by the Ministry of Defense's decision to expand the list of countries in which non-classified defense products can be marketed without obtaining a license in advance. There are 98 countries on this list. 40% of the applications for marketing licenses submitted last year concerned non-classified products. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense received about 9,000 applications last year for export licenses for defense products, representing a rise of 17% over the number of applications of this kind received in 2014.
According to DECA head Col. (res.) Dubi Lavi, this rise reflects the policy of the Ministry of Defense of encouraging defense exports from Israel and expanding them to additional markets. Israel's defense exports totalled $5.7 billion in 2015.
DECA's figures show that 176 instances of suspicion of a breach of the Defense Exports Control Law were investigated in 2015, but only in eleven cases was evidence found indicating that an offense had indeed been committed. Fines totalling NIS 2.8 million were imposed on companies found in breach of the law, and since the law came into force in 2007 the fines imposed total NIS 14 million. "The Israeli companies are disciplined and make efforts to act lawfully. Some of the instances that were investigated and found to involve a breach of the law occurred inadvertently. There was one case dealt with on the criminal level last year, but the State Prosecutor decided to transfer it to be dealt with on the administrative level," Lavi said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 20, 2016
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