U.S., Israel seal telecom export agreement

   The United States and Israel on Monday signed an agreement to ease burdens on U.S. companies, especially smaller manufacturers, seeking to export telecommunications products to Israel, while maintaining the United States’ high technical standards and facilitating cross-border trade.
   Under the Mutual Recognition Agreement between the Government of the United States and the Government of Israel for Conformity Assessment of Telecommunications Equipment, Israeli regulatory authorities will now accept tests that recognized U.S. laboratories perform to determine the conformity of telecommunications equipment with Israeli technical requirements, rather than requiring additional testing by Israeli laboratories, before American products can be sold in Israel.
   The agreement also allows for the United States and Israel to agree in the future to accept equipment certifications from recognized conformity assessment bodies in the United States and Israel on a mutual basis.
   “This agreement will save American manufacturers money and time. It will facilitate trade by allowing for product testing and certification only once, in the United States, prior to exporting the product to Israel,” said Deputy United States Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro in a statement.
   The agreement will enter into force after the United States and Israel both complete all internal legal requirements.
   Israel is considered an important trading partner to the United States. In 2011, two-way trade between the countries totaled over $31 billion.