Files
Abstract
The Israeli agricultural sector enjoys a far-reaching exemption from antitrust
regulation. The exemption includes farmers and wholesalers of agricultural
products and enables restrictive arrangements, which may reduce
competition. A comparative analysis of antitrust regulation in Israel, the
European Union and the United States shows that the exemption in Israel is
relatively narrow with regard to the products included but much wider with
regard to the exempted firms. There are economic arguments which support
exempting farmers and farmers' associations from the prohibition of
restrictive arrangements to enable cooperation in production, marketing,
promotion and research, but the exemption of wholesalers of agricultural
products could not be justified on the grounds of economic efficiency.