Jerusalem — The Jerusalem District Court ruled that the state is not in violation of the franchise agreement between Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) and the government, and that the issue does not require the involvement of an arbitrator as requested by ICL. The court said ICL’s remedy is to petition Israel’s Supreme Court. In its interim report, the committee recommended imposing a 42 percent tax on what were deemed excess profits on mineral production, and a uniform 5 percent royalty rate on all minerals beginning in 2017. The committee said this would guarantee ICL an 11 percent return. A final committee report is due out in a few months, and will be followed by government approval and then passage of a law by the Knesset. In the meantime, ICL has frozen investments in Israel and plans to shut down Dead Sea Magnesium and scale back bromine operations.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain