Jackets on Sweltering Summer Days Might Soon Be The Norm, If an Indian Inventor Gets His Way.

An Indian inventor is developing clothes which keep the wearer comfortable in extreme temperatures.

Kranthi Kiran Vistakula started with a jacket and is now applying his idea to shoes, scarves and even dinner plates.

The clothes use Peltier light-weight plastic plates with a thermo electric device.

The device is powered by rechargeable batteries which can be topped up by vehicles or even solar panels. They can last up to eight hours on one charge.

Mr Vistakula works with an enthusiastic young team in an isolated building near Hyderabad city, the capital of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Outside, the summer temperature is more than 40C. But Mr Vistakula looks as comfortable as if he is in a cool climate.

He is wearing a state of the art ClimaWare-jacket based on his own patented technology.

Continue reading the main story

Thermal layers

The jacket works by
 controlling the electric
current into the layers of the
 heat sink (3) and the cooler
(5) which changes the
temperature for the wearer

A Peltier plate consists of a junction between two metals. When an electric current passes through the junction, metal on one side heats up and on the other side it cools down, he explains.

The climate-controlled jacket, which weighs a little more than 1kg, has been successfully tested by the Indian army in Siachen glacier where temperatures are as low as -40C in winter.

Mr Vistakula's company, Dhama Innovations, is now developing a range of other products using the same technology.

"We have also developed shoes and they have been immensely liked by the army personnel in Siachen glacier," he says.

Frostbite is a big problem for the army and the shoes have really helped, he said.

Jacket for cows

Mr Vistakula is now setting up a manufacturing facility near Hyderabad for the mass production of his products, which include jackets, shoes, scarves, gloves and ear muffs.

He is even considering a special jacket for cows.

"Basically when the cow is cooled, it gives more milk in summer," he explained. "So we're working on a jacket like that - a huge one."

Mr Vistakula says he started to develop the idea when he moved from his home city of Hyderabad to study engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of technology.

The difference in temperature came as a shock to him.

His first attempt weighed about 5kgs and had wires and fans. Everybody joked that he looked like a bomber. Then he started using Peltier plates.

There may also be a medical application for the technology. The team is working on a product called Haemosave which can freeze blood oozing out of a wound.

It is described as a potential life saver. It uses cryo or ice therapy to stop the blood flow and contract the blood vessels.

Other medical products include knee, neck wraps and elbow wraps. These devices can go instantly from 0C to 50C and help in controlling pain.

Article source: BBC

What Motivates Big Companies to Help Small Companies; Are they Altruistic?

One question frequently comes up when The Agenda discusses the recent story about how the employees of Boston Beer Company sometimes spend hours helping small companies tackle the myriad problems of managing and building a business.

The question is this: Don't those employees have enough to do in their own jobs? Shouldn't they be solving Boston Beer's problems?

Companies that borrow money through the Brewing the American Dream program, which Boston Beer runs in partnership with a microlender, Accion, are presented with an extraordinary opportunity.

They often get media exposure, and Boston Beer goes to some length to provide market opportunities, too. Not only does it sometimes become one of its borrowers' biggest customers, it often works with them to develop new products based on its brews. Carlene O'Garro, for example, incorporated Boston Beer's seasonal Harvest Pumpkin Ale in a pumpkin bread.

Most important, though, is the intensive, hands-on mentoring that Boston Beer employees undertake. As we described in the story, one staff member helped Ms. O'Garro, a nascent entrepreneur, figure out how to price her products for Whole Foods by actually going to Whole Foods and studying the competition. Then that employee, Mike Cramer, wrote a spreadsheet to report his findings. "Mike has spent hours with me," Ms. O'Garro said.

So what exactly is in it for Boston Beer, besides good publicity and possibly good karma? The motives of Jim Koch, founder and chief executive, aren't wholly altruistic. As a law and business school student at Harvard in the 1970s, Mr. Koch wrote a paper arguing that companies that are more socially responsible earn higher profits.

"If you're the only person who benefits from your success, you're not going to have very much of it," Mr. Koch said in an interview. "If more people benefit from your success, you're probably going to have more of it."

Plus, he said his employees' often-extensive work with borrowers can have a direct impact on his company as well. "Brewing the American Dream is a way to expose our people to what it's like to be a very small company struggling to survive," he said. "Because that is essentially our situation."

With close to $600 million in sales, Boston Beer is hardly a small business. But its competitors are multinational giants dozens of times larger. "Inside the company, it seems much more stable," he said, "but from the larger picture it's not. We are always on the edge of survival. When you're one percent of the market, dominated by people with global scale, you've got to keep that spirit alive."

All of which raises other interesting questions: At what point is a small business big enough to stop worrying about its own survival? When should it start to give back to its community?

What are your thoughts?

Aticle source: NBC

Some Economist Claim Advertisements have a Bad Effect on the Economy.

It’s impossible to escape advertising. Truck ads on billboards, beer ads on television, pop-up ads for credit cards on the Internet. It’s everywhere. Last year, U.S. companies spent about $144 billion on commercials and other forms of marketing—about 1 percent of the GDP. So what effect do all these ads have on the economy?

Economists have been debating this topic for a century now, and a couple of broad camps have formed. Many argue that ads are ultimately beneficial, giving people more information about products and boosting competition. Others suggest that ads are essentially a psychological ploy, persuading people to buy things they wouldn’t otherwise want or need. And a few economists, notably Arthur Pigou, have argued that there’s too much advertising in the world, with rival companies merely bludgeoning each other to a standstill.

So which view is correct? Over at VoxEU, Ferdinand Rauch of the University of Oxford describes a fascinating natural experiment he studied to shed light on this question. It turns out that many camps are correct. Advertising does appear to make some products cheaper on the whole—presumably because the ads are informative. But for other products like alcohol or restaurants, ads do seem to persuade people to buy more than they otherwise would.

In his recent paper (pdf), Rauch examined Austria, which has eight regions that all once taxed advertising at different rates. Then, in 2000, the central government stepped in to harmonize this tax across the entire country, setting it at a flat 5 percent. That meant the advertising tax went up in some regions and down in others.

This change, Rauch notes, had an immediate and large impact on the amount of advertising in each region. In other words, an ad tax really does discourage ads.

The change in advertising seemed to have a noticeable impact on consumer prices in Austria. In some areas, prices actually went up as the amount of advertising on these products increased. That suggests that the ads were convincing people to buy more of these products than they otherwise would. 

But in other areas, such as food and education, prices went down as more ads appeared. This seems to suggest that ads were giving people better information about products and allowing them to make more discerning choices. (Indeed, Rauch found that the types of ads in industries where prices went down tended to be more informative.) 

Now, obviously in many areas ads are both informative and persuasive, in which case it’s difficult to untangle the effect on prices. But on the whole, Rauch found that advertising tends to lower consumer prices across the board. If Austria’s 5 percent tax on ads were repealed entirely, he estimated, consumer prices would decrease about 0.25 percentage points on average—though it would vary from industry to industry.

This isn’t a totally theoretical argument. Over the years, a few U.S. states have considered taxing ads. The Florida legislature passed such a tax in 1987, though it was repealed six months later after an outcry. In 2006, Pennsylvania mulled a 6 percent sales tax on advertising. And France has occasionally flirted with the idea.

The merits of this idea depend a lot on whether advertising does more harm than good. And, as economist Timothy Taylor sums up, “Advertising may be that rare case where economists are less cynical than the general public.”

Article Source: Washington Post 

Optimistic Report on Economy: Consumer Confidence in November Highest in 4 and a Half Years.

Today readers will be exposed to another one of these boring reports of numbers and percentages on economic improvement. Yet being the optimistic nature of this report; it's worth reading it. The following is today's report from Reuters:

(Reuters) - Consumer confidence rose to a four-and-a-half-year high in November as consumers became more optimistic about the outlook for the economy, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 73.7 up from an upwardly revised 73.1 the month before, its highest since February 2008. Economists had expected a reading of 73.0, according to a Reuters poll.

October was originally reported as 72.2.

"Over the past few months, consumers have grown increasingly more upbeat about the current and expected state of the job market, and this turnaround in sentiment is helping to boost confidence," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.

The expectations index rose to 85.1 from 84.0, while the present situation index edged slightly lower to 56.6 from 56.7.

Consumers' labor market assessment was little changed in November. The "jobs hard to get" index was flat at 38.8 percent, while the "jobs plentiful" rose to 11.2 percent from 10.4 percent.

Article source: reuters.com 

Bored of that Song? New App Keeps Music Fans Listening; Songs Always Different.

Since the advent of digital music we’ve seen a number of artists trying to offer something different to their fans. Last year we saw Bluebrain release The National Mall, a location-aware album that aimed to hand control over to the consumer. In a similar way, UK musician Gwilym Gold’s Tender Metal is a downloadable piece that mutates each time the listener plays it.

The album is being released solely for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to take advantage of software called Bronze, which has been developed by Gold and producer Lexxx. When using the app, the components of the tracks of Tender Metal are seamlessly and subtly reconfigured each time they are played, meaning that each listening experience is different from the last. Users can choose to loop tracks in order to hear it constantly shift, or shake the phone to ‘regenerate’ the piece from its current permutation. The album is available to buy for GBP 8.99 on the App Store.

The innovation allows for endless reinterpretations of the music without it being performed live, ultimately offering a more immersible experience for fans. How else could musicians set themselves apart in the market?

Article source: springwise.com

Study Finds: People Pursuing Childhood Dream Jobs More Likely to Find Pleasure in Job.

For children, it's up there with picking out a dollhouse and stuffed animals -- answering the question, what do you want to be when you grow up? 

Over the course of your life, the answer to 'What is your dream job?' is something that changes as you confront reality, and practicality.

But according to a new study released Thursday by LinkedIn, roughly 1 in 3 adult professionals (30 percent) say that they have their childhood dream jobs or work in related careers. (No specific age range was mentioned by LinkedIn in the survey.) The online professional network surveyed 8,000 adult professionals from across the world for the study. (LinkedIn counts a total of 187 million members, which it says makes it the world's largest professional network.)

"Childhood dream jobs are pure; it's about what we have a natural inclination for," Nicole Williams, LinkedIn's career expert, said in an interview. "The dream jobs we aspire to as children are a window into our passions and talents."

So what were the top dream jobs for today's professionals back when they were kids?

For American men:

1. Professional or Olympic athlete (8.2 percent of survey respondents).
3. Airplane or helicopter pilot (6.8 percent).
3. Scientist (6.8 percent).
4. Lawyer (5.9 percent).
5. Astronaut (5 percent).

For American women:

1. Teacher (11.4 percent).
2 Veterinarian (9 percent).
3. Writer, journalist or novelist (8.1 percent).
4. Doctor, nurse or emergency medical technician (7.1 percent).
5. Singer (7.1 percent).

So how do people define their dream jobs? The vast majority -- 70 percent -- of those surveyed defined the "childhood dream job" as "taking pleasure in your work." Just 6 percent said it meant making a lot of money.

According to Williams, the childhood dream job is an issue many professionals never really let go of, and in fact, try and return to their passion as they advance in their careers. "I've met a lot of people at their 40th birthday and who say, 'I am not doing what I want to do.' "

So what do you do if you want to transition into your dream job? Williams had three tips:

1. Track down someone doing your dream job. Even well into professional life, it's possible to have a "warped perception" of what a childhood dream job is, Williams says. So it's important to find out what living a certain job is really like, to see if you really want to move forward. She said that she recalled one woman who gave up everything to become a baker, but wasn't thrilled when she had to start waking up at 4 a.m.

2. Immerse yourself in the community. Another way to find out if your childhood dream job is really everything you actually dreamed it would be is to gain some direct exposure in the field. Every field has career groups that are joining. They can also help provide a path toward joining a field. "Dip your toe in," Williams says.

3. Figure out the connection to your current job. "Oftentimes, we are attracted to what we are innately capable of, so don't presume the job you currently have isn't connected" to your dream job, Williams says. When people go for their "childhood dream job," they often think they have to make a "clean break," but oftentimes the impulse to "wipe away that old experience" is really not necessary, Williams says. "You don't want to start from scratch."

What was your childhood dream job?

Article Source:  aol.com

How Losers Get Hired in Today's Tough Economy - See the overlooked truth.

There's nothing more frustrating than watching a loser get hired or promoted when there are far better candidates around, not least of all, us. Sadly, that sort of thing happens all the time. And the cost in terms of time, training and organizational effectiveness is higher than most managers realize.

While every manager hires the occasional weak employee, some definitely make a habit of it. On the flip-side, I bet plenty of us have been on the other end of that equation, although it's safe to say that none of us would like to admit it. Still, it is a sobering thought.

In any case, we'd all like to believe that staffing a company unit or group and finding the right job is more of a science than an art. In reality, it's neither. It's actually a complex and subjective process with a lot of variables. It's so error prone, and for so many reasons, that in some ways it's remarkable that the right person ever gets hired at all.

It's a lot like dating, when you think about it. And how often do we get that right? So when it comes to job matchmaking, why are our hit rates so poor? And aside from whining and complaining and beating our heads against the wall, what can we do to improve the situation?

Assuming we're all smart people with our hearts more or less in the right place, understanding the primary reasons why we so often hire the wrong people -- or are the wrong people ourselves -- should go a long way to helping us avoid that fate. Here are my top seven, in no particular order.

We reach for the stars. It's human nature. Poet Robert Browning said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp," and you know what? He was right. You set your sights too high and go for it. Sometimes it works and you pull off a minor miracle. The rest of the time, you get to lower the bar and do it again -- and again, until you get it right. That's a heavy price to pay, no matter which side of the equation you're on.

Garbage in, garbage out. Hiring managers and recruiters are forever throwing generic or poorly thought-out job specifications together. Why? They don't know what they're doing, don't see it as a priority or any number of reasons. In any case, the result's the same: garbage in, garbage out. Then they wonder why none of their hires work out.

Hiring managers don't know how to interview. Most managers don't have a clue how to interview candidates and choose the right one. They either ask generic softball questions or ridiculously arcane ones that don't do any good. When you combine that with candidates not knowing what they're really cut out for or shooting for the moon, it really is surprising the right person ever gets hired at all.

Everyone's desperate. And everyone's in a rush. "We need someone in here yesterday." "Find someone now before we lose the requisition." And of course people are desperate for work. I can't fault people for needing a job, but I assume every manager has heard the expression, "There's never enough time to do it right, but there's always plenty of time to do it over." Do it right the first time.

Our priorities are screwed up. Most managers simply don't give the hiring and recruiting process the priority it deserves because that's not their primary function. They see it as a burden, a pain in the neck. As a result of that and their all-too-common desperation to get somebody onboard ASAP, they go through the motions and make concessions they shouldn't.

The "Peter principle." News flash: There are an awful lot of incompetent and dysfunctional managers out there. And in accordance with the Peter principle, they tend to hire equally incompetent and dysfunctional employees. After all, fools are easy to fool. And the higher up they are, the more pronounced the ripple effect down through the organization.

Bad recruiting. There are stellar recruiters, terrible recruiters and everything in between. As with all things involving people, the fat part of the bell curve is made up entirely of imperfect human beings. They make mistakes. Some make lots of them. The solution: Vet your recruiters more carefully than you would anyone else for the simple reason that, if you don't, it'll have a ripple effect and you can end up with an entire organization of losers. 

Article Source: MoneyWatch

The Biggest Energy Leak and Draft Causer in Homes - You might have missed this one.

Have you caulked windows and  replaced weather stripping on your doors? Good for you. But if you think you’ve sealed up air leaks, you’re in for a shock. The biggest air leak in your home is right under your nose. Or, underfoot, more accurately.

It’s the hole that a plumber cuts in the subfloor to make room for the drain assembly at the bottom of a bathtub. Because the drain assembly is big, plumbers make way for it by cutting a generous-size hole that gives them some “wiggle room” when connecting plumbing pipes. This big hole often is left open to the space below. 

If you have a first-floor bathroom over a crawl space or unheated basement, you likely have one of these giant energy wasters in your home.

“Having that big hole for the bathtub drain can waste about as much energy as leaving one of your windows open a few inches, all day, every day,” says Allison Bailes III, president of energy consultant firm Energy Vanguard. “The main difference is that you can easily close the window, but most people don’t even know about this other open window.”

And BTW, that hole also is big enough for good-size critters to crawl inside your home!

Plumbers may plug this hole with a wad of loose insulation, but that’s an imperfect solution — fiberglass insulation can sag over time, especially if it gets damp. The preferred method is to insert foam board that’s cut to fit around the pipes, then seal the board in place with spray foam insulation.

You won’t know if you have a problem unless you crawl under your bathroom and take a look at the tub drain assembly from underneath. Patch the hole with pieces of foam board screwed in place, then seal any gaps with spray foam insulation ($8/can).

A plumber will do the job, too, but that’ll set you back $100-$150. Probably worth it when you think about energy savings, comfort, and keeping mice and camel crickets out of your house!

Article Source: houselogic.com

·                                

Missed Deadline Excuses Revamped in the Corporate World

The age-old “my dog ate my homework” excuse may not fly in this paperless startup age, but there are plenty of other excuses you can use when didn’t finish all your work. Especially if you’ve earned your MBA.

There’s an endless number of to-dos at a startup, but I am a big proponent of that elusive work-life balance, AKA sometimes skipping out of the office before 8PM to go get an acupuncture or meet friends for a Grouper.

The key to getting away with not getting everything done is to talk like a businessperson. MBA degrees are optional, but helpful. Pull out those banal MBA one-liners and you can circumnavigate your way through any missed deadline or incomplete spreadsheet. Whether you’re too busy or just a little lazy, here are ten surefire lines that will cover your butt and earn you some corporate cred to boot:

1.       I didn’t have the bandwidth this week

2.       We were trying to boil the ocean

3.       I had to prioritize other deliverables

4.       It wasn’t the right high-level strategy

5.       It fell below the line this week

6.       It’s really a time and distance problem

7.       There were other low-hanging fruit to attend to

8.       It’s just not quite in my wheelhouse

9.       It didn’t make sense to reinvent the wheel

10.   The problem was that we were working in silos

11.   It’s an issue of scalability

OK, that’s eleven. Bonus!

Article Source: Venturebeat.com

Great Tips for Working At Home With Children.

1. Create an office separate from the main living areas of the house and declare it off limits during working hours.
   Help your child make a child readable sign for the office door so that he will know when it is and isn’t acceptable to burst into the office.
2. Invest in some quality headphones for quiet, heads down, work.
   I can’t count the number of times my wife has apologized to me because the everyone was running around screaming, and I responded “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
3. Maintain a good work schedule, and stick to it.
   Something that really helps in our home is that I have set working hours during the day. At 4 PM, I emerge from my office like someone returning home from work, and I’ll take the children to the park, help with chores around the house, or run errands with the family.
4. Train the children to go silent when Dad’s cellphone rings, but make sure your cellphone ringer is turned on.
   In our house, we have a game. When our eldest son hears my phone ring, he runs and asks his mother for a sticker for his “Daddy’s Phone Log” on the refrigerator. It’s made him become more aware of when I’m on the telephone and has the added benefit of sending him running away when the phone rings. Make sure, though, that you turn your ringer on. If you forget, and answer your phone after it vibrates, no one else will know that you’re talking to someone else and will pester you with “Huh?” and “What?” when they think you’re talking to them.
5. Take a long lunch and enjoy your opportunity to work from home.
   Enjoy the fact you’re working from home and take a time out in the middle of the day to enjoy a long and leisurely lunch.
6. Ask your spouse to communicate with you via IM or email.
   Nothing makes it more obvious that you’re working from home more than having your spouse constantly talking to you. Ask her to email or instant message you so you can ignore them like you would your coworkers’ messages if you were at the office.

What are your tips and tricks for working at home with the kids?

Article Source: business-opportunities.biz

Sound and True Investment Advice

It's no wonder over 90 percent of individual investors pursue an investing strategy that has historically underperformed a globally diversified portfolio of low management fee stock and bond index funds. You are inundated with misinformation generated by the financial media, and sponsored by the securities industry. They have a vested interest in leading you astray. The consequences have been devastating.

Assuming the asset allocation is appropriate for you, most investors would be better off putting all their assets in the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund appropriate for them. I prefer Vanguard's Target Retirement Funds because the underlying funds are all index funds and the expense ratio of the funds is very low at 0.18 percent, compared to the average expense ratio of 0.49 percent for similar funds, according to Vanguard's website. These funds automatically adjust their asset mix over time to become more conservative. Once you purchase the fund, there is no maintenance. Just leave it alone. Since inception in October, 2003 to September 30, 2012, the Vanguard 2025 Fund (VTTVX) returned 5.79 percent before taxes and 5.26 percent after taxes on distributions. At present, it has 71 percent of its portfolio invested in stocks and the balance in bonds.

Note that Vanguard reports its returns both pre-tax and after-tax. Most actively managed funds (where the fund manager attempts to beat a designated benchmark) engage in significantly more trading than index funds, generating higher taxes for their investors. Higher taxes reduce your after-tax returns. As the saying goes, it's not what you make, it's what you keep that matters. If you hold an actively managed fund, ask your broker or adviser to provide you with after-tax returns of that fund.

It's unfortunate that most investors succumb to the sales pitch of brokers and advisers who tell them they can "beat the markets." If your broker falls into this category (and almost all of them do), ask her to describe her methodology. If it is based on past performance, is she able to predict tomorrow's news? Since tomorrow's news is what will affect stock and bond prices, why does looking backward have any predictive value?

If there was a reliable way to "beat the market," you can be sure it would be uncovered by the millions of investors and thousands of academics focused on the market every day. It would also be published in a peer-review journal. I have yet to find any credible evidence of investment expertise permitting anyone to consistently "beat the market." Nothing can beat good ol' investors Due Diligence.

I issue the same challenge to brokers every day. Tell me your methodology for beating the market. Demonstrate that it works. I will check it out and will publish the results. I am still waiting for takers.

While I am waiting, you don't have to engage in market beating behavior that historically has rewarded your broker and punished your returns. You have many options for breaking the cycle of below market returns. One of the easiest ones is to consider whether Target Retirement Funds are appropriate for you.

Article Source: huffingtonpost.com

Investment Financial Due Diligence

When it comes to doing investments people sometimes don't follow the advice of the sages, that is, to do the necessary due diligence. As the well know joke goes: Bob meets his financial consultant at a community event and tells him of how he got scammed into some troubling deal. The consultant asks Bob "Why didn't you call me to discuss this potential investment?" Bob answers him; "I was afraid you will dissuade me from pursuing this deal."

People tend to get emotionally attached to their perspective deals and fool themselves that this deal is different and tend to focus only on the positive aspects of the investment. Somehow they fail to focus on the troubling parts until it's too late, their money is gone.

What should one do when they lack the time or expertise to do the necessary due diligence? Contact an Investment Due Diligence company, you will sleep peacefully knowing that you are doing the right moves and the right decisions.

Importing products and goods to Israel - laws and requirements

When importing goods to Israel, one needs to follow some simple guidelines and laws to ensure fast and trouble free entry. Below are the laws and guidelines.

In Israel a system of administrative requirements and restrictions on imports is imposed and implemented as follows:

• Import Licence - Obtained mainly from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. An importer applying for an import licence must be an Israeli citizen or a company duly residing in Israel. The application must be submitted on an import licence application form together with the provisional order and a copy of the pro forma invoice or price quotation of the supplier or manufacturer abroad. (in Hebrew only)
• Special Certificate - Certificate issued to the importer by the competent authority: Ministry of Health for importation of drugs, Ministry of Transport for importation of cars, etc. This body will approve the import of goods as indicated in the certificate and under the terms specified therein. For a full list of government bodies. (in Hebrew and English only)
• Approval of Standards - Approval given to the importer stating that the goods meet the applicable standards requirements. The second schedule of the Free Import Regulation lists products imported to Israel which require approval by the SII (Standards Institution of Israel). Tests are performed to ensure that all products meet the set standards. Products are tested before they are imported and may also be tested on arrival to ensure that the shipment indeed contains the products which were examined and approved in the previous tests. (in Hebrew and English only)
• Labelling of Goods - Israel maintains regulations on product labelling and country of origin marking. All imports into Israel must bear a label showing the country of origin; the name and address of the manufacturer; the name and address of the Israeli importer; and the contents, weight and volume in metric units. All labels must be in Hebrew; English may be added provided the printed letters are not larger than those in Hebrew. There are also specific orders for various products requiring Hebrew markings on the product while it is still abroad. This includes items such as food products, beverages, cigarettes, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, ceramics, textiles and shoes.
• Kosher Certificates - Kosher certificates issued by the Chief Rabbinate are required in order to import food to Israel whenever the importer wishes to market food products with the Kosher marking on them.
• Import Quotas - Quotas have been set for a number of products (mainly agricultural). The quantities determined may be imported at a reduced customs duty or duty free.

II.

The taxes, directives and laws applying to goods imported to Israel are set forth in several laws, orders and customs treaties. Some of the main ones are outlined below:

• Free Import Regulation - Under the Licensing Order and Free Import Regulation, some goods imported to Israel must be licensed by the competent authority. Goods requiring an import licence are listed in the first schedule of the regulation. The second schedule of the regulation lists the goods that are subject to special requirements (marking, standardization, special certificate).
• Customs Ordinance - This ordinance lists all the processes and procedures for the release of imports (supervision, registration and bond, inspection storage of goods, determination of the value of goods for customs, etc).
• Customs Duties and Purchase Tax - Within the Israeli Customs Tariff, imports are classified according to Harmonized System (HS) codes made up of eight digits, and duties are paid/not paid according to the classification of the product. The combined customs and purchase tax tariff lists the classification of goods and the customs duties, purchase tax and TAMA (added percentage quota) levied on imports, and indicates whether the goods are subject to assurance charges and whether they require a certificate from the Standards Institution and an import licence.
• Collection of Customs Regulations - This collection lists the administrative regulations of the Customs administration regarding work processes and release of goods from customs.
• Levies on Commerce Order - This lists the levies on trade (dumping charges, countervailing duties, safeguard charges) based on the Trade Law of 1991 applicable to imports of certain goods.
• Consumer Protection Law - Certain requirements are imposed on importers, including all the regulations concerning Hebrew marking of goods manufactured locally or imported.
• Customs Treaties - Israel has signed a series of international customs treaties, such as the ATA-Carnet Convention, which covers imports of commercial samples.

Service providers in the import process

For all government offices websites
Website: www.gov.il/firstGov/topNavEng/Engoffices/EngMinistries

For special certificates from the Ministry of Health
Website: www.health.gov.il/english.htm

For the Ports and Railways Authority
Website: eng.israports.co.il/Pages/HomePage.aspx

For information on standards in Israel please visit the Standards Institution of Israel
Website: www.sii.org.il/20-EN/SII_EN.aspx

For information on Kosher certificates, consult the Rabbinate
Email achifa@rabbinate.gov.il
Tel.: 972-2-5313137/8
Fax:  972-2-5377873
Website: www.rabanut.gov.il/show_item.asp?levelId=61652  (in Hebrew only)

Chambers of Commerce import guide
Website: www.chamber.org.il/ContentsList.aspx?cat=942&type=1

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development
Website: www.moag.gov.il/agri/services/kishurim_shimushim/English_links/

Ministry of Industry Tade & Labour
Website: www.moit.gov.il/NR/exeres/4839496D-02EA-465B-B260-D37F276EB1B9.htm

Israeli Department of Customs
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The Israeli Plant Protection and Inspection Services, MOAG
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Israeli Federation of Forwarders and Customs Agents
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Tariffs and Market Access Information
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) through its Tariffs and Market Access Division (EAT) offers market access information to Canadian Exporters such as tariffs, taxes, rules of origin and some entry procedures. Market access and tariff information can be obtained by calling (613) 944-5070 or (613) 944-1569, fax: (613) 944-4840 or (613) 992-6002 or email: eat@dfait-maeci.gc.ca.

September 2010

Judaica Market flooded with heirloom treasures

The article below made news in 2009. However it's still an ongoing concern.

Sometime in January, the e-mails started coming more frequently, describing an 18th-century Polish silver candelabra here, an Italian bronze Hanukkah lamp there.

Jonathan Greenstein, chairman of auction house J. Greenstein & Co., was receiving two or three e-mails a week from people suddenly interested in selling antique Jewish heirlooms. He typically gets two or three a month at his Queens-based company, which specializes in the authentication and consignment of antique Judaica.

By the time he received word of a set of silver cups engraved with Hebrew letters indicating that they were smelted from coins given out by a long-dead grand rabbi, Mr. Greenstein suspected greater forces were at work. Clients soon confirmed the culprit: Bernard Madoff.

Auction houses are reporting a sharp increase in the number of antique Jewish artifacts being offered for spring auctions. Dealers who specialize in this niche say that the amount and quality of newly available items blows away offerings from past auction seasons.

“The Italian bronze menorah is magnificent,” says Mr. Greenstein. “I knew in my heart that this guy wanted to hand it down to his son and grandchildren.” Instead, it's listed in the June catalog.

Investments of all kinds have had a disappointing run lately, aside from the Madoff catastrophe. But while the economy at large has played a role in the flood of antiquities, many point to one definite villain.

“[Mr. Madoff's] reach of destruction was so unbelievable,” says Mr. Greenstein. “People are parting with things you know they wouldn't necessarily part with. It's heartbreaking.”

J. Greenstein's June auction already has more than 200 lots of antique Judaica, while its more typical auction size is about 130 lots.

The widow of the late Rabbi Alexander Schindler, one of the leaders of the modern Reform Jewish movement, consigned several items to Mr. Greenstein. The artifacts, with an estimated value exceeding $30,000, include a gilded silver and diamond Torah pointer crafted in the 1780s.

Elisa Schindler, the rabbi's eldest daughter, says her father first invested with Mr. Madoff in 1996.”Our hope,” she adds, “is that these sacred objects find a sacred home.”

The Prague Haggadah

Manhattan's kestenbaum & co., which specializes in rare manuscripts and Judaica, will have an auction on April 2 with a robust 328 lots. Chairman Daniel Kestenbaum declines to comment on consignors' motivations.

The most anticipated auction item at Kestenbaum is a book called the Prague Haggadah. It's one of five surviving books from a 1526 woodcut printing that's believed to be the first illuminated Jewish text printed in central Europe after the Jews were expelled from Spain. The last time a Prague Haggadah became available, more than a dozen years ago, it fetched $277,500 at Sotheby's in New York. The book's estimated value in the current market: $120,000 to $150,000.

Mr. Madoff's fraud also created a group of victims once removed, those who didn't invest in any Madoff-related funds but whose livelihoods are tied to those who did.

Abraham Kugielsky is the only one of 11 siblings to go into the 35-year-old family business: private sales of Jewish and Hebrew art and religious artifacts. Business has been crushingly slow lately, which he attributes to both the economy and the Madoff effect: His clientele would have included many Madoff investors.

“These collectors have been hurt financially, and they're not really buying anything unless it's very rare and they just can't pass on it,” he says.

As a result, Mr. Kugielsky finds himself reaching into his family's private collection for special items in order to raise money. “There's this 19th-century German menorah that I really didn't think I was going to sell, but sometimes you have no choice.”

Last summer, the menorah would have sold for as much as $6,000, he estimates. Now, with so much antique Judaica on the market, he'll feel lucky to get $4,000.

It's a cruel juxtaposition. Even as FBI investigators inventory the Madoff family's jewelry, art and antiques, many Madoff clients are doing the same: dusting off family heirlooms and assessing their collections.

“The market is a lot more challenging now,” says Mr. Kugielsky. “One thing's for sure: If anyone is able to buy, now is a great time. Prices are being kept fair and low.”

Article source: Crain's