Omer Wagner
Advocate
Israel
Advocate for customs, indirect taxation (Purchase tax, GST, VAT), import, export, regulation, trade levies, international trade, shipping, forwarding, marine, aerial transportation, including court litigation. Omer has more than 15 years of experience in these fields.
He holds a notary license as well. Omer serves as legal counsel of the Tel-Aviv customs agents and freight forwarders association. He worked in the biggest law firms in Israel dealing with customs and indirect taxation, also served in the Israeli district attorney and represented the State (customs authority).
Author of many articles related to customs and international trade, including: classification, valuation, origin, customs compliance, and many more. His articles were published, among others, in the WCO magazine, Global Trade and Customs Journal, World Customs Journal, and in CCRM as well.
Member of the editorial board of the Customs Compliance & Risk Management (CCRM) journal.
Languages: HE, EN, AR, RU
Service: consulting, legal
Topics: classification, valuation, origin, customs compliance, and many more
Industries: customs, indirect taxation (Purchase tax, GST, VAT), import, export, regulation, trade levies, international trade, shipping, forwarding, marine, aerial transportation, including court litigation
Contact information
Email:omerwagner@gmail.com
Phone:+972528582883
LinkedIn:Omer Wagner
Instagram:Omer Wagner
Facebook:Omer Wagner
Content by Omer Wagner
Other origin certificate instead of EUR.1 under PEM: technical defect or fatal flaw?
Omer Wagner03 Sep 2026
Other origin certificate instead of EUR.1 under PEM: technical defect or fatal flaw?
Even when a certificate definitively states the product’s origin, it may not secure preferential treatment if it was not issued in the required form. Importers can then face a substantial retrospective customs debt, even after the goods have been released and sold. This occurred in the context of preferential trade...
Origin
Country update
Out of temperature, out of liability? A case on freight responsibilityOmer Wagner16 Apr 2026
Out of temperature, out of liability? A case on freight responsibility
A shipment of industrial adhesive was stored at the wrong temperature resulting in damage (it was stored at minus 20 degrees instead of 20 degrees). The insurance company compensated the importer and is now suing the foreign freight forwarder and shipping company in court. How will the court rule? This...
Compliance
Case law
Parallel food importers: compliance challenges
Liat Hessel05 Mar 2026
Parallel food importers: compliance challenges
Food importers must submit a number of documents as a prerequisite for importation, and state authorities continue to monitor the process even after the food has been imported. In recent years, regulatory reforms - such as the 'What is good for Europe is also good for Israel' initiative - have...
Compliance
Country update
Electricity breakdown at Customs: 8502 or 8504 (0% or 10% duty?)Omer Wagner10 Feb 2026
Electricity breakdown at Customs: 8502 or 8504 (0% or 10% duty?)
A recent Israeli court ruling highlights the decisive role of tariff classification in customs compliance and project economics. The importer had obtained advance approval to open a 'secretariat file' - a procedure enabling all components of a single project to be classified under a single HS code - yet the...
Classification
Duties & taxes
Case law
VAT exemption for personal imports raised to $150 in IsraelOmer Wagner30 Dec 2025
VAT exemption for personal imports raised to $150 in Israel
While the EU and other jurisdictions have tightened rules and reduced tax- and duty-free allowances for low-value imports, Israel has chosen to ease the burden on consumers and simplify cross-border e-commerce. However, this raises new issues regarding whether the imports are intended solely for private use and not as part...
Duties & taxes
Country update
Where does the customs broker’s responsibility end and the importer’s begin?Omer Wagner15 Oct 2025
Where does the customs broker’s responsibility end and the importer’s begin?
An importer of Botox has been required by Customs to pay additional duties, following the reclassification of the product from a "medicinal product" to a "toxin". The importer is now suing their customs broker for negligence, alleging a classification error and the broker’s failure to advise that a certificate of...
Profession
Country update
Confiscated by mistake: what it might take for an owner to get their goods backOmer Wagner21 Sep 2025
Confiscated by mistake: what it might take for an owner to get their goods back
A new immigrant arrived in Israel and sent more than 1,000 holy books, which he had collected since his bar mitzvah (a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony for boys), in a separate container. The books were confiscated by the Israeli customs authority, apparently because they had been declared in the container of...
Customs law
Country update
Long storage, no one to blameOmer Wagner06 Jul 2025
Long storage, no one to blame
The vehicles were imported to Israel from abroad and stored in a bonded warehouse for a year and a half in the open air. Significant damage was found on the vehicles. The importer sues the freight forwarder/customs broker for defective storage. Will the court uphold the claim or dismiss it?...
Procedures
Case law
Can an item be modified in a customs warehouse to change its classification?Omer Wagner22 Jun 2025
Can an item be modified in a customs warehouse to change its classification?
An individual imported a caravan from the USA to Israel as a personal import, with the intention of using it as a ‘bed and breakfast’, i.e. a guest house or zimmer. The Israeli Customs Authority and the Ministry of Transport refused to release the shipment on the grounds that it...
Classification
Procedures
Country update
The green lane to confiscation of personal itemsOmer Wagner04 May 2025
The green lane to confiscation of personal items
The Customs green lane at airports is not as straightforward as many travellers often assume. In this article, we examine the challenges encountered in Israel, where passengers may risk having their personal items - such as luxury watches or handbags - confiscated. It is important to understand the rules governing...
Customs law
Country update
Popular articles
Other origin certificate instead of EUR.1 under PEM: technical defect or fatal flaw?
Other origin certificate instead of EUR.1 under PEM: technical defect or fatal flaw?
03 Sep 2026
Even when a certificate definitively states the product’s origin, it may not secure preferential treatment if it was not issued in the required form. Importers can then face a substantial retrospective customs debt, even after the goods have been released and sold. This occurred in the context of preferential trade...
Country update
Origin
Out of temperature, out of liability? A case on freight responsibility
Out of temperature, out of liability? A case on freight responsibility
16 Apr 2026
A shipment of industrial adhesive was stored at the wrong temperature resulting in damage (it was stored at minus 20 degrees instead of 20 degrees). The insurance company compensated the importer and is now suing the foreign freight forwarder and shipping company in court. How will the court rule? This...
Case law
Compliance
Parallel food importers: compliance challenges
Parallel food importers: compliance challenges
05 Mar 2026
Food importers must submit a number of documents as a prerequisite for importation, and state authorities continue to monitor the process even after the food has been imported. In recent years, regulatory reforms - such as the 'What is good for Europe is also good for Israel' initiative - have...
Country update
Compliance