Israel’s High Court of Justice has ordered ICL (TASE: ICL: NYSE: ICL) Dead Sea Works unit to pay an estimated NIS 250 million for the water it has been pumping from 2018 until the end of its concession in 2030. The court was ruling on a petition filed by the Adam Teva Ve’Din – Israel Union for Environmental Defenxse, and Lobby 99.
Since the 1960s, the Dead Sea Works, currently controlled by ICL, has held the concession to mine minerals in the Dead Sea region, and pays annual royalties to the Israeli government, claiming its exempt from a separate payment for its use of Dead Sea water.
“A concession is not a city of refuge”
The High Court of Justice ruled today that the water tariff reform, which came into effect in 2017, which changed the production levy regime that had been in place until then, requiring concession holders to produce and supply water to pay for brackish water, also applies to the Dead Sea.
Judge Dafna Barak-Erez ruled that the Water Authority, through Mekorot, will be required to collect water fees from the Dead Sea plants. In her view, water fee payments do not infringe on the rights granted to the Dead Sea plants and are separate from the economic arrangement established with operators in the concession. “A concession is not a ‘city of refuge’ from the application of general reforms,” she added. Judge Ofer Grosskopf believes that the right to obtain water “does not include immunity from regulatory changes.”
The petitions were filed after Mekorot sent the company payment demands for a total of more than NIS 83 million for 2018-2020, which have not been paid. The High Court of Justice has now ordered Mekorot to charge the company again and to pay the court costs. This decision is expected to affect not only the state coffers, but mainly the policy of exploiting natural resources in Israel. It sends the message that even holders of historical concessions will be required to comply with new regulatory rules.
ICL: The ruling is disproportionate
ICL said, “We express disappointment with the ruling, which in our opinion is disproportionate and clearly contradicts both the state’s position on the matter and the letter of the law. This is in fact a change in the terms of the concession during its term – a move that once again raises considerable regulatory uncertainty due to the terms of the new tender for the Dead Sea concession.”
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Lobby 99 legal advisor Dr. Einat Solnik said, “Lobby 99 is fighting to lower the cost of living and is acting mainly against giant corporations that exploit their power among decision-makers contrary to the public interest. We welcome the ruling, which contributes to the important struggle, as according to Mekorot’s assessment, the water fees that ICL will pay will lead to lower water tariffs for all Israeli citizens. There is no reason for us to subsidize the very profitable activities of this company, which is mainly busy exploiting the natural resources in the Dead Sea that belong to the entire public, while blatantly shirking its duties.”
Adv. Meirav Abadi, Director of Regulation at Adam Teva Ve Din, who conducted the case, said: “Words cannot describe the magnitude of the achievement, both vis-à-vis the Dead Sea Works the state, which wanted to exempt them from payment. The ruling is a precedent and does justice for the public, who time and again are robbed of their natural resources, without receiving compensation for it. If it were not for this struggle, the state’s legal opinion would have led to NIS 500 million being deducted from the public purse. This achievement is especially important these days, when the tender for the renewal of the concession is on the agenda, which will decide the fate of this natural wonder. Adam Teva Ve Din will continue to work to return the Dead Sea to the public and to preserve it for future generations.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 3, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
