Client updates

Amendment 13, which significantly updates privacy laws in Israel, has come into effect! If you still don’t know what to do to comply with the requirements, we’ve prepared a guide to help you address the main issues (not all of them) right now! In this guide, you can find simple tips to implement in your organization to improve compliance with Israeli privacy law requirements.

On August 6, 2025, the interministerial team to increase competition in the retail banking sector (established by Israel’s Minister of Finance in collaboration with the Governor of the Bank of Israel) published its recommendations on the measures needed to increase competition in banking services.

In July 2025, the European Competition Commission imposed a EUR 489,000 fine on Alchem International Pvt. Ltd. and its Hong Kong subsidiary for their involvement in a pharmaceutical cartel involving the active ingredient used in the manufacture of an abdominal antispasmodic medicine.

The purpose of this update is to provide the latest developments on the various tariffs being imposed on exports to the United States. The tariff situation is changing frequently, sometimes on a daily basis. We strive to obtain updated information and to post updated versions.

On April 2, 2025, US President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose reciprocal tariffs of 10% on all goods imported into the United States, and higher “special reciprocal tariffs” on imports from several countries with whom the United States has a large trade deficit.

Israeli economic newspapers have recently published headlines claiming that “the Supreme Court dismissed a petition for exemptions from paying compensation for delays in apartment deliveries due to the war” and that “the war does not constitute a justified reason for delaying apartment deliveries.”

Amendment 13 to the Israeli Privacy Protection Law is expected to come into effect in mid-August 2025. The amendment prescribes, inter alia, organizations’ obligation to appoint a data protection officer. The Privacy Protection Authority recently published a draft directive on implementing this obligation. The draft is not final and is open for public comments.

At the end of June 2025, the Northern California District Court issued two precedent-setting rulings addressing the legal question: Is it lawful to use copyrighted works for machine training of AI-based large language models (LLMs)?

On July 1, 2025, a memorandum of law was published for public comments proposing an amendment to the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance’s definition of “Israeli resident” for tax purposes. The amendment proposes to replace the rebuttable presumption with irrebuttable conclusive presumptions about whether an individual is an Israeli resident or a foreign resident

Israel’s Attorney General has filed her position with the Tel Aviv District Court in support of a motion to order Google to actively block websites that are infringing copyrights and enabling viewing of pirated content for free.

When US President Donald Trump took office, it seemed the question of personal sanctions against extremist right-wingers in Israel was off the table. Indeed, in one of his first decisions, Trump lifted the sanctions imposed on a small number of Jewish settlers whom the United States had accused of committing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as on several extremist right-wing organizations.

A recent district court ruling broadened the interpretation of the statutory provisions governing exemptions from land appreciation tax and ruled that transfers of shares of a real estate association as a gift between siblings are exempt from capital gains tax even if the shares were not direct gifts from the parents but originated from land received as a gift from them. The court also prescribed several important procedural rules to improve the protection of taxpayers’ rights vis-à-vis the Israel Tax Authority (ITA).

The Industrial Cooperation Authority at Israel’s Ministry of Economy recently announced that it had blacklisted the Chinese company DAQO, which won a tender for the supply of components to the Israel Electric Corporation, because it failed to fulfill its reciprocal procurement obligation with Israel.

The Israel Competition Authority (ICA) conducted a thorough investigation of the S. Schestowitz Group, an Israeli company in the food and consumer goods sector, due to suspicions the company operated a cartel in the food industry in violation of the Economic Competition Law and the Law for the Promotion of Competition in the Food and Pharmacy Industries.

Earlier this month, the US Senate voted 99-1 to strike a key clause in a sweeping Republican domestic policy bill that sought to impose a ten-year moratorium on states’ enforcement of artificial intelligence regulations.

Two key developments in the US mark a step toward stablecoin market institutionalization. the US Senate approved new legislation regulating activities in the market for the first time, and Circle – the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, launched an IPO on the NASDAQ.

The “What’s Good for Europe Is Good for Israel” reform came into effect at 2025, with considerable resonance. This reform allows importers to import diverse products to Israel in a new standardization track, based on compliance with the requirements of strict European regulations and standards.

In July 2024, Israel’s Ministry of Economy imposed a 61%-146% temporary guarantee on aluminum imports from China to protect local industry from dumping. Recent guideline updates reinforce the focus on anti-dumping enforcement amid global trade tensions.

Foreign direct investments (FDI) in critical Israeli infrastructure and services, especially by entities representing foreign countries, are subject to oversight, mainly to ensure national security.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recently published its final report on the guidelines for supervisory authorities to detect and prevent market fraud in crypto assets under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation.