Client updates

The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) recently published a proposed amendment to the Israeli Securities Regulations concerning trading platforms’ activity in Israel.

In October 2019, Israel’s Attorney General published a detailed guideline document addressed to the legal counsels of various government ministries.

In September, Israel’s National Labor Court dismissed an appeal by the Café Noir restaurant and affirmed the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court’s judgment, which held that the restaurant must pay NIS 300,000 compensation for infringing on its employees’ right to organize.

Israeli’s Ministry of Construction and Housing recently imposed a NIS 6.5 million financial sanction on the developer of a TAMA 38 project in Kiryat Bialik. The developer was fined after failing to produce a guarantee to purchasers of apartments in the project for funds they had paid toward the unit price, as required by the Assurance of Investments Law.

In October 2019, the Israel State Attorney published a new guideline on its office’s policy when considering the prosecution of a corporation, as well as on how it should determine its position on the manner of punishing corporations.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in California) recently held that the scraping of data from public websites without any prior consent is lawful, even if it contradicts the provisions of a website’s terms of use.

Regulatory resistance and legal proceedings by the US Securities and Exchange Commission are hindering the realization of one of the greatest promises of blockchain technology – the transfer of cryptographic currencies and assets between users without an intermediary.

The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court recently ruled that an employee who took advantage of her sick leave as vacation days immediately after being summoned to a termination hearing warranted being denied severance pay and early notice payments.

In a recent ruling, the Labor Court found that a short-term unapproved absence from work may constitute a disciplinary violation, and therefore be cause for termination, but cannot be seen as resignation.

The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) and the Ministry of Justice published a call to the public to adjust the corporate regime, as part of addressing problems that may arise as a result of the transition of public companies to a decentralized ownership structure.

The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) recently published an advisory document for public comment ahead of the publication of a legal memorandum for the regulation of the securitization field in Israel.

The election for the 22nd Knesset is approaching. What does the law say about workers’ rights and obligations ?

In a precedential ruling, the Tel Aviv District Appeals Committee affirmed the Regional Planning and Construction Committee’s decision that in cases in which a new zoning plan provides more rights than those set in the TAMA 38 provisions, the consent of all residents is required.

The National Committee for Planning and Construction has approved the Planning Administration’s initiative to amend the provisions of TAMA 35. The planned amendment will update the calculation method for the level of population density, from the number of residential units per square kilometer to the number of persons per square kilometer.

The National Israeli Labor Court is an independent tribunal and thus only rarely does the High Court of Justice (HCJ) intervene in its decisions. Recently, in an unusual move, the HCJ twice reversed the rulings of the National Labor Court. In both cases as part of its policy to eliminate the phenomenon of workplace sexual harassment.

The Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) recently imposed a EUR 150,000 fine on the international consulting firm PwC for its violations of the new European data protection regulations (the General Data Protection Regulations, or GDPR).

Six months after the amendment to the Economic Competition Law took effect, the Competition Authority published its position regarding the circumstances in which even an entity with less than a 50% market share may be deemed a “monopoly holder.”

The Israel Securities Authority recently published a staff position that has material implications on the hedge fund sector in Israel and on the investor public, including the mode of incorporation of hedge funds and the limit on the number of investors in a fund.

The Tel Aviv District Court handed down a decision a few days ago rejecting the Israel Tax Authority’s (ITA) position on the conveyance of real estate properties to trusts. This decision dramatically changes the taxation of trusts in Israel.