Client updates

At the end of October 2017, the Privacy Protection Authority published a guideline about the use of surveillance cameras in the workplace and within the framework of employment relations. This guideline does not come as a surprise, as a draft of it was already published last year for public comments.

Recently, the Israel Antitrust Authority (IAA) published a memorandum of law entitled “Strengthening Enforcement and Reducing the Regulatory Burden.” At issue is a comprehensive amendment to the Restrictive Trade Practices Law.

Recently a new Amendment to the Securities Law, concerning the restructuring of the stock exchange, came into effect.

On October 30, 2017, an amendment to the Minimum Wage Law was enacted after being approved during the second and third readings in the Knesset.

On October 18, 2017, the EU Commission published its report on the review of the functioning of the EU-US Privacy Shield, which was established to allow the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the United States.

The Ministry of Economics and Industry recently published a draft bill for an amendment to the Consumer Protection Law. This draft bill proposes placing restrictions on telemarketing.

The Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee recently approved a comprehensive revision of Regulation 35 of the Accessibility to Online Services Regulations under the Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Regulations (Service Accessibility Adjustments), 2013.

The Israeli parliament has enacted new legislation that will authorize Israeli courts to issue orders that block, inter alia, online gambling website.

Apple is set to introduce a new feature in the Safari browser that will significantly reduce advertisers’ ability to collect and use personal data. The new feature, called Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP), imposes a 24-hour time limit on third party tracking cookies and a 30-day time limit on first party cookies.

The New York Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently that when a new user confirms the “terms of service” and “privacy policy” on an application’s registration screen, even without perusing the legal documents provided through these links, such approval suffices to raise the user’s legal engagement with the company to the standing of a binding contract.

The Spanish Data Protection Authority slapped Facebook with a USD 1.4 million fine over three instances in which Facebook collected information on ideology, sex, religious beliefs, personal tastes, and browser history without properly notifying users what such information was being obtained for.

In a case recently brought before the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Advocate General provided an opinion according to which a candidate’s examination script, as well as the comments made on the script by the examiner, is personal data the candidate is entitled to receive.

The Supreme Court of India recently ruled that the right to privacy is an integral part of the right to life and personal liberty enshrined in the Indian constitution, and as such is entitled to the same legal protection.

The Ministry of Communications has appointed a tender committee to formulate and draw up a tender for the allocation of a spectrum for the provision of advanced cellular services.

Several new updates regarding lifting the corporate veil, calculating severance pay for hourly employees and issuing electronic pay slips.

Israel’s government recently set forth a decision approving the key points of a national “safe identification” policy. The purpose of this policy is to define how a person’s identity is to be verified when receiving government services in a digital mode, in order to improve the services being provided to residents, and to simplify the access to these services.

An amendment to the Consumer Protection Law was enacted recently, regulating the ways by which consumers can cancel transactions and imposing obligations on businesses to disclose to consumers how they can cancel transactions.

The Knesset recently approved Amendment No. 5 to the Regulation of Nonbank Loans Law, which is now called the Fair Lending Law. This comes after years of deliberations and in the long wake of recommendations submitted in 2013 to increase competition in the banking system.

The Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (ILITA) recently published a new draft directive regarding the handling of customers’ personal information (which is organized as a registered database or as a database under compulsory registration) when it is held by an acquiree company and is being transferred to the acquirer company within the scope of a merger or acquisition transaction. 

In July 2017, the Fair Rent Law was enacted, an initiative of MPs Stav Shaffir and Roy Folkman. The main objectives of the New Law are to regulate the relationship between tenants and landlords and to define the minimum conditions for an apartment to be deemed “fit for dwelling.”