Client updates / Regulation

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.

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. 

One of the key privacy protection issues in Israel is whether and to what extent the activities of an Israeli company may be subject to foreign privacy protection laws. This question has become of critical importance since the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulations in the European Union.

A significant precedent was handed down recently by the Israeli Supreme Court, whereby a company’s separate and independent standing must be recognized, even after a motion for a derivative suit has been approved.

Recently, the UK government pledged to introduce a new Data Protection Bill. The proposed bill will uphold the UK’s commitment to applying the privacy principles enshrined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) despite the Brexit process.

Recently, the Knesset approved an amendment to the Supervision of Financial Services Law, which regulates the activities of online lending platforms that broker between people and businesses under a peer-to-peer (P2P) model.

In early July 2017, the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved the elimination of the compulsory registration fees and periodic fees paid by database owners.

Recently, ILITA (the Israel Law, Information and Technology Authority) published new guidelines addressing the interpretation and implementation of provisions of the Protection of Privacy Law relating to direct mail and direct-mail services.

Recently, the Israeli Attorney General, in a legal opinion filed with the Israeli Supreme Court as part of an appeal filed by Facebook, opined that foreign companies (specifically those that do business via the internet) may not escape Israeli court jurisdiction even if the terms and conditions posted on their website state otherwise.

New rules came into effect recently that constitute an amendment and update of the principal rules addressing industrial wastewater flowing from factories into the sewer system.

It is not uncommon for Israeli incorporated companies to seek investments abroad. In many cases, such investments are done through public offerings on international stock exchanges. Securities issued by Israeli companies are traded on the NASDAQ, the London Stock Exchange and a variety of other exchanges, including Australia. These situations, which make perfect sense from a business perspective, give rise to interesting and sometimes quite complex legal issues.

An amendment to the Securities Regulations (Periodic and Immediate Reports) was promulgated in March 2017, whereby small reporting corporations shall be able to publish their financial statements on a bi-annual basis, provided that they have not issued bonds that are being held by the public. In this regard, a “small corporation” is defined in the said regulations.

The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee recently approved the Privacy Protection Regulations (Data Security), 5767-2017, which enacts new and comprehensive norms for entities that manage or hold databases regarding data security procedures. In practice, these regulations affect many entities in the Israeli marketplace, from small businesses managing client information databases to large corporations.

Within the scope of a new directive published recently by the database registrar at the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority, entities, such as service-providers, that retain recordings of telephone conversations or chat correspondence with their customers will be forced to enable their customers (the subjects of the information) to also access information of this type. This according to the right of access prescribed in the Privacy Protection Law and the regulations instituted by virtue thereof.

The Law establishes a mandatory licensing requirement for financial service-providers – credit providers or providers of financial asset services. One of the main innovations in this Law is that Financial Services Providers will be subject, for the first time, to supervision by a new financial regulator. 

As part of the Israel Security Authority’s (ISA) measures to relax certain existing regulations, it has promulgated the Securities Order (Amendment to the First Addendum to the Law) regarding the definition of a “classified investor.” This amendment will come into effect on March 25, 2016.