Client updates / Regulation

Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection imposed a financial sanction of NIS 634,000 on Bazan Group’s Gadiv Petrochemical Industries for not complying with a deadline to stop harmful emissions. The ministry stated that due to the severity of the violation, both a financial sanction and administrative enforcement measures would be imposed.

A recent amendment to the Consumer Protection Law seeks to place restrictions on telemarketing. As part of the amendment, the Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority will establish a database of consumers who don’t want to receive telemarketing calls from various businesses. Businesses will not be able to contact a consumer whose telephone number is registered in this database, except in specific circumstances.

While the activity of most financial intermediaries in Israel is regulated and supervised, broker-dealers have so far operated in an unsupervised manner and without dedicated regulation. In light of this, the Israel Securities Authority has published a legislative memorandum aimed at regulating the field of broker-dealers in Israel.

Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority has published its recommendation that every organization appoint a privacy protection supervisor. This supervisor’s task is to implement the privacy protection laws that apply to the organization. The PPA noted that although Israeli law does not impose such a duty, it is a best practice recommended for organizations that collect and analyze personal data.

The European Parliament recently adopted a new regulation on crowdfunding platform activity. This regulation will apply across the board to all European Union countries. According to the new regulation’s provisions, it is possible to raise up to only EUR 5 million on a crowdfunding platform. Additionally, the regulation stipulates rules to protect people investing through a crowdfunding platform, reporting duties for the entities raising funds, and more.

A recently launched government program aims to encourage companies to publish social responsibility reports, or ESG (environmental, social, and government) responsibility reports. The Ministry of Strategic Affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office announced the launch of the “Impact Nation” program, as part of a broad move to promote publication of positive economic information regarding Israeli companies, following the publication of the Israeli companies database by UN Human Rights Council.

In early October, the Data Protection Authority in Hamburg, Germany announced that the clothing retailer H&M committed severe violations of its employees’ privacy. Because of these European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) violations, the retailer would pay a fine of approximately 35 million euros.

A July decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union has established that in light of the fact the United States does not respect the privacy of its citizens in accordance with EU standards, the Privacy Shield mechanism allowing for personal data transfers between Europe and the US can no longer be relied upon. At the same time, in Israel, the Ministry of Justice has published a memorandum that constitutes the first step in adjusting existing law to the digital age.

The inter-ministerial team assembled to examine the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis on contractual agreements has recently published its recommendations.

Although Israel is a world leader in the fintech field, companies operating in this area face many regulatory challenges. A newly published legal memorandum aims to enable the creation of a “sandbox”, with inspiration from various programs already implemented in Japan, Australia, and Singapore. The goal is to establish a unique experimental environment, a “regulatory sandbox,” where regulatory relief is granted to companies who choose to participate in the program.

Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the enforcement of accessibility issues in Israel. More and more companies are facing requests for certification of class action suits for failing to make services accessible to people with disabilities. Such proceedings, exempt from court fees, are initiated by lead plaintiffs against big and small organizations, from both the private and public sectors.

After Libra, Facebook’s ambitious global digital currency venture, faced fierce resistance from regulators around the world, Facebook has announced “Libra 2.0.” The venture is set to undergo far-reaching changes that, on the one hand, will likely do away with regulatory concerns, but, on the other, will force Facebook to give up its original vision, i.e. a quick and simple transfer of digital currencies between accepted users worldwide without the need for a bank account.

On March 25, 2020, emergency regulations were adopted in Israel that include, among other things, an extension of the validity of regulatory approvals that expire in the near future.

Special coronavirus-related emergency regulations were promulgated in Israel on March 21, 2020, listing specific economic activities considered as essential that are allowed to operate with fewer limitations.

The global effort to fight the spread of coronavirus has prompted new privacy related questions around the world. Much has been written for and against the use of privacy-compromising measures to protect public health. Therefore, we have chosen to concentrate on the practical implications of privacy principles on companies and businesses.

On March 18, 2020, the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a set of guidelines for adjustments to businesses and factories with permits and licenses issued by it for toxin permits, emission permits, and business licenses with environmental conditions.

The Israeli National Cyber Security Authority published recommendations for business and organizations related to privacy protections and data security for telecommuting due to coronavirus spread.

The ISA’s commission for examining the regulation necessary for the advancement of digital markets published a report that focuses on platforms for the issuing, trading, and clearing of securities that make use of blockchain technology.

The Governmental Cyber Security Unit has published a new directive according to which material service providers to government, infrastructure, and finance bodies will be required to adopt a common and unified standard for cyber protection.