In January 2022, a bill was introduced into the Israeli parliament proposing several amendments to the country’s current privacy law, the Protection of Privacy Law (PPL). (An unofficial English translation of the PPL can be found here.) If passed, the Israeli Privacy Protection Bill will be the most significant amendment to the PPL in over two decades. The bill lays out several potential changes to the existing law, including:

• Streamlining key definitions
• Altering the current privacy requirements under the PPL
• Granting the Privacy Protection Authority (PPA), the Israeli privacy enforcement body, additional powers to enforce the law and issue fines for violation

Extent of the Proposed Amendments

Looking closer at the most significant amendments reveals that several were likely influenced by the GDPR. These amendments include:

• Editing the definition of “data” to include any personally identifying information, and adding a new category to cover “data with special sensitivity” such as physical location, political opinions, etc.
• Introducing the terms “data controller” and “data processor” to replace former, less clear privacy management job titles
• Requiring organizations to appoint a Data Privacy Official (DPO) in some, though not all, instances. (Interestingly, even this limited requirement is the first time Israeli law has ever laid out DPO requirements of any kind.)
• Increasing the PPA’s ability to define and prosecute privacy violations
• Requiring organizations to register with data protection authorities only if their databases contain sensitive data of 500,000 or more people, or if their databases contain personal information from 100,000 or more people provided by third parties

The full text of the Israeli Privacy Protection Bill (available only in Hebrew for now) can be viewed here.

What This Means for You

The GDPR continues to inspire other countries around the world to update their old privacy laws or craft new ones entirely. Israel is one of the most recent examples. This new development only further proves the need for effective privacy management and compliance—and the remarkable advantage your company could gain by automating both through a streamlined privacy compliance software like 4Comply. Contact us today to learn more about 4Comply and how it can help your business.