Law: Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981 (PPL) as amended by Privacy Protection Bill (Amendment No. 13) (only available in Hebrew here, unofficial English translation here) (Amendment 13) and Protection of Privacy Regulations (Data Security) 5777-2017 (the Data Security Regulations)

Regulator: Privacy Protection Authority (PPA)

Summary: In the State of Israel, data protection is mainly governed by the PPL. The PPL was amended by Amendment 13, which was passed into law by the Parliament of Israel (Knesset) into law on August 8, 2024, and will become effective one year from the date of its publication, bar certain provisions in relation to supervisory authorities. Amendment 13 expands the PPA's enforcement powers, setting financial sanctions for violating the provisions of the PPL and its regulations, updating offenses in relation to databases, and substantive definitions in the PPL, as well as significantly reducing the obligation to register databases. Amendment 13 also introduces the obligation to appoint a privacy protection officer in certain circumstances.

Data protection is also governed by the Data Security Regulations, as well as by further topic-specific regulations such as the Protection of Privacy Regulations (Transfer of Information to Databases outside of the State's Boundaries), 5761-2001 (only available in Hebrew here). Israel does not have a written constitution, but the right to privacy is considered a fundamental right under the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, 5752-1992. The PPA (previously the Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (ILITA)), is one of the more active data protection authorities in the Middle East and has regularly issued detailed non-binding guidelines and reports, some of which are available in English. The head of the PPA also serves as the Registrar of Databases and thus monitors data processing notifications. Israel was granted an adequacy decision by the European Commission.