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Civil Defence Law, 5711-1951

חוק ההתגוננות האזרחית, תשי"א-1951

Published: 1951-03-21Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2024-11-07 · Last amended 2024-03-21✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-29
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

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Despite these checks, it may contain errors, omissions, or imprecise renderings of legal terminology and cross-references, and it may not yet reflect the latest amendments. It cannot be relied upon as a legal text.

The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

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Chapter IV: Equipment and Training of Workers in Enterprises

Power to Impose Obligations for Training and Equipping Workers in Enterprises§

20g.
(a)The Minister of Defence may by Regulations –
(1)impose obligations on enterprise owners to hold and install equipment for civil defence purposes and to train and equip their workers for such purposes, and in respect of a group of enterprises – also to designate the equipment and training to serve the group of enterprises or part of them and their workers, all having regard to the number of workers and the types of enterprises;
(2)authorise an authority to determine, by a general direction, restricted to a particular enterprise or group of enterprises, the details and types of equipment to which an obligation under paragraph (1) shall apply (hereinafter – the determining authority);
(3)impose obligations on workers in enterprises whose owners are required to train them under paragraph (1) to comply, in respect of training, with the directions of the district Home Front Command commander and, subject to those directions, with the directions of the enterprise owners;
(4)impose obligations on workers who have completed training under this section to instruct other workers of their enterprise and of other enterprises in their group of enterprises;
(5)in respect of equipment or training designated under paragraph (1) to serve a group of enterprises – to determine the obligation of participation of each enterprise owner in the expenses of the equipment and training, including instruction, the extent of participation in those expenses, and the ownership rights of those enterprise owners in the said equipment, all subject to the provisions of section 20h;
(6)for the purposes of Regulations under this section, in whole or in part, to determine what constitutes an enterprise and who is to be regarded as an enterprise owner and as a worker in an enterprise;
(7)with the consent of the Minister of Justice, to prescribe procedures for the resolution of disputes concerning the rate of participation in expenses and ownership rights in equipment as referred to in paragraph (5), as an alternative to resolution by a court, as well as procedures for the enforcement of decisions given in such resolution.
(b)The Minister of Defence may direct by Order that the determining authority shall hold and install, in place of an enterprise owner, any equipment that the enterprise owner is required to hold and install pursuant to subsection (a).
(c)In this Chapter, "group of enterprises" – several enterprises located in any of the following:
(1)a single structure;
(2)a single industrial zone in which the district Home Front Command commander has found that there is a need to carry out joint civil defence activities;
(3)several structures, even if they are not located in a single industrial zone, in which the district Home Front Command commander has found that there is a need to carry out joint civil defence activities.

Expenses of Activities Serving More than One Enterprise§

20h.

Where an obligation has been imposed on an enterprise owner pursuant to section 20g(1) in respect of holding or installing equipment and training workers so as to serve also a group of enterprises, the following provisions shall apply:

(1)in the absence of an agreement among all the enterprise owners concerned regarding the rate of expenses of fulfilling the obligation, the share of each of them in those expenses and the date of payment thereof, the enterprise owner upon whom the obligation has been imposed may give written notice of the absence of an agreement to the determining authority at the time prescribed in or pursuant to the Regulations, and having done so, that enterprise owner may refrain from fulfilling the obligation to the extent that the shares of the other enterprise owners in the estimated expenses of fulfilling the obligation, as approved by the determining authority, have not been paid to that enterprise owner;
(2)where an enterprise owner's notice under this section has been delivered to the determining authority, the determining authority may appoint a person, including that enterprise owner (hereinafter – the collector), to collect the shares of the other enterprise owners concerned in the estimated expenses as approved under this section, and to give the collector directions for collection and for remitting the proceeds to the enterprise owner upon whom the obligation has been imposed;
(3)where the determining authority considers that the collection of the shares of the enterprise owners who are required to participate in the estimated expenses as aforesaid involves considerable difficulty, it may determine that the collector is entitled to a collection fee, at a rate to be determined by it, and the fee shall, for the purposes of its collection, have the same status as the expenses;
(4)where the determining authority has certified in a certificate the amount collectible from a particular enterprise owner under this section, the provisions of the Tax Collection Ordinance, except for section 12 thereof, shall apply to the collection of the amount so certified.

Training Treated as Work§

20i.

The training of a worker under this Chapter, including instruction, shall for all purposes be treated as work in the enterprise in which the worker is employed.

20j.§

(Repealed — תשע״א)

Expenses of the Determining Authority§

20k.

Where the determining authority has carried out an Order pursuant to section 20g(b), it may collect the implementation expenses from the enterprise owner concerned, and where several enterprises are concerned – from each of their owners a share of the expenses bearing the same ratio to the total expenses as the number of workers employed in that enterprise at the time of giving the Order bears to the total number of workers employed at that time in all the enterprises concerned; the Tax Collection Ordinance shall apply to the collection of the expenses.

Status of the State as Employer§

20l.

Regulations under this Chapter shall also be binding on the State as an employer.

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Chapter V: Evacuation of Movable Property

21.§

(Repealed — תשע״א)

Evacuation of Movable Property§

21a.

Movable property evacuated from a shelter or a public shelter pursuant to section 9d(a)(1)(g) shall be dealt with as follows:

(1)if the owners of the movable property, or a person appearing to be authorised to act on behalf of the owners, were present at the time of the evacuation – the movable property shall be handed over to them;
(2)if they were not present, the movable property shall be stored at a place determined by the head of the Home Front Command or the district Home Front Command commander; however, if the movable property was perishable, toxic or otherwise dangerous, the person carrying out the evacuation shall deal with it in the manner appearing to that person to be most appropriate in the circumstances for the prevention or minimisation of harm to its owners, including its sale;
(3)notice of the measures taken with respect to the evacuated movable property as referred to in this section shall be delivered to its owners; a notice of storage shall also specify the power to sell as referred to in this section;
(4)movable property that has been stored pursuant to this section and has not been removed by its owners from the place of storage within thirty days from the date of delivery of the notice of storage may be sold pursuant to the directions of the head of the Home Front Command or the district Home Front Command commander;
(4a)the expenses of evacuation, storage, notice and sale pursuant to this section shall be borne by the owners of the movable property;
(5)for the avoidance of doubt it is hereby stated that movable property sold pursuant to this section shall vest in the purchaser free of any pledge, charge (security interest) or attachment that encumbered it on the eve of the sale, and after the expenses of evacuation, storage, notice and sale have been deducted from the proceeds of sale, the pledge, charge (security interest) or attachment shall apply to the proceeds of sale, and the surplus shall be paid to the owners of the movable property upon their demand;
(6)a notice of storage pursuant to this section delivered by one of the methods referred to in section 23(c) shall in every case, and notwithstanding the provisions of that section, be deemed to have been delivered at the time prescribed therein and to have come to the knowledge of the person concerned;
(7)nothing in this section shall be construed as derogating from the criminal and civil liability of the owner of the movable property for failing to evacuate it.

Indemnification§

21b.
(a)Where a committee appointed as referred to in this section has found that it is just to do so, it may require the local authority to pay to the holder of a public shelter, upon that person's written demand, the expenses, in whole or in part, of evacuating movable property that the holder carried out pursuant to a direction under section 9d(a)(1)(g) and of storing it.
(b)The Minister of Justice shall appoint for the purposes of this section a committee of three, one of whom shall be qualified to be appointed as a judge of a Magistrate's Court and shall serve as chairperson, one recommended by the Minister of Defence, and one recommended by the Minister of the Interior, provided that at least two members of the committee shall not be State employees and that an employee of the local authority shall not be a member of the committee.
22.§

(Repealed — תשע״א)

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Chapter VI: Hazardous Materials

Declaration of hazardous materials§

22a.

If the Minister of Defence considers that the dispersal of a particular material is liable to endanger human life or health or to cause damage to property, he may, by Order, declare that material to be a hazardous material for the purposes of this Law.

Supervision of possession§

22b.
(a)The Minister of Defence may, by Regulations, prescribe provisions regarding –
(1)the imposition of an obligation on persons who hold hazardous materials to furnish particulars thereof as he may prescribe, including particulars concerning the packaging of the hazardous materials, the structure in which they are held and the surroundings in which the structure is situated, and also regarding the conditions and limitations on the furnishing of particulars, the manner and time of furnishing them, and the authority to which they are to be furnished;
(2)the empowerment of an authority to order a person who has furnished particulars concerning a hazardous material pursuant to paragraph (1), or who is obliged to furnish them thereunder, to take measures to be specified in the Order of the authority that are, in the opinion of the authority, capable of preventing, during a special home front situation, danger to human life or health or harm to property in connection with the holding of the hazardous material, including its transfer to a structure of another type or to another place, and also regarding the delegation of the said authority's power;
(3)the empowerment of an authority to execute an Order under paragraph (2) during a special home front situation or during an attack, whether the Order was given before or after the declaration of the special home front situation or the commencement of the attack, in place of the person to whom the Order was given and at his expense, regarding the conditions, limitations and manner of executing such an Order by the authority, including the sale and destruction of the hazardous material and the closure of the enterprise, and also regarding the delegation of the said authority's power;
(4)restrictions or prohibitions on the transfer of hazardous materials, subject to such limitations as he may prescribe, from place to place, during an attack or during a special home front situation;
(5)methods of storage of hazardous materials.
(b)Regulations made under this Section do not derogate from provisions in any other enactment.

Power of the court regarding enforcement of an Order§

22c.

Where a person to whom an Order has been given under section 22b(a)(2) has not executed it, in whole or in part, by the time prescribed in the Order, the court may, in addition to any penalty it is empowered to impose under this Law for non-compliance with the Order, order the execution of the Order in the place of the convicted person and at his expense, or the sale of the hazardous material, and also, if the convicted person is also the owner of an enterprise that uses the hazardous material for production, marketing or a similar purpose – the closure of the enterprise or any part thereof until the Order is executed or until the material is sold, all subject to such conditions as the court sees fit to impose; this power does not derogate from the power under section 22b(a)(3).

Law applicable to sales§

22d.

Section 21a(5) shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to sales of hazardous materials under this Chapter.

Savings provisions§

22d1.

Powers under this Chapter do not derogate from the provisions of any law concerning the licensing and supervision of hazardous materials.

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Chapter VII: Personal Equipment

Imposition of a levy§

22e.

The Minister of Defence, with the consent of the Minister of Labour and with the approval of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and the Finance Committee of the Knesset, may, by Regulations, impose a levy intended for the acquisition of personal equipment for civil defence purposes (hereinafter – the levy).

Persons liable for the levy and persons entitled to receive equipment§

22f.

Regulations made under section 22e shall specify –

(1)the categories of persons among those insured under old-age citizens insurance and survivors insurance pursuant to the National Insurance Law [Consolidated Version], 5755-1995, on whom the levy shall be imposed, its rate and the time of its payment;
(2)the categories of persons entitled to receive, free of charge, personal equipment for civil defence purposes;
(3)the categories of equipment to be provided free of charge as aforesaid.

Collection by the National Insurance Institute§

22g.

The levy shall be collected by the National Insurance Institute and transferred by it to the State Treasury, after deduction of the administrative expenses incurred by it in its collection; the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Labour shall prescribe the rate of such expenses by Order.

The levy – addition to insurance contributions§

22h.

The levy shall be collected as an addition to old-age citizens insurance and survivors insurance contributions pursuant to the National Insurance Law [Consolidated Version], 5755-1995, from a person liable to pay those contributions, and all the provisions concerning old-age citizens insurance and survivors insurance contributions in that Law shall apply also to the levy, mutatis mutandis and in the absence of any other provision in this Chapter or thereunder; however, notwithstanding anything provided in that Law, an employer may deduct from an employee's wages the full amount of the levy paid by him on behalf of the employee.

Distribution of equipment and its care§

22i.

With respect to equipment provided free of charge under this Law, the Minister of Defence may prescribe by Regulations –

(1)the manner and times of its distribution to each category of entitled persons;
(2)the circumstances in which alone it may be exchanged free of charge for equipment of the same type, and in the case of loss – equipment of the same type may be provided in its place;
(3)the manner of its possession and care;
(4)the time and circumstances in which it must be carried, fitted or used in any other manner.

Jurisdiction of the Labour Court§

22j.

The regional court under the Labour Court Law, 5729-1969, shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all matters relating to liability for the levy.

Equipment purchased by payment§

22k.

The Minister of Defence, with the approval of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Knesset, may, by Regulations, impose an obligation, generally or on a category of persons, to equip themselves at their own expense with personal equipment for civil defence purposes, other than equipment provided free of charge under this Chapter – for the obligated persons themselves and for the minors residing with them, and also to give directions regarding the prescribing of the time and circumstances in which the equipment must be carried, fitted or used in any other manner.

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