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Credit Data Law, 5776-2016

חוק נתוני אשראי, תשע"ו-2016

Published: 2016-04-12Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2026-07-30 · Last amended 2026-07-26✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-17
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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

This English text was translated from the official Hebrew using a range of translation tools, and it undergoes ongoing checks and updates. It is not a certified translation.

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.

This translation is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For use in legal proceedings, request a certified Expert Legal Opinion.

Chapter XV: Miscellaneous Provisions

Identity Verification§

106.

The Bank of Israel may, for the purpose of carrying out its functions under this Law, act to verify the identity of a customer.

Identifying Particulars Included in Credit Data§

107.

The Minister, with the approval of the Committee, shall prescribe the identifying particulars of a customer that shall be included in credit data transferred by an information source to the database under Chapter VI and the identifying particulars as aforesaid that shall be included in credit data delivered by the Bank of Israel from the database under Chapter VII.

Retention of Information Designated for a Particular Credit Bureau§

108.
(a)The Governor may prescribe that an authorised source transferring credit data to the database under section 19(d) shall be entitled, where conditions prescribed by the Governor, in consultation with the Commissioner of Competition and with the approval of the Committee, are met, to request the Bank of Israel that the credit data it has provided be retained in the database separately from the other credit data and that they be transferred only to the credit bureaux it requests; where the Governor has so prescribed, the Bank of Israel shall retain the information in the database accordingly and shall not grant access to information retained as aforesaid except to the credit bureaux requested by the authorised source.
(b)Where the Minister has prescribed under section 19(e) that the authorised source referred to in subsection (a) is required to transfer information to the database, the provisions of that subsection shall not apply.

Delivery of Notice to Customer on Commencement of Data Collection§

109.

The database manager shall deliver to the customer a written notice of the commencement of the collection of credit data relating to the customer in the database, which shall include, inter alia, the customer's right to submit a request for non-inclusion of data under section 22 or a request for non-disclosure of data under section 30, and the customer's right to receive, once a year, a data summary report free of charge; such a notice shall be delivered to the customer within 30 days from the date of commencement of data collection, in the manner prescribed by the Governor.

Prohibition on Requiring Credit Data for the Purpose of Employment§

110.
(a)A person shall not request, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of employing another, whether within the framework of an employment relationship or otherwise, credit data or a credit rating relating to that other person, including by way of a declaration or written questionnaire, shall not receive such data, and shall not make use of them; the provisions of this section shall not apply to credit data relating to a customer that are published pursuant to law.
(b)Where a person has requested credit data, received credit data or made use of them in contravention of the provisions of subsection (a), the court may order that person to pay to the person to whom the credit data relate compensation without proof of damage in an amount not exceeding the amount prescribed in section 29a(b) of the Privacy Protection Law, 5741-1981.
(c)The provisions of this section shall apply also to the State.
(d)The Labour Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear a claim by an employee or a job applicant in respect of a violation of the provisions of subsection (a).

Restriction on Inclusion of Data in the Database and Their Disclosure, on Grounds of State Security or its Foreign Relations§

111.

The Bank of Israel shall not include certain credit data in the database and shall not disclose certain credit data from the database, at the request of the head of a security body or a person authorised by such head for that purpose, on grounds of State security or its foreign relations and in accordance with a procedure to be established for that purpose by the Bank of Israel and the security bodies, with the approval of a subcommittee of the Economics Committee of the Knesset, to be established in accordance with the provisions of section 5 of the Knesset Law, 5754-1994, and the provisions of that section shall apply to its deliberations; in this section, "security body" — the Israel Defence Forces, the General Security Service, the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, the Ministry of Defence and units attached to the Ministry of Defence.

Extension of Application to Corporations§

112.

The Governor, in consultation with the Minister and with the approval of the Committee, may, for the purpose of achieving the objects of this Law, prescribe that the information sources required to transfer credit data relating to a customer under Chapter VI, all or some of them, shall also be required to transfer to the database credit data relating to corporations of a type to be prescribed; in rules as aforesaid the Governor shall prescribe, inter alia, provisions regarding the type of credit data to be transferred, the manner of their retention in the database, the conditions for their disclosure from the database and the use thereof.

Report to the Knesset — Temporary Provision§

113.
(a)The Governor shall report to the Committee, once a year, on the implementation of the provisions of this Law, including the following:
(1)research stages regarding the contribution of the database to achieving the objects of this Law;
(2)changes in the retail credit market and in the volume of retail credit;
(3)the activities of the database, the database manager, the Supervisor and the Privacy Protection Supervisor;
(4)the supervision and control measures taken under this Law, including measures regarding the development of statistical models, as well as the number of financial sanctions imposed, their amounts, the violations for which they were imposed and the number of repeat violations committed out of the total violations;
(5)the number of public complaints filed and their subject matter, the reasons for not investigating complaints, if any, and the handling of deficiencies that arose from the complaints;
(6)the effect of credit data transferred to the database by the electricity company on the credit rating of customers;
(7)the number of customers for whom there is no credit rating and the number of customers who submitted a request for non-inclusion of their credit data in the database or for non-disclosure of their data under sections 22 or 30, as the case may be, as well as the number of customers, among those customers, who gave their consent to the transfer of a credit report under section 26(a)(4);
(8)notices submitted by the Supervisor to the Minister or to the Governor, as the case may be, of the Supervisor's intention to issue directives, under section 68(b).
(b)A report as referred to in subsection (a) shall be delivered to the Committee during the five years from the end of one year from the date of commencement of this Law; however, a report in respect of paragraph (6) of that subsection shall be delivered during the five years from the date of the commencement date in respect of the electricity company under section 123(d).
(c)Upon completion of the research referred to in subsection (a)(1), the Bank of Israel shall transmit its results to the Committee.

Tort§

114.

An act or omission contrary to the provisions of this Law is a tort, and the provisions of the Civil Wrongs Ordinance [New Version] shall apply thereto, subject to the provisions of this Law.

Implementation and Regulations§

115.

The Minister is responsible for the implementation of this Law, and may make Regulations for its implementation.

Fees§

116.
(a)The Governor, in consultation with the Minister of Finance and with the approval of the Committee, may prescribe, by Order, provisions regarding fees as set out below:
(1)a fee for the disclosure of information from the database, and the Governor may prescribe different fees for different users;
(2)a fee for a licence;
(3)an annual fee to be imposed on a credit bureau and a traders' information bureau.
(b)In an Order under subsection (a), the Governor may prescribe the methods of payment of the fees and the times of payment, and may prescribe linkage differentials and interest in respect of a fee not paid on time.
(c)Fees under this section shall be paid to the Bank of Israel.

Prohibition on Contracting Out§

117.

The provisions of this Law may not be derogated from by contract.

Repeal of the Credit Data Service Law§

118.

The Credit Data Service Law, 5762-2002 — is repealed.

Amendment of Private Investigators and Security Services Law – No. 5§

119.

In the Private Investigators and Security Services Law, 5732-1972, in section 1, in the definition "private investigator", in place of "to a licence holder under the Credit Data Service Law, 5762-2002" there shall come "to a traders' information bureau under the Credit Data Law, 5776-2016".

Amendment of Cheques Without Cover Law – No. 12§

120.

In the Cheques Without Cover Law, 5741-1981, in section 15, in place of "implementation of the Credit Data Service Law, 5762-2002" there shall come "implementation of the Credit Data Law, 5776-2016".

Amendment of Banking Law (Customer Service) – No. 20§

121.

In the Banking Law (Customer Service), 5741-1981, in section 5a1(b), paragraph (5) – shall be deleted.

Amendment of Administrative Courts Law – No. 97§

122.

In the Administrative Courts Law, 5760-2000, in the First Schedule, in item 17, in place of "Credit Data Service Law, 5762-2002" there shall come "Credit Data Law, 5776-2016".

Commencement§

123.
(a)This Law shall commence 30 months from the date of its publication (hereinafter – the commencement date); if the Minister is satisfied that a postponement of the commencement date is required for the purpose of preparing for the operation of the credit data sharing arrangement under this Law, he may, with the consent of the Governor and the Minister of Finance, postpone, by Order –
(1)the commencement date by six months;
(2)the commencement date, with the approval of the Committee, for an additional period not exceeding six months at a time, provided that the total of all postponements shall not exceed four years from the date of publication of the Law.
(b)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), the Governor, with the consent of the Minister, may determine that the commencement of the provisions under this Law, including the directives of the Commissioner, with respect to the transfer of information from the information sources to the database, as he shall specify by Order, shall be at an earlier date than the date referred to in subsection (a), if he finds that this is required for the purpose of preparing for the operation of the arrangement referred to in subsection (a) on the commencement date.
(c)
(1)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) and without derogating from the provisions of section 19(c), the commencement of the provisions of sections 19(a)(5) and 37 shall be two years from the commencement date (in this subsection – the commencement date for the electricity company);
(2)the Minister, the Minister of Finance or the Governor may, by Order, four months before the commencement date for the electricity company, postpone the commencement date for the electricity company for additional periods not exceeding two years each;
(3)at least three months before the commencement date for the electricity company, the Minister shall bring before the Committee for approval Regulations in respect of section 19(b) regarding the credit data that the electricity company will be required to transfer to the database under this Law; Knesset recess days shall not be counted in the said period; if the Committee has not approved the Regulations, the Committee shall notify the Minister thereof, and the provisions of sections 19(a)(5) and 37 shall not apply to the electricity company; the Minister shall publish a notice thereof in Reshumot (Official Gazette).
(d)Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), if Regulations under section 97 have not been made, the commencement of Chapter XIV shall be deferred until the date of their making.

Initial Regulations and Rules§

124.
(a)Initial rules under sections 7(e) and 8 shall be made no later than six months before the commencement date.
(b)Initial Regulations and rules under sections 19(a)(9) and (b), 22(e) and (g), 26(a)(3) and (c), 30(d), 35(a), 36, 38(a) and (c), 42(b), 49, 60(c), 107, 109 and 125(d) shall be made by the commencement date.

Transitional Provisions§

125.
(a)A person who, on the eve of the commencement date, holds a traders' data service licence and has not been granted a licence by the Commissioner under Chapter X by the commencement date, and also a person who, on the eve of the commencement date, holds a credit data service licence, shall deliver the credit data in the database in his possession to the Registrar of Databases, as the Registrar shall direct, and the Registrar shall retain the database for a period of two years.
(b)Documents and databases that were retained pursuant to the provisions of regulation 81 of the Credit Data Service Regulations, 5764-2004, on the eve of the commencement date, shall be retained by the Registrar of Databases until the expiry of six months from the commencement date; however, documents and databases as aforesaid that were delivered between the date of publication of this Law and the commencement date shall be retained for at least two years from the date of their delivery to the Registrar of Databases.
(c)Notwithstanding the provisions of section 109, a notice as referred to in that section in respect of customers whose data collection in the database begins on the commencement date shall be published in clear and plain language by the Bank of Israel, in Reshumot (Official Gazette) and also in four daily newspapers with wide circulation in Israel, two of them in Hebrew, one in Arabic and one in Russian, in television and radio broadcasts, on the Bank of Israel's website and in an accessible and prominent place on widely used websites.
(d)The Minister, with the consent of the Governor and the Minister of Finance and with the approval of the Committee, shall determine the period to which the credit data transferred to the database on the commencement date or on the date determined pursuant to section 123(c), as the case may be, shall relate, and he may determine such a period commencing before the date of publication of this Law.
(e)Without derogating from the provisions of any law, the Commissioner may, before the commencement date, give directives regarding the retention of information for the purpose of its delivery to the database by a banking corporation or a payment instrument issuer, before the commencement date and for the period he has directed.
(f)The powers of the Registrar of Databases under Chapter VII of the Credit Data Service Law, as worded on the eve of the commencement date (in this section – the repealed Law), shall continue to apply in respect of a breach of a provision of that Law committed before the commencement date and the supervisory powers under Chapter III of that Law shall vest in the Registrar in respect of an act or omission committed before the commencement date.
(g)
(1)In respect of a person who breached a provision of the repealed Law before the commencement date, as specified in section 42 of that Law, the provisions of sections 42 to 48 of that Law shall continue to apply to him;
(2)a person who breached the provisions of subsection (a) shall be subject to the provisions of section 42(a) opening passage of the repealed Law.
(h)If an offence under sections 49 or 50 of the repealed Law was committed before the commencement date, the repeal of that Law under section 118 of this Law shall not be regarded as a repeal of the prohibition thereof for the purposes of section 4 of the Penal Law, 5737-1977.
(i)Among the members of the public serving on the Advisory Committee who are appointed for the first time, three members shall be appointed for the following terms: one shall be appointed for one year and two shall be appointed for two years, and this period shall not be counted as a term of office for the purposes of section 72(b).

Temporary Provision§

126.

During the period from the commencement date until the day before the day determined within the meaning of sections 56 and 57(c) of the Postal Law (Amendment No. 11), 5772-2012, the definition "postal bank" in section 19 of this Law shall be read as follows:

""postal bank" – the company as defined in the Postal Law, 5746-1986, in its provision of financial services as defined in that Law on behalf of the subsidiary, within the meaning of section 88k of that Law;".

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