Law for the Prevention of Asbestos and Harmful Dust Hazards, 5771-2011

The purpose of this Law is to prevent and reduce environmental and health hazards caused by asbestos and harmful dust and to deal with such hazards, inter alia by means of —

and all of this for the purpose of ensuring the existence of a proper environment, in accordance with the precautionary principle, for the prevention and reduction of environmental and health hazards, for the improvement of the quality of life and the environment, for the benefit of the public and for the benefit of future generations.

In this Law —

"harmful dust" — dust liable to cause lung diseases or other health harm, originating from materials as prescribed by the Minister under the provisions of section 71;

"asbestos" — a natural fibrous mineral from the asbestos group, including amosite (Amosite), chrysotile (Chrysotile), crocidolite (Crocidolite), anthophyllite (Anthophyllite), tremolite (Tremolite), actinolite (Actinolite), and also any material, product or mixture containing one or more of the said minerals, at a rate exceeding one per cent of the weight or volume of the material, product or mixture, as the case may be, in any form, composition or use;

"friable asbestos" — asbestos, including any material, product or mixture containing asbestos, that is in a crumbled, crushed or powder form, or that can be crumbled, crushed or reduced to powder by manual contact when in a dry state;

"asbestos cement" — a product containing a mixture of asbestos and cement in a rigid state;

"asbestos waste site" — a place used for the burial of asbestos and asbestos waste, or as a transfer station for the storage of asbestos waste prior to its burial, operated by an operator of such a place;

"laboratory test" — a laboratory test for the presence of asbestos fibres in an air sample or of asbestos in a bulk sample;

"owner" or "owners", of real property, including a public place — an owner, a long-term lessee or a person entitled to be registered in the real property registers as an owner or as a long-term lessee, all within the meaning given to those terms in the Land Law, 5729-1969; for this purpose, where the real property is Israel Lands within the meaning of Basic Law: Israel Lands, which have been leased under a long-term lease or in respect of which the right to be registered as a long-term lessee has been transferred, only the long-term lessee or the person entitled to be registered as a long-term lessee shall be regarded as the owner of the real property;

"air sample" — a sample taken for the purpose of testing for the presence of asbestos fibres in the air;

"bulk sample" — a sample taken for the purpose of testing for the presence of asbestos in a material, product or mixture;

"asbestos sampler" — a person holding an asbestos sampler licence, under the provisions of section 20;

"arrears charges" and "shekel interest" — as defined in the Interest and Linkage Adjudication Law;

"the Committee" — the Professional Committee for Asbestos and Harmful Dust appointed under section 42;

"asbestos work permit" — a permit to perform asbestos work issued by the Commissioner under Chapter VI;

"Environmental Protection Law" — the Environmental Protection Law (Inspection and Enforcement Powers), 5771-2011;

"Interest and Linkage Adjudication Law" — the Interest and Linkage Adjudication Law, 5721-1961;

"Cleanliness Maintenance Law" — the Cleanliness Maintenance Law, 5744-1984;

"commencement day" — the day of commencement of this Law, as stated in section 84;

"industrial installation" — an installation or supply pipeline of an industrial plant, whether the installation or pipeline is active or not, situated within the plant's area or outside it;

"the Commissioner" — the Asbestos Commissioner appointed under section 47;

"the Director" — the Asbestos Licensing Director appointed under section 47;

"analysis laboratory" — a laboratory holding a licence to perform laboratory tests, issued under section 19(a), or a laboratory outside Israel recognised under section 19(b);

"sampling laboratory" — a laboratory holding a licence to take air samples, issued under section 20(a);

"security establishment" — any of the following:

"asbestos hazard" or "hazard" — the presence of asbestos fibres in the air or the release of asbestos fibres into the air, including any of the following:

"asbestos waste site operator" — a manager or holder of an asbestos waste site who has been issued a licence under the provisions of section 22;

"friable asbestos inspector" — a person holding a friable asbestos inspector licence, under the provisions of section 18;

"public place" — a place intended for public use and not intended for residential use, including any building situated within its boundaries, and also a place whose primary designation or use is one of those listed below, even if it does not serve and is not intended to serve the public or is intended for residential use:

"office holder" — as defined in the Companies Law, 5759-1999;

"asbestos surveyor" — a person holding an asbestos surveyor licence, under the provisions of section 21;

"asbestos fibres" — fibres of asbestos whose length exceeds 5 microns and the ratio of whose length to diameter equals or exceeds three;

"asbestos work" — work performed on asbestos, including repair, dismantling, removal, demolition, evacuation, cutting, hazard clearance, transportation, burial, covering, excavation or drilling in land in which asbestos has been buried, but not including the painting of asbestos cement;

"responsible worker" — a worker who has received approval under the provisions of section 17;

"person engaged in asbestos" — an asbestos contractor, friable asbestos inspector, responsible worker, asbestos sampler, asbestos waste site operator, sampling laboratory, analysis laboratory or asbestos surveyor;

"personal interest" of a person — including a personal interest of a relative or of a body in which the person or a relative is a controlling shareholder, director, office holder or responsible worker;

"asbestos waste" — including asbestos that has been dismantled, damaged or broken, and also asbestos that is not in use or whose use has not been permitted under this Law;

"inspector" — an inspector authorised under section 51;

"administrative order in respect of asbestos" — an order issued under section 49;

"asbestos contractor" — an asbestos cement contractor or a friable asbestos contractor;

"friable asbestos contractor" — a person holding a friable asbestos contractor licence, under the provisions of section 16(b);

"asbestos cement contractor" — a person holding an asbestos cement contractor licence, under the provisions of section 16(a);

"relative" of a person — a spouse, parent, grandparent, descendant, brother or sister, a descendant of a spouse and the spouses of each of the foregoing, or another person who is dependent on the person, and also a partner, employer or employee of such a person;

"the Cleanliness Maintenance Fund" — the fund established under section 10 of the Cleanliness Maintenance Law;

"control" — as defined in the Securities Law, 5728-1968;

"the Minister" — the Minister for Environmental Protection.

"system management licence holder" — as its meaning in the Electricity Sector Law;

"Electricity Sector Law" — the Electricity Sector Law, 5756-1996;

"harm" — harm to the reliability of electricity supply to the Gush Dan area in accordance with the electricity consumption forecast for that area, as projected by the system management licence holder;

"Electricity Authority" — as its meaning in section 21 of the Electricity Sector Law;

For the purpose of ensuring compliance with provisions under this Law, including with respect to the manner of implementation of Sections 3 to 8, the Director may —