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Plant Protection Law, 5716-1956

חוק הגנת הצומח, תשט"ז-1956

Published: 1956-07-27Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2023-09-18 · Last amended 2023-06-06✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-06
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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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Definitions§

1.

In this Law –

"plant" – includes its fruit and every part of a plant;

"plant product" – processed and unprocessed material derived, wholly or partly, from a plant, excluding –

(1)liquids and oils;
(2)food products that have undergone a process of sterilisation, pasteurisation, fermentation or salting;
(3)food products that have undergone another industrial process that, in the opinion of the Minister of Agriculture as he shall determine by Order, is capable of destroying pests;

"pest" – a living or vegetable organism, including a bacterium and a virus, whose nature is to cause diseases in plants or to cause them harm in any other manner;

"ancillary means" – any container or packing material for plants or plant products, as well as a structure, vehicle, instrument, soil, manure, chemical substance or other material intended to serve or that has served for the growing, collecting, picking, storing, transporting or other handling of plants;

"owner" – in relation to real property, plants, plant products and ancillary means – includes a person in whose possession or custody they are.

"chemical substance" – includes micro-organisms.

Power to Make Regulations for Plant Protection§

2.
(a)The Minister of Agriculture may, to the extent he considers necessary in order to prevent pests and their spread, make Regulations for the following purposes –
(1)to prohibit, restrict or regulate the movement of plants, plant products, pests and ancillary means;
(2)to prohibit, restrict or regulate the import and export of plants, plant products, pests and ancillary means, including the issuance of certificates as to the health and origin of plants and plant products intended for export; however, Regulations concerning the import of fresh fruit and vegetables shall be made in consultation with the Minister of Finance;
(3)to prohibit, restrict or regulate the production of plants for propagation and their sale;
(4)to regulate the sale and distribution of chemical substances intended for the eradication of pests, their packing and import, including the setting of standards for such substances in respect of sale and distribution.
(b)The power of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development under this Section and under section 7, in respect of maximum permitted levels of pesticide residues in food on matters to which provisions in Column A of the Second Schedule A to the Public Health (Food) Protection Law, 5776-2015 apply, shall apply only in respect of food exempted under Column C of that Schedule or in respect of the conditions and exemptions set out in Column B of that Schedule.

Substances for the Regulation of Growth§

2a.

The Minister of Agriculture may, by Order, regulate, restrict or prohibit the import, packing, sale and distribution of substances intended for the regulation of the growth of plants and the regulation of yield.

Power to Carry Out Pest Eradication Operations§

2a1.
(a)The Minister of Agriculture may carry out, throughout the State or in any part thereof, operations for the eradication of pests, including the destruction of plants and ancillary means, whether infested or not (hereinafter – pest control operations), if he considers it necessary in order to prevent the spread of pests, after consulting an advisory committee under section 9 for pest control matters (hereinafter – the Pest Control Committee).
(b)Where the Minister of Agriculture has decided upon pest control operations, the Pest Control Committee shall itself, or through another, prepare and approve a plan for the execution of the operations (hereinafter – pest control plan); the particulars to be included in the plan, the conditions of its execution and the manner of its publication shall be prescribed by Regulations.

Composition of the Pest Control Committee§

2b.

The Pest Control Committee shall be composed of public representatives and State employees, who shall be appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, provided that it shall include at least one representative of the Minister of Health, one of the Nature Reserves Authority and one of the National Parks Authority, and at least one-third of its members shall be public representatives.

Authorisation to Execute Pest Control Operations§

2c.

The Minister of Agriculture may, in accordance with a pest control plan, authorise a person, subject to conditions he shall prescribe, to carry out pest control operations (hereinafter – the authorised holder).

Appeals Committee§

2d.
(a)A person who considers himself aggrieved by the execution of a pest control plan may appeal against it, within 14 days of the date of its publication, before an appeals committee of three: one who serves or is qualified to serve as a judge of a Magistrate's Court, who shall be appointed by the Minister of Justice and shall be the chairperson of the committee, and two who shall be appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, at least one of whom shall not be a State employee.
(b)The appeals committee may allow the appeal in whole or in part and introduce amendments to the pest control plan subject to such conditions and qualifications as appear to it to be necessary for the execution of its decision; the Minister of Justice may make Regulations prescribing the procedure before the committee.

Request by Owner of Contiguous Area to Execute Operations Himself§

2e.
(a)The owner of real property whose area is not less than 300 contiguous dunams, including a person entitled to receive the agricultural produce thereof in the field, may, within ten days of the date of publication of a pest control plan relating to that area, request the Pest Control Committee to permit him to carry out thereon, himself or through his agents, the operations for the eradication of pests, in accordance with the pest control plan.
(b)The Pest Control Committee may approve the request subject to such conditions and qualifications as it sees fit, or without conditions and qualifications, or may reject it.
(c)The Pest Control Committee shall notify its decision to the Minister of Agriculture, to the applicant and to the authorised holder.

Appeal by Owner of Contiguous Area§

2f.

A person whose request under section 2e was rejected, in whole or in part, or an applicant who considers himself aggrieved by conditions or qualifications imposed by the Pest Control Committee under that section, may appeal against the decision of the committee before the appeals committee within ten days of the date on which the decision was notified to him.

Eradication Operations in Security Areas§

2g.

The authorisation of an authorised holder to eradicate pests from areas held by the Israel Defence Forces or by the defence establishment or used by them (in this section – security areas) and all those acting on behalf of the authorised holder in such areas, as well as the fixing of dates for the execution of eradication operations therein, shall require the approval of the Minister of Defence or of a person authorised by him for that purpose by notice in Reshumot (Official Gazette).

Notice of Dates of Execution§

2h.
(a)Notice of the dates of execution of operations under a pest control plan shall be published in two daily newspapers read in the area of the pest control operations and on the radio, and notice shall be given to the relevant local authorities; a plan which the Minister is satisfied must be executed urgently, or unforeseen changes to the plan that occurred close to the date stated in the notice, may be executed without publication thereof in newspapers and without notice to the local authorities.
(b)Where the pest control substance is not likely to cause harm to the health of a person, or to the health of livestock or poultry, the Minister of Agriculture may exempt from the obligation to give any notice, if he is satisfied that it is necessary for the efficient execution of the pest control plan.

Approval of Expenses§

2i.
(a)Within 60 days after the execution of the pest control plan, the executing party shall submit to the Pest Control Committee a full itemisation of his expenses in the form directed by the Pest Control Committee (hereinafter – execution expenses).
(b)The Pest Control Committee may approve reasonable execution expenses submitted to it, or may omit or reduce any amount that in its opinion was expended unnecessarily for the execution or that is excessive.

Imposition of Expenses on Owners of Real Property§

2j.
(a)The owner of real property in which an operation under a pest control plan was carried out, or of any other real property in respect of which the operation assisted in the prevention or control of pests therein – including a person entitled to receive the agricultural produce of that real property in the field – shall bear the expenses.
(b)Where the pest control plan was executed by an authorised holder, the Minister of Agriculture shall determine the rate of participation in accordance with the execution expenses approved by the Pest Control Committee.
(c)The Minister of Agriculture shall determine, in respect of each pest control plan, the criteria and methods by which the rate of participation in the execution expenses of the plan shall be determined for those obligated to bear them.
(d)A person who considers himself aggrieved by the rate determined for his participation in the execution expenses may appeal before the appeals committee within seven days of the date on which the rate was notified to him.

Payment Demand§

2k.
(a)The Director of the Plant Protection Department in the Ministry of Agriculture or a person appointed for the purposes of this Section by the Minister of Agriculture (hereinafter – the Director) shall deliver to the person liable for pest control expenses a payment demand specifying the amount due from him in accordance with the determination of the Minister of Agriculture, the date of payment and the name and address of the person entitled to receive it; the delivery of such a payment demand is a precondition for the collection of pest control expenses under a pest control plan.
(b)The content of the payment demand and the manner and dates of its delivery shall be prescribed by Regulations.

Enforcement§

2l.

A payment demand shall have, in all matters relating to enforcement, the right of appeal and any other matter, the same force as a judgment of a court in a civil action for payment of the amount specified in the payment demand, except that the filing of an appeal shall stay enforcement; where an appeal has been filed with a District Court, its decision shall not be subject to further appeal.

Set-Off§

2m.
(a)Without derogating from the right of the State or of an authorised holder to collect what is due to them under a payment demand by any other means, the amount so due may be set off against monies owed by the State or by the authorised holder to the owner of the real property or to the person entitled to receive agricultural produce in the field, all as the case may be.
(b)Once there is no longer any appeal against a payment demand, the Director may also deliver to a council for the production and marketing of agricultural produce or to a council for the marketing of agricultural produce lawfully established or incorporated – a notice obligating it to transfer the amounts specified in the payment demand to the persons entitled to them thereunder, all to the extent that monies are owed or will in the future be owed by that council to the person liable under the payment demand; a council established or incorporated as aforesaid shall hereinafter be referred to as a "marketing council".

Deduction by a Marketing Council§

2n.
(a)The Minister of Agriculture may, by notice in Reshumot (Official Gazette), permit an authorised holder that is a marketing council distributing among producers the proceeds of produce it marketed itself or through others (hereinafter – marketing contractors) to deduct the pest control expenses at the rates determined under section 2j from the proceeds due to producers in whose area, or in areas adjacent to their area, the pest control operation was carried out.
(b)A council that has deducted pest control expenses as aforesaid shall deliver, within the payment account or separately, notice to the producers or to the marketing contractors who shall notify the producers accordingly.
(c)A deduction notice delivered to a producer by the council or by a marketing contractor shall have the same force as a payment demand delivered by the Director to a person liable under section 2k.
(d)For the purposes of this section, a body affiliated with a marketing contractor, or a person acting on behalf of a contractor for the marketing of agricultural produce (hereinafter – sub-contractor), shall be treated as a marketing contractor.
(e)In an appeal against a deduction of pest control expenses by the marketing council – the council shall be the respondent; in such an appeal by a marketing contractor – both the council and the contractor shall be the respondents; and in an appeal against a sub-contractor – all three, the council, the marketing contractor and the sub-contractor, shall be the respondents.

Marketing Council as Authorised Holder§

2o.

The Minister of Agriculture may authorise a marketing council to be an authorised holder, and upon doing so the authorisation shall have effect even if the law under which the marketing council was established, or its constitutive documents, did not confer upon it the power to do so, and notwithstanding anything stated therein.

Regulation of Plant Cultivation§

2p.
(a)The Minister of Agriculture may, by Order, regulate, restrict or prohibit the cultivation of particular plants in a specified area for a specified period as he shall determine, to the extent he considers necessary in order to prevent pests or their spread.
(b)An Order under subsection (a) shall expire at the end of 60 days from the date on which it was made, unless it has been approved or annulled by a decision of the Economics Committee of the Knesset before the expiry of that period, provided that the period between sessions of the Knesset shall not be counted.

Provisions Concerning the Import of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables§

2q.
(a)In this section –

"country of origin" – as defined under this Law;

"licensing authority" – the holder of authority to grant a licence for the import of fresh fruit and vegetables under this Law;

"licence", "licensing" – includes any administrative direction given to an importer under this Law that is a condition for the import of fresh fruit and vegetables;

"Regulatory Authority" – the authority as defined in the Principles of Regulation Law, 5782-2021.

(b)The following provisions shall apply to the import of fresh fruit and vegetables for which a licence is required under law:
(1)The licensing authority shall, for the purpose of granting licences for the import of fresh fruit and vegetables, carry out the following actions:
(a)proactive and ongoing mapping of pests with potential to infiltrate and spread in Israel, in respect of fresh fruit and vegetables from all countries of the world (in this section – global mapping);
(b)identification of fresh fruit and vegetables whose import may cause the infiltration into Israel of a wide range of pests according to the findings of the global mapping and their spread therein (in this section – products with a particularly high phytosanitary risk);
(c)a decision by the licensing authority to change the classification of a fresh fruit or vegetable as a product with a particularly high phytosanitary risk shall be made on grounds of plant protection alone and in accordance with the provisions set out in international conventions to which Israel is a party and with the recommendations and guidelines published by international organisations, and shall require consultation with experts in the fields of plant protection, including the fields of pests and plant disease agents, all in the context of the phytosanitary risk in question, as well as with the Regulatory Authority;
(d)determination of alternatives for reducing the risks from the import of fresh fruit and vegetables that are not products with a particularly high phytosanitary risk, in respect of each pest according to the findings of the global mapping;
(e)approaching the plant protection service of the country of origin to obtain information, whether proactively or upon request, and conducting a professional discussion therewith, for the purpose of determining specific conditions for the import of each fresh fruit or vegetable on the basis of the alternatives determined under sub-paragraph (d); where such a request has been submitted, the licensing authority shall respond to the applicant within a reasonable time;
(f)determination of specific conditions for the import of each fresh fruit or vegetable from a particular country of origin, in accordance with the information received in the discussion referred to in sub-paragraph (e); such conditions shall be published on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;
(g)following publication as referred to in sub-paragraph (f), the licensing authority shall immediately enable the licensing procedures for the import of fresh fruit and vegetables, on the basis of the conditions determined.
(2)The licensing authority shall formulate the following:
(a)a service charter for the process of authorising the import of fresh fruit and vegetables, in order to enable transparency and accessibility of information and of import authorisation processes to the public; the service charter shall include service targets, clear indicators for their achievement and timelines for handling applications;
(b)an internal procedure for the regulation of the import of fresh fruit and vegetables; the text of the procedure as formulated and any amendments thereto, if any, shall be submitted for consultation with the Regulatory Authority, without derogating from the provisions of the Principles of Regulation Law, 5782-2021, or any other law.
(c)The service charter and the internal procedure referred to in subsection (b)(2) shall be published on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; the first such publication shall be no later than the 19th of Tevet 5784 (31 December 2023).

Power to Require Pest Eradication§

3.
(a)The Minister of Agriculture may, by Order, to the extent he deems necessary in order to prevent pests or their spread, require the owners of real property, of plants or of plant products and of ancillary means, to carry out eradication operations, including the destruction of plants and plant products, whether infested or uninfested, and the destruction of ancillary means, excluding structures and vehicles.
(b)An Order as aforesaid may be general or individual.

Licence for Pest Eradication§

4.
(a)The Minister of Agriculture may, by Regulations, prohibit engagement in pest eradication without a licence and prescribe conditions for the grant of the licence and the manner of its use.
(b)This provision does not apply to farmers who eradicate pests for the needs of their farms, when they eradicate them within the area of their locality, whether individually or jointly.

Compulsory Insurance§

5.

The Minister of Agriculture may by Regulations require licence holders for pest eradication, and the eradication committee may by an eradication plan require authorisation holders, to insure themselves and those employed by them, for the benefit of themselves and any third party, against any damage or loss resulting from an operation for pest eradication, and the Minister of Agriculture may prescribe by Regulations the manner and scope of the insurance.

Approval of Equipment and Working Methods§

6.

The Minister of Agriculture may, by Regulations, prohibit, in the eradication of pests with chemical substances, the use of equipment and working methods that have not received approval from an authority to be prescribed by him.

Regulation of the Use of Chemical Substances§

7.

If the Minister of Agriculture is of the opinion that certain chemical substances for pest eradication pose a danger to persons, animals or plants, he may, by Regulations, prohibit, restrict or regulate the use of such substances for the purposes of this Law.

Fees§

8.

The Minister of Agriculture may make Regulations concerning fees for a service rendered by a public employee pursuant to provisions under this Law, including the grant of licences, permits and approvals, and for applications for the provision of such a service.

Advisory Committees§

9.

The Minister of Agriculture shall appoint, for the purposes of this Law, advisory committees composed of representatives of the public and of State employees, and shall not make Regulations under this Law except after consultation with an advisory committee appointed as aforesaid.

Appointment of Plant Inspectors§

10.

The Minister of Agriculture shall appoint inspectors for the purposes of this Law (hereinafter – plant inspector).

Right of Entry§

11.
(a)A plant inspector may enter at any reasonable hour any place, except a dwelling house, and board any vehicle and carry out a search therein if it appears to him necessary to do so for the performance of his duties.
(b)The executor of an eradication plan and those employed by him shall be entitled to enter at any reasonable time any place, except a dwelling house, in order to carry out therein any operation required in the performance of the plan or in order to supervise or inspect the performance.
(c)No person shall be liable in torts for an act done in the performance of an operation under this Law that was necessary for the performance of the operation, provided that reasonable measures were taken to prevent the torts; however, the Minister of Agriculture may, at his discretion, compensate, or direct the authorisation holder to compensate, the injured party for the damage caused to him as a result of the performance of an eradication plan, in whole or in part, and determine the rate of compensation.

Investigations§

11a.

The Minister of Police may authorise, by a general or special Order, and for a period not exceeding 12 months, an inspector appointed under section 10, to conduct investigations for the purpose of preventing offences against this Law and the Regulations made thereunder or for the purpose of detecting them, and an inspector as aforesaid shall be entitled to exercise all the powers conferred on a police officer of the rank of inspector and above under section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Testimony).

Right of Examination§

12.

A plant inspector may, if it appears to him necessary to do so for the performance of his duties, examine plants, plant products and ancillary means and take samples therefrom, without payment of compensation, in order to examine them in a laboratory or to deal with them in any other manner.

Performance by an Inspector§

13.

Where a person is required under this Law or a regulation thereunder to perform an operation and has not performed it within the prescribed time, a plant inspector may perform that operation at the expense of that person.

Right of Seizure§

14.
(a)If a plant inspector has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence against a provision of this Law or a regulation thereunder has been committed in relation to plants, plant products, pests, chemical substances intended for pest eradication, containers and packing materials or ancillary means – excluding structures and vehicles – or that they are likely to facilitate the detection of such an offence or to serve as evidence in proceedings therefor, he may seize them.
(b)A thing seized as aforesaid shall be held until the court decides what is to be done with it or until it is returned to the person from whom it was seized.
(c)If a thing has been seized as aforesaid and in the opinion of the Minister of Agriculture it poses a risk of the spread of pests, he may order its destruction without payment of compensation, or its treatment in any other manner at the owner's expense.

Power to Pay Compensation§

15.
(a)The Minister of Agriculture may grant compensation for plants, plant products or ancillary means lawfully destroyed under this Law.
(b)A person who considers himself aggrieved by a decision of the Minister of Agriculture under subsection (a) – except for a decision not to grant any compensation at all – may appeal before an appeals committee appointed for the purposes of section 2d against the value of the damage assessed for him.
(c)The appeals committee may allow the appeal, in whole or in part, or dismiss it.

Offences and Penalties§

16.

A person who contravenes a provision of this Law, including a regulation thereunder, as well as a person who obstructs a plant inspector or prevents him from performing his duties or who obstructs the authorisation holder from fulfilling his duties in accordance with the provisions of this Law, is liable to imprisonment of two years or a fine of two thousand pounds.

Application to the State§

16a.

This Law shall apply to the State as an owner of real property or as a person entitled to receive agricultural produce in the field, in the same manner as to any owner of real property or person so entitled.

Service of Orders§

17.

Service of an individual Order shall be lawful service if it was sent by registered post to the person for whom it is intended at the address of his usual place of residence or his last place of residence or his usual place of business or his last place of business, or was displayed in a conspicuous place on the real property to which the Order relates, or in which the thing in respect of which the Order was made is situated.

Repeal§

18.

The Plant Protection Ordinance is hereby repealed.

Implementation§

19.

The Minister of Agriculture is charged with the implementation of this Law and may delegate his powers under this Law, except the power to make Regulations and to issue general Orders.

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LawEnvironmentAdministrative Law

חוק הגנת הצומח, תשט"ז-1956

Plant Protection Law

Tzomach Protection Law

chok hganat htzomach

Plant Protection 1956

Agricultural plant protection

Crop protection law

Plant disease control

Phytosanitary law

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hganat tzomach