Sanitary Pest Control Occupation Regulation Law, 5776-2016
חוק הסדרת העיסוק בהדברה תברואית, תשע"ו-2016
Published: 2016-02-16Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2025-11-12 · Last amended 2023-11-19✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-17
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Chapter III: Duties of a Pest Controller, Operator and Person Commissioning Pest Control
Duties of a Pest Controller§
14.
(a)A pest controller shall not carry out pest control unless he has examined and found that there is a concern of a hazard or nuisance that justifies carrying out the pest control.
(b)Before carrying out pest control, a pest controller shall examine whether it is possible, in the circumstances of the matter, to carry out preventive measures or to make use of treatment means that have not been prescribed under section 3(b)(3), for the purpose of preventing or eliminating the hazard or nuisance; if the pest controller finds that it is possible to take the measures or means aforesaid, he shall bring the matter to the knowledge of the person commissioning the pest control and shall not carry out the pest control, unless he finds that it is not possible in the circumstances of the matter to take those measures or those means.
(c)A pest controller shall not carry out pest control of a pest unless the circumstances listed in the First Schedule in respect of that pest have been met, if prescribed, or unless approval for the pest control of that pest has been given under section 22.
(d)In carrying out pest control, a pest controller shall act in accordance with the provisions of any law applicable to him in respect of carrying out the pest control and in accordance with the following provisions:
(1)he shall carry his licence with him at the time of carrying out the pest control, and shall present it to the person commissioning the pest control, upon his request;
(2)he shall provide the person commissioning the pest control, before carrying it out, with information regarding the nature of the pest control, including the name of the pest control preparation used, the risks involved in the pest control, its effectiveness and the actions required before, during and at the conclusion of its performance, inter alia in accordance with the instructions set out on the label of the preparation;
(3)he shall not carry out pest control except with a registered pest control preparation, and in accordance with the purposes of use and the instructions set out on the label of the preparation;
(4)he shall make use of the means most appropriate for the success of the pest control, which cause the least possible harm to humans, other animals and the environment, and which do not cause unnecessary suffering to pests;
(5)he shall take all measures necessary to prevent harm to humans and to the environment, including the natural environment, biological diversity, other animals and vegetation, including a protected nature value and a protected wild animal, before, during and at the conclusion of the pest control;
(6)he shall not carry out pest control within a national park or nature reserve without a permit from the Director of the Nature and Parks Authority, under the National Parks Law;
(7)after carrying out the pest control, he shall check for the presence of pests and the success of the pest control activity, inter alia by means of monitoring if required, and shall carry out, to the extent required, additional activities to complete the pest control;
(8)he shall document the activities he carried out before, during and at the conclusion of the pest control, including the monitoring activities under paragraph (7), shall deliver a copy of the documentation to the person commissioning the pest control and shall retain the documentation.
(e)Fumigation pest control shall be carried out by two pest controllers; notwithstanding the provisions of section 3, it is sufficient that one of them is a pest controller who holds a fumigation pest controller licence.
Duties of an Operator§
15.
An operator shall not deploy a person in carrying out pest control, unless that person holds a pest controller licence granted to him under this Law of a type appropriate for carrying out that pest control.
Additional Duties, Restrictions and Conditions Applicable to a Pest Controller or an Operator§
16.
(a)The Minister, after consulting with the Advisory Committee and with the approval of the Interior and Environmental Protection Committee of the Knesset, may prescribe additional duties, restrictions and conditions that shall apply to a pest controller or to an operator, and may prescribe different provisions for different categories of pest controllers or operators, all in order to ensure the professionalism of the pest controller and the carrying out of pest control activities in accordance with the purposes of this Law and the provisions thereunder, and in order to prevent harm to the environment or to public health, including in the following matters:
(1)the obligation to hold and to use, in the framework of his activity as a pest controller or operator, appropriate installations and equipment; Regulations under this paragraph may include provisions regarding the storage and transportation of pest control preparations and regarding the treatment of waste;
(2)the obligation to provide the person commissioning the pest control with additional information beyond the information referred to in section 14(d)(2), as well as the obligation to notify the public that may be affected by the carrying out of the pest control, of its performance, at the time and in the manner to be prescribed and in accordance with the particulars to be prescribed;
(3)means and activities that the pest controller must take before, during or at the conclusion of the pest control, as referred to in section 14 or in addition thereto, including provisions regarding the selection of means that cause lesser harm to the environment, to animals or to public health, regarding means and activities that the pest controller must take when pest control activities are carried out in proximity to sensitive populations, including children, the elderly and the sick, regarding the manner of carrying out preventive measures or the use of treatment means prescribed under section 3(b)(3), and regarding the manner of examination and monitoring that a pest controller must carry out after the pest control has been performed;
(4)the manner of documenting the pest controller's activities and the particulars he must include in such documentation, the obligation to retain documents, to report to the Registrar and to provide him with information or documents necessary for the performance of his functions under this Law.
(b)Regulations under subsection (a)(2) and (3) shall be made after consulting with the Minister of Health.
(c)The Registrar may prescribe in a pest controller licence additional duties, restrictions and conditions that shall apply to the pest controller, in order to ensure what is stated in subsection (a), opening passage, including provisions in matters listed in paragraphs (1) to (4) of that subsection, if circumstances justifying this have arisen.
Obligation to Participate in Training Courses§
17.
(a)A pest controller shall participate, during the period of his licence, in two training courses organised or recognised by the Registrar, in the field of his occupation under his licence, and shall meet the requirements of those training courses; the Registrar may instruct a pest controller that he is required to participate in specific training courses; participation in training courses and meeting their requirements as aforesaid shall be a condition of a pest controller licence and also a condition for its renewal.
(b)The Minister, after consulting with the Advisory Committee and with the approval of the Interior and Environmental Protection Committee of the Knesset, may add required training courses and prescribe their scope, as well as prescribe additional requirements in this regard and prescribe provisions regarding the recognition of a training course.
(c)Without derogating from the provisions of subsection (a), the Registrar may notify a pest controller that participation in a specific training course, in addition to the training courses under this section, shall be a condition of his licence or a condition for its renewal, if he finds that circumstances justifying this exist and that the pest controller's participation in that training course is required for his training and for the realisation of the purposes of this Law; a notice under this subsection shall be given to the pest controller a reasonable time before the date of the training course.
Reporting Duties of a Pest Controller and an Operator§
18.
(a)If a pest controller becomes aware of a matter connected to pest control he carried out that may cause harm to the public or to the environment, he shall report to the operator, to the Registrar and to the person commissioning the pest control regarding that matter immediately, and shall carry out the Registrar's instructions insofar as they have been given.
(b)If an operator becomes aware of a matter connected to pest control carried out by a pest controller acting on his behalf that may cause harm to the public or to the environment, he shall report to the Registrar and to the person commissioning the pest control regarding that matter immediately, and shall carry out the Registrar's instructions insofar as they have been given.
(c)The Registrar may require a pest controller and an operator to report to him on particulars that he has directed and to provide him with any information or documents necessary for achieving the purposes under this Law, including as a condition for the renewal of a pest controller licence, and the pest controller or operator, as the case may be, shall provide him with the information or documents aforesaid.
(d)Nothing in the provisions of this section shall derogate from the reporting obligation prescribed under the provisions of section 16(a)(4).
Registrar's Authority to Give Instructions§
19.
(a)The Registrar may give a pest controller or an operator instructions for carrying out specific activities in respect of specific pests, including use of pest control means or refraining from use thereof, activities to be carried out before, during and at the conclusion of pest control.
(b)Instructions as referred to in subsection (a) may also be given, after consulting with the Advisory Committee and with the approval of the Director General of the Ministry, to all pest controllers or operators or to a specific category of pest controllers or operators; instructions given as aforesaid shall be made available for public inspection at the offices of the Registrar, at the district offices of the Ministry and on the Ministry's website, and shall also be sent by electronic mail to a pest controller, operator or member of the public who has registered on the Ministry's website to receive updates on the Registrar's guidelines by electronic mail; however, failure to send the instructions by electronic mail as aforesaid shall not affect their validity; a notice of the issuance of such instructions, of the date of their entry into force and of any amendment thereto shall be published in Reshumot (Official Gazette), and the Minister may prescribe additional means of their publication.
Prohibition of Misrepresentation and Duties Regarding Advertising§
20.
(a)A pest controller or operator shall not, directly or indirectly, advertise his occupation in a manner that constitutes misrepresentation.
(b)A pest controller shall include in every advertisement for his occupation the particulars of his licence; an operator shall include in every advertisement for his occupation the particulars of the licences of the pest controllers he deploys; for this purpose, "particulars of a licence" means the name of the pest controller, the type of licence and the licence number.
(c)The Minister may prescribe additional provisions regarding particulars that a pest controller or operator is required to include in an advertisement as referred to in subsections (a) or (b) for the purpose of preventing misrepresentation, as well as categories, forms or methods of advertising that constitute misrepresentation.
(d)A pest controller or operator shall not provide the person commissioning pest control with information that constitutes misrepresentation regarding his licence, training or competence of the pest controller who will carry out the pest control, or regarding the nature of the pest control, including the risks involved therein, its effectiveness and the actions required before, during and at the conclusion of its performance.
Duties of a Person Commissioning Pest Control§
21.
A person who has commissioned pest control at a place of which he is the owner, occupier or who is responsible for commissioning pest control activities at that place by virtue of his position or under law, shall require the person carrying out the pest control to present his licence to him before carrying out the pest control, and shall not accept a service from a person who has not presented a licence as aforesaid; the provisions of this section shall not apply to pest control at a place listed in section 4(a)(1).
Exceptional Approval for Pest Control§
22.
(a)A person commissioning pest control or a pest controller who wishes to carry out pest control of a pest otherwise than in the circumstances prescribed in the First Schedule, if prescribed, may apply to the Registrar for approval to carry out such pest control, and the Registrar may grant approval therefor if exceptional circumstances justifying this exist, including a real concern of the transmission of diseases, and in accordance with the criteria he has prescribed for this purpose under subsection (b) (in this Law — exceptional approval); in respect of a natural environment that is a nature reserve or a national park, the Registrar may grant exceptional approval only with the consent of the Director of the Nature and Parks Authority under the National Parks Law for the granting of the approval.
(b)The Registrar shall prescribe the criteria for granting exceptional approval under the provisions of this section and shall make them available for public inspection at the offices of the Registrar and on the Ministry's website; the criteria shall be prescribed after consulting with the following:
(1)a representative of the Ministry of Health, as directed by the Minister of Health;
(2)academic staff members at recognised institutions of higher education within the meaning of the Council for Higher Education Law, 5718-1958, with expertise in the field of life sciences or environmental sciences;
(3)representatives of the public bodies listed in the Schedule to the Representation of Public Bodies Concerned with the Preservation of Environmental Quality Law (Legislative Amendments), 5763-2002;
(4)pest controllers.
(c)The Registrar shall prescribe in every exceptional approval the period of validity of the approval and the boundaries of the place to which it applies, and may prescribe in the approval additional conditions regarding the manner of carrying out the pest control at that place; a notice of the granting of exceptional approval and of the particulars of the approval shall be published on the Ministry's website.
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Contact Us →Chapter IV: The Registrar, the Advisory Committee for Pest Controller Affairs and Inspectors
Registrar for Pest Controller Affairs§
23.
The Minister shall appoint, from among the employees of his Ministry, a Registrar for Pest Controller Affairs, who shall fulfil the functions assigned to him under this Law; the Minister may appoint deputies to the Registrar from among the employees of the Ministry to fulfil the functions of the Registrar in his absence.
The Advisory Committee for Pest Controller Affairs§
24.
(a)The Minister shall appoint an Advisory Committee for Pest Controller Affairs, to fulfil the functions assigned to it under this Law, and its composition shall be as follows:
(1)two employees of the Ministry, one of whom shall be the chairperson;
(2)an employee of the Ministry of Health, upon the recommendation of the Minister of Health;
(3)an employee of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, upon the recommendation of the Minister of Economy and Industry;
(4)a public representative with expertise in the field of pest control who is not a pest controller (in this Chapter — public representative).
(b)The Minister shall appoint to the Committee at most two observers with expertise in the field of pest control; not more than one pest controller may be appointed as an observer, provided that such pest controller holds a buildings and open area pest controller licence or a fumigation pest controller licence.
(c)A notice of the composition of the Advisory Committee and of the identity of the observers shall be published on the Ministry's website.
Restrictions on the Appointment of a Public Representative and Observer and Their Term of Office§
25.
(a)The following shall not be appointed or serve as a public representative or as an observer on the Advisory Committee —
(1)a person who may be found, directly or indirectly, on a frequent basis, in a situation of conflict of interests between his function on the Advisory Committee and a personal interest of his or another function of his, other than the function by virtue of which he was appointed; in this paragraph —
"personal interest" — includes a personal interest of a relative of his or an interest of a body which he or his relative manage or in which they are responsible employees, or an interest of a body in which they hold a share of the share capital, a right to receive profits, a right to appoint a director or a voting right;
"relative" — a spouse, parent, child, sibling or another person dependent on him, as well as a descendant or a spouse of any of them, and also a partner, employer or employee of his;
(2)a person who has been convicted of a criminal offence which, by reason of its nature, gravity or circumstances, renders him, in the Minister's opinion, unfit to serve as a public representative or as an observer on the Advisory Committee.
(b)A public representative or observer shall be appointed for a period of three years, and may be re-appointed for additional terms of office, provided that he does not serve for more than nine consecutive years.
Conflict of Interests§
26.
(a)A member of the Advisory Committee and an observer shall not deal with a matter that may cause them to be found, directly or indirectly, in a situation of conflict of interests between their function on the Committee and a personal interest of theirs or another function of theirs; in this section, "personal interest" and "relative" have the meanings assigned to them in section 25.
(b)If a member of the Advisory Committee or an observer becomes aware that he may be found in a situation of conflict of interests as referred to in subsection (a), he shall notify the chairperson of the Committee, shall provide him with the information relevant to the matter and shall not deal with that matter; for this purpose, "dealing" — includes making a decision, raising a matter for discussion, being present at a discussion, participating in a discussion or vote, or engaging in the matter outside the Committee's meetings.
Rules of Procedure§
27.
(a)A majority of the members of the Advisory Committee constitutes a quorum at its meetings.
(b)Decisions of the Advisory Committee shall be adopted by a majority of votes of those participating in the vote; an observer shall have no right to vote.
(c)The Advisory Committee shall determine its rules of procedure, insofar as they have not been prescribed under this Law.
Validity of Decisions§
28.
Decisions of the Advisory Committee shall not be invalidated by reason of a vacancy in the position of a member thereof, or by reason of a defect in his appointment or the continuation of his tenure.
Authorisation of Inspectors from outside the Ministry's Employees§
29.
(a)Without derogating from the Minister's authority to appoint inspectors or environmental protection officers from among the employees of his Ministry under the Environmental Protection Law, the Minister may authorise an inspector, who shall have the powers under section 5 of that Law, all or some of them, for the purpose of supervising compliance with the provisions under this Law, from among State employees who are not employees of the Ministry, with the consent of the Minister who is the superior of that employee, and from among employees of the Nature and Parks Authority.
(b)An inspector shall not be authorised under the provisions of this section unless the conditions listed in section 4b of the Environmental Protection Law are met in his case.
(c)An inspector authorised under the provisions of this section shall exercise his powers in relation to the defence establishment as defined in the Environmental Protection Law, subject to the provisions under Chapter IV of that Law and the provisions of section 53(b).
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