Israel has recently passed a new amendment regarding its laws on commercial email, which went into effect on December 1st. The legislation is opt-in based, meaning it requires permission for mailers to send, and it also applies to fax, SMS and phone message communication sent from advertisers to consumers.
In this amendment, advertisers are defined under three categories:one whose name and address appear in the message as the contact info, one who is publishing to promote the advertised company’s goals, and one who publishes on behalf of a commercial sender. ”Commercial Material” is defined loosely as “messages distributed commercially to encourage acquisition of certain goods or services or spending money in any other way.” So under this premise, charitable and political organizations as well as regular commercial advertisers are on the hook. Also, mailers must gain permission from the consumer in order to mail. Permission can be gained in writing, by email or by automated phone message.
The purpose of the new amendment according to the Israeli government is to close any loopholes there may be in commercial email laws in the country. Israel’s law goes along with the industry best practice of opt-in and gives individuals the right to sue. LashBack’s best advice if you do any business in Israel is to review your mailing practices and check in with an expert compliance lawyer. Also, you may want to run a confirmed opt-in campaign to make sure Israeli subscribers of your list are truly opt-in, to keep your liability at a minimum. The actual text of the law is available here: http://www.isoc.org.il/spam/, but be sure you can read Hebrew, or you’ll surely be fahklumpt!
More resources and explanations on this law are available at DirectMag and Deliverability.com.
