Backed by the Protection of Privacy Council and additional stakeholders, the PPA was also actively involved as an advisor to the special Covid-19 ministers’ committee and presented a persistent stance against the use of the Israeli secret services (the Shin Bet) for Covid-related contact tracing.
The report reveals that local legislation is outdated and does not properly address the privacy challenges in the 21st century. In the report, the PPA urges the government to complete an already started initiative to amend the current law, and as part of the amendment, to enhance the PPA’s current insufficient enforcement powers.
Under section 10A of the Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981, the Israeli Databases Registrar (today a part of the Protection of Privacy Authority) prepares an annual report on the PPA’s enforcement and supervisory activities. The Protection of Privacy Council submits the annual report to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) along with the Council’s comments.
Due to circumstances, including the Covid-19 situation, the PPA has prepared a joint report for the years 2019 and 2020. The Report, which was recently submitted and published, provides a summary of the PPA’s activities, alongside the PPA’s future plans.
The report revels a significant increase in the PPA’s level of activity with, for example, over 40 publications, including directives, guidelines and recommendations published, more administrative enforcement activities, active involvement in governmental projects, and more handling of individuals’ complaints and data breach notifications.
The report illustrates the PPA’s active role in shaping privacy regulation in Israeli, especially through the PPA’s guidelines and directives, which introduce modern concepts taken mostly from the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Further reading about the PPA’s activities is available at: Regulatory activism – The unique Israeli journey (iapp.org).
