What Constitutes Personal Data and Data of Special Sensitivity?

Under the Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981,  “personal data” means data relating to an identified or identifiable person. The term “identifiable person” means one who can be identified with reasonable effort, directly or indirectly, including through an identifying detail such as name, identification number, biometric identifier, location data, online identifier, or one or more details relating to his physical, health, economic, social, or cultural status.

The term “data of special sensitivity” means any of the following:  

  1. Personal data about a person’s intimate family life, personal intimate affairs and sexual orientation;
  2. Personal data relating to a person’s health status, including medical data as defined in the Patient Rights Law, 5756 – 1996 ;
  3. Personal data that constitutes genetic data as defined in the Genetic Information Law 5761 – 2000 ;
  4. Personal data that is a biometric identifier used or intended to be used to identify a person or verify his identity in a computerized manner;
  5. Personal data about a person’s origin;
  6. Personal data about a person’s criminal history;
  7. Personal data about a person’s political opinions or religious beliefs or worldview;
  8. Personal data which is a personality assessment conducted by a professional entity that, as part of their occupation, expresses an opinion on a person’s personality, or is conducted by means intended to perform an assessment of material personality traits, including character traits, intellectual competence, and ability to function at work or in studies;
  9. Personal data that is location data and transmission data, as defined in the Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement Powers-Communication Data), 5768–2007, created by an authorized provider as defined in the said law, regarding a person, and data about a person’s location that can indicate data in accordance with paragraphs (1) to (7) and (11);
  10. Personal data about a person’s payroll data and financial activity;
  11. Personal data subject by law to confidentiality obligations;
  12. Other personal data determined by the Minister of Justice, with the approval of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset, in schedule 2 , provided that it is personal data in a database located in Israel that was transferred to it from outside the country and that in the place from which it was transferred, special legal provisions apply to such personal data compared to the law applicable to other personal data.
  13. Data about membership in a workers’ organization.

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