Israel has introduced a major amendment to its Consumer Protection Law mandating the recording of specific sales calls, aiming to resolve disputes over promises made during phone conversations and strengthen consumer rights.
Israel’s consumer watchdog has announced a major change to telephone sales rules, in a move designed to curb disputes over what was promised during calls. Under the new amendment to the Consumer Protection Law, businesses will be required to record certain sales conversations and consumers will have a legal right to obtain those recordings. According to 12 Channel, the measure is meant to reduce cases in which companies and customers disagree about the terms of a deal made over the phone.
The rules will apply only to specific transactions, not to every call. They cover telephone sales of non-durable goods priced above 750 shekels, as well as brokerage services for obtaining loans. They also extend to services involving hidden funds, tax refund checks, medical data monitoring, gas supply, certain telecommunications services and credit-file repair. Legal guides on the new amendment say businesses must inform consumers at the start of the call, keep recordings for two years and provide copies within ten business days on request.
One key part of the change has already taken effect. Companies are now required to preserve any existing call archives they hold, so they are not deleted accidentally or deliberately before the law is fully implemented. The full regime is due to come into force in about eight months, but the preservation duty is immediate. The practical effect is that a company which fails to record a qualifying call, or later refuses to hand over the recording, may find the consumer’s account accepted by the court.
The reform brings consumer-protection law into closer contact with Israel’s broader recording and privacy framework. Separate legal overviews note that Israel generally allows a participant in a conversation to record it, but that disclosure and use of recordings remain restricted by privacy law. Consumer-access guidance from the authorities also already recognises a right to inspect personal information held by businesses, including taped conversations. The amendment, backed by lawmakers including Meirav Cohen, Iman Khatib-Yasin and David Bitan, is intended to make that right more practical in disputes over sales promises and billing errors.
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