חוק החזר מקדמה בשל ביטול אירוע (נגיף הקורונה החדש), התשפ"א–2020Law for the Refund of Advance Payment Due to Cancellation of an Event (new coronavirus), 2020 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

The Advance Payment Refund Law for Cancelled Events (Novel Coronavirus), 2020 (hereinafter - the Law), was approved in second and third reading on 22 December 2020. The Law establishes provisions regarding the return of advance payments for events cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, and it applies only to contracts for holding such events that were signed before 12 March 2020. It should be noted that the Law applies to all types of events and to all types of venues designated for holding events. The Law establishes that the event organizer and the event hall owner will conduct negotiations between them, in the course of which they must reach agreement within 60 days, with the aim of fulfilling the contract and holding the event on a new date. The new event date shall not be postponed beyond a reasonable period, and for this purpose the Law establishes that a reasonable period is no more than 5 months from the original event date. The Law further establishes that such negotiations must be conducted in good faith and that the conditions for holding the contract must be determined in good faith. The burden of proof that the conditions for holding the event on another date were proposed in good faith rests with the event hall owner. The Law also establishes that if the parties agreed on a new date for holding the event and it too was cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, the event hall owner is obligated to return the advance payment within one month from the new date on which the event was supposed to take place. According to the Law, the event hall owner may deduct from the amount to be returned the cost of a "tasting event," but only if a "tasting event" actually took place and only if these expenses were specified in the original contract signed between the parties, provided that the deducted amount does not exceed 2,000 new shekels, or the product of the price of food and drinks per person as set in the contract multiplied by the number of participants in the "tasting event," whichever is lower. The Law further establishes that in a case where the parties did not agree on holding the event on another date, or if the event organizer decided not to conduct such negotiations, the event hall owner shall return to the organizer the advance payment he paid within one month from the day the organizer requested this from him in writing. In such a case, the event hall owner will be allowed to deduct from the advance amount to be returned also expenses related to holding a "tasting event," as stated above, as well as a cancellation fee in an amount not exceeding 5 percent of the event price originally agreed between the parties or 3,000 new shekels, whichever is lower. In addition, the Law establishes that the court may award the event organizer damages not dependent on proof of loss, in an amount of up to 10,000 new shekels, if the event hall owner did not return the advance payment to him in accordance with the Law. The Law entered into force on 1 January 2021. If the parties agreed, before the day the Law entered into force, on another date for holding the event, and the event on the new date was cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, the event hall owner shall return to the event organizer the advance payment amount within one month from the day the Law enters into force, and may deduct from it only the expenses of the "tasting event," as stated above.

automatic translation · suggest a correction

Sponsors

Hila Shay Vazan, Yakov Margi, Moshe Gafni