חוק הגנת הצרכן (תיקון מס' 57), התשע"ח–2018Consumer Protection Law (Amendment No. 57), 2018 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

The Law was passed in second and third reading on 16 July 2018, and it amends the Consumer Protection Law, 1981 (hereinafter – the Consumer Protection Law), such that a dealer listed in the Second Schedule to the Consumer Protection Law, who provides a telephone service that includes an automatic call-routing system, shall provide the consumer with a professional human response within six minutes from the start of the call, after the option, if available, to choose the language and the geographic region in which the telephone service will be provided, for at least three types of services: handling a malfunction, account inquiry, and termination of service. In addition, the consumer shall not be directed to a message-leaving service unless they choose to do so. In a telephone service that includes a separate professional human response for services provided by a dealer listed in the Second Schedule, the dealer may allow the consumer to choose the type of service before the professional human response is given. If other legislation or a license has established provisions regarding the waiting time for receiving a professional human response, the regulator may order that a dealer subject to the obligation to provide a professional human response may deviate from the six minutes, with respect to a percentage of all inquiries for a period set by the regulator, or for a period of time set by the regulator, and the regulator may set this exception in advance or retroactively. A regulator that has set such exceptions shall report to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee on the exceptions it set, on the compliance of its supervised entity with these provisions, including the percentages of all inquiries in which the supervised entity met the time period set for providing a professional human response, broken down by the types of services for which the dealer is obligated to provide a professional human response. Such a report shall be submitted during the first three years from the effective date of the exceptions – once every six months, and after that period – once a year. These reports shall be published on the regulators' website. In any event, it was established that if provisions requiring a professional human response within a time shorter than six minutes were set by law or in a license, the obligation to respond within the shorter time set shall apply. The Law also includes indirect amendments to the Banking Law (Customer Service), 1981, the Supervision of Financial Services Law (Insurance), 1981, the Supervision of Financial Services Law (Provident Funds), 2005, and the Supervision of Financial Services Law (Regulated Financial Services), 2016, in which a similar arrangement was established regarding the obligation to provide a professional human response within six minutes from the start of the call. The Law, including the indirect amendments, includes a provision stating that violation of the provisions of the established arrangement shall result in the imposition of financial sanctions on the violator, in amounts set by the Law. The commencement of the arrangement set out in the said amendment was set for one year from the date of publication of the Law.

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Sponsors

Eitan Cabel, Robert Ilatov, Dov Khenin, David Bitan, Oren Asaf Hazan, Yoseph Yonah, Yehiel Hilik Bar, Merav Ben Ari, Yoel Hasson, Anat Berko, Michal Rozin, Tamar Zandberg, Omer Barlev, Moshe Gafni, Micky Rosenthal, Nachman Shai, Tali Ploskov, Ahmad Tibi, Yitzhak Vaknin, Yoav Kisch, Mickey Levy, Menachem Eliezer Moses