New consumer laws ease the pocketbook and the conscience

On the first day of 2013, new laws came into effect which will benefit consumers in various areas, from mobile telephones to food and cosmetics. Besides the laws which successfully made it through the legislative process, one important law failed to be passed by the present Knesset, despite many efforts. It was the so-called “Club Hotel” bill, which is intended to release Club Hotel Ltd.customers from a binding deal amounting to tens of thousands of shekels in exchange for cancellation fees. The next Knesset will take up the bill.

Cutting the mobile telephone phone price-calls connection

A bill sponsored by Knesset Economic Affairs Committee chairman MK Carmel Shama-Hacohen (Likud) came into effect which aims to lift the final barrier to switching between mobile carriers. Until now, the carriers could collect a “benefit repayment” from customers with bill-credit plans under which they paid for the mobile phone on the basis of calls made, and who request to disconnect from the carrier. What was the problem? The price of the benefit as set by the company was generally much higher than the market price of the mobile phone. Business customers with this plan will be able to continue adding subscribers under the company’s current agreement.

Consolidated bills

A law sponsored by Shama-Hacohen, MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), MK Uri Maklev (United Torah Judaism), and MK Yariv Levin (Likud) requires businesses to send consumers an annual statement of installments on purchases (payments by bank standing order or credit card). Statements will be sent to consumers every March, and will include payments made through December 31 of the preceding financial year and charges which were not paid in that year. In this way, consumers will be able to monitor their expenses and keep this statement instead of keeping monthly receipts. If there is an extra charge not listed in the statement, the burden of proof of the charge will fall on the business.

An end to foot-dragging on reimbursements?

Amendment 35 to the Consumer Protection Law states that if a business overcharges a customer in the payment installments, it must refund the money within four business days (after clarifications that can take up to ten business days), plus linkage and interest and an extra NIS 16 (for the consumer’s expenses). An overpayment of up to NIS 50 will be refunded in the following charge.

Vivisection free cosmetics

The symbol of a rabbit on cosmetics now has added meaning. At the initiative of MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), the chairman of the Lobby for the Protection of Animals, the import and sale of cosmetics tested on animals was banned on January 1, two years after the Knesset plenum passed it. The law, which has counterparts already in effect in many Western countries, supplements a 2007 law, which bans animal testing on cosmetic and cleaning products in Israel, and aims to balance the need to protect animals and sales of cosmetics. The starting point is that there are scientific alternatives to efficacy and toxicity tests of chemicals which do not involve testing them on animals.

Labeling organic produce

Organic produce is now marked by a label, which will enable consumers to verify that the produce bought is really organic. Ministry of Agriculture regulations instituting checks from production through to the sales stage of organic produce (eggs, meat, poultry, etc.) also came into effect. The official label will confirm that the produce meets the standard, and that it is free of all pesticides and other chemicals.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on January 3, 2013