ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Talya Solomon, Iris Achmon, Ekaterina Yaremchuk and Niva Orion, Herzog Fox & Neeman
4.6 Issuing Criminal Indictments Procedure for Issuing Indictments in Criminal Cases The ICA require by law to allow a suspect a prop - er hearing before the submission of indictment (see further explanation regarding the hearing process in criminal proceedings in 2.9 Argu- ments Against Enforcement Actions ). Disclosing of Evidence by the ICA Before the hearing, the ICA provide the suspect with the main evidence the ICA holds. After the submission of the indictment, the suspect will be provided with all the evidence held by the ICA unless there is a legal impediment to dis - closing it. Court’s Jurisdiction in Criminal Cases of the ICA The court that has jurisdiction in criminal cases involving charges according to the ECL in the central District Court located in the city of Lod. 4.7 Issuing Civil Complaints Procedure for Filing a Civil Lawsuit In civil lawsuits, the plaintiff needs to file the case in accordance with the jurisdiction’s rules depending on the value of the requested rem - edy (see further details regarding jurisdiction in civil lawsuits in 6.1 Private Rights of Action ). Submission of civil lawsuits requires paying a claim fee to the court that also depends on the requested remedy. Disclosing of Evidence In civil lawsuits in Israel, after the last statement of defence or counterplea has been submit - ted to the court, the discovery phase begins. In this stage, each party must reveal any docu - ment relevant to the lawsuit, including sensitive information, unless there is a legal impediment to disclosing it. The court may take measures to
for information to non-Israeli entities. However, there is no positive ruling on this question. There is no specific precedent regarding cloud storage. 4.4 Domestic Inter-Agency Co-Operation A supreme court case from 11 January 2022 dealt with the question of the ICA′s jurisdiction and authority to require documents from a for - eign parent company of an Israeli company. The Supreme Court specifically stated that it would not set a precedent regarding this question, but it did mention the ICA′s broad discretion in apply - ing the power to require documents. The authors thus estimate that whether the ICA can request documents from a specific entity outside Israel mostly depends on the specific circumstances of the case and the connection and nexus of the foreign entity to Israel. A draft consent decree issued on 4 January 2023 seems to follow the Supreme Court decision. The consent decree involved a UK pharmaceutical company in respect of which the ICA accused its distributor in Israel of excessively pricing one of its medicines. As part of the investigation, the UK company received a request for information from the ICA, but the foreign company claimed that the ICA had no jurisdiction over the compa - ny. Following the company’s refusal to respond to the request and after negotiations between the parties, the UK company responded to the ICA’s requests for information and agreed to pay ILS110,000 to the state treasury. 4.5 International Inter-Agency Co- Operation The ICA usually enforces cartel cases by itself.
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