ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Talya Solomon, Iris Achmon, Ekaterina Yaremchuk and Niva Orion, Herzog Fox & Neeman
7.6 “No Poach” and Labour Market Allocation Conduct There are no specific standards, yet an agree - ment between businesses not to compete over employees may amount to a restrictive arrange - ment and thus be deemed unlawful unless permitted through one of the mechanisms pre - scribed by the Economic Competition Law. 7.7 Leniency v Ex Officio Investigations Only rarely do cases begin with leniency. Hence, there are not enough cases to draw conclusions on the matter. 7.8 Domestic v International Investigations Most of the restrictive arrangement cases in Israel are domestic. 7.9 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Cartels While the topic of ESG (environmental, social and governance) is continuously evolving in Israel, comprehensive and unified regulation has not yet been established. 7.10 Crisis Cartels During the COVID-19 crisis, the ICA issued clar - ifications allowing co-operation between busi - nesses, including competitors, as long as such collaborations were necessary to maintain busi - ness continuity and were not intended to reduce or eliminate competition. The ICA applied a similar flexible approach dur - ing other times of crisis, including armed con - flict and businesses affected by the attack of 7 October 2023.
If a monopolisation is considered a restrictive arrangement (for example, due to engaging in exclusive dealing arrangements), then it might be unlawful. There are separate provisions for illegal monopoly conduct by market participants who already hold a monopoly status. 7.4 Focus on Certain Industries/Sectors The ICA has been paying special attention to the food sector. For example, as mentioned previ - ously, the ICA decided to file indictments as part of its investigation into price co-ordination in the food sector, and a large food retailer allegedly engaged in an unlawful restrictive arrangement with a known bakery, conveying improper mes - sages through the media to suppliers and retail - ers regarding the need to raise prices. In addition, recently, the ICA has also intensi - fied its focus on importers operating in Israel. It should be noted that the Economic Competi - tion Law 1988, has a new provision, Section 31f, unique in the global legal landscape, that grants the Commissioner authority to take both crimi - nal and administrative actions against “direct importers” who reduce or harm competition from personal import or parallel import. 7.5 Use of Messaging Applications and Chat Platforms Once an active investigation is underway, instructions are issued to preserve evidence. The Authority has technological means to recover messages that have been deleted, and is authorised, if it obtained a court order, to seize the devices themselves for a limited period of time, and to mirror (ie, create a complete digital copy of) devices.
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