The State of Israel is working to promote a reform in the field of business licensing, which aims to improve and streamline business licensing procedures and make it as easy as possible for business owners and those interested in opening new businesses. This is done while ensuring continued supervision of businesses in order to ensure the goals of the Business Licensing Law.
Main points of the reform:
1. Creating a uniform specification of the conditions and documents required to obtain a business license from the government ministries that issue the permit, which will be published online. The uniform specification will allow those interested in starting a business to know in advance what is required of them and will prevent a situation of lack of uniformity in requirements or contradictions in the requirements of different permit providers.
Uploading the documents, conditions, policies, and requirements of local licensing authorities (municipalities, regional councils, local councils) for certain types of businesses to the authority's website, so that those interested in starting a business can know in advance what is required of them and what restrictions the licensing authority imposes on businesses of its type.
Additional conditions imposed on business owners will apply after three years or on the date of license renewal, whichever is earlier, unless the change has little impact on the business or there are circumstances that require the condition to be applied urgently in order to ensure the licensing objectives.
Possibility to submit an objection to the party concerned about a condition imposed on a business owner or applicant for a business license (including a condition that appears in the uniform specification and excluding a condition stipulated by legislation), about a refusal to grant him a license or in the event of a license being revoked.
2. An expedited licensing procedure for businesses that pose a low risk, in which the license applicant submits the required documents in advance and declares that he meets the required conditions, and can begin operating within about a month of submitting the application after receiving an expedited permit from the licensing authority.
The order determining the businesses requiring licensing was updated, so that for many types of businesses the licensing period was extended (and for others it was shortened in cases where the characteristics of the business require it),
The need for a license for some businesses has been eliminated, and the need for approval for some of the approval providers has been eliminated, all to the extent possible.
Possibility of imposing fines on businesses that do not comply with the terms of the business license.
The Uniform Specification
The purpose of the uniform specification is to detail the conditions and documents required by the government ministries that issue the permit for each type of business that requires licensing. The uniform specification also details conditions and documents required of a business owner according to various pieces of legislation (known as provisions alongside the uniform specification), which it is important to note are binding even if not specified. There are types of businesses, particularly complex ones, for which one or more of the permit issuers are permitted not to publish a uniform specification or to publish only a partial uniform specification, and to require conditions and documents that are not specified in the uniform specification.
New conditions set for a business in the uniform specification will apply to an existing business three years after the date of publication of the specification or from the date of renewal of the license, whichever comes first, unless otherwise stated in the specification. All conditions of the specification will apply to a business that has not yet received a license at the date of publication of the specification.
The provisions of the uniform specification will be updated from time to time, and before each change, the proposal for a change to the uniform specification will appear on the website of the government ministries that issue the permit, on the business licensing portal, and in the offices of the permit issuer.