The Israel Securities Authority recently announced that its proposal to allow public companies to report in English was approved by the Knesset’s Finance Committee.

Dear Friends and Clients,

The Israel Securities Authority (the “ISA”) recently announced the approval of the Knesset’s Finance Committee of the ISA’s proposal to allow public companies in Israel to report in English. Regulations enabling such reporting will enter into effect three months after their publication in the Reshumot (the official government gazette).

This is another step taken by Israel to enable public companies to report in English. Recently, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd. (the “TASE”) launched an English language version of ‘Maya’ (similar to the U.S. EDGAR) in order to make information about the TASE and the companies publicly traded on the TASE accessible to foreign investors, among other things, in light of the growing interest of investors from around the world in Israeli companies. The reports of companies reporting in English will be published on the English language version of Maya, thus allowing foreign investors to be exposed to information about these companies.

The ISA believes that reporting in English is likely to remove the language barrier and open Israeli capital markets to English speaking foreign companies, investors and analysts, thereby allowing companies that often conduct their business in English to report to foreign investors in their preferred language. Thus, the local capital markets will be more accessible to foreign investors and more attractive to Israeli and foreign companies, which will lead to the expansion of the Israeli capital markets.

It should be emphasized that at this stage (prior to the proposal going into effect), publishing reports in English (for non-dual listed companies) is possible as a voluntary publication of translated Hebrew reports into English. Companies can translate some or all of their reports into English and publish them on the Magna (the ISA’s reporting system) and Maya systems, alongside their reports in Hebrew. It is important to note that these are translations for convenience only and that the wording in the reports submitted in Hebrew is binding. Furthermore, companies that choose to publish English translations for only some of their reports are required by the ISA to publish their ‘translation policy,’ detailing what types of reports they intend to translate into English.

Companies that publish reports in English are required to follow a consistent policy regarding the types of reports that will be translated into English, to reflect this policy at the beginning of the translation, and to provide at least 30 days’ prior notification, in English, if they intend to stop translating their reports.

We will be happy to advise and assist in this matter and any other.
Corporates, Securities and Capital Markets Department,
Herzog Fox & Neeman