Israel's Legislation on Text Messaging

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000392 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/IPA and OES/S - Foster-Carter E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SOCI IS SUBJECT: Israel's Legislation on Text Messaging REF: (A) STATE 6703 (B) Tel Aviv 273 ¶1. (U) In follow-up on the Distracted Drivers demarche (ref A),Post has received from the Israel National Road Safety Authority (INRSA) the text of the applicable part of Israeli law. The head of the INRSA offered the text in para 2 in informal translation from Hebrew (note: there is no official translation of Israeli law available). The first paragraph translates the applicable law, the second part provides definitions of "hands-free device" and "telephone" respectively. ¶2. (U) Begin Text: ¶1. When the car is moving (a) holding or using any telephone is prohibited. Instead, use of a hands-free device is allowed. (b) sending or reading text messages (SMS) is prohibited. ¶2. A hands-free device is a device that is used as a phone that does not need to be held, and only if it is placed in a stable position that prevents it from falling. A telephone could be any device intended for communication which has buttons that are pressed to dial. End of Text ¶3. (U) Although the Embassy has received no formal response to the demarche yet from the MFA, post believes the GOI can be considered as committed to road safety, and a potential contributor to the March UNRSC discussion on the topic. Official response from the GOI will be conveyed when received. CUNNINGHAM