Israeli Bill Would Make Alternatives to Fax Mandatory

Last Update: August 9th, 2021

In a world first, an Israel MP has proposed making it mandatory that service providers such as banks and other bureaucratic heavily institutions offer an electronic alternative to fax communication.

MK Stav Shaffir (Labor) who moved the motion is quoted as saying “The Israeli public is used to complaining about intolerable bureaucracy and the incredible slowness of service at banks, Internet companies or government offices,” Shaffir said. “The time has come for service providers move to faster and cheaper methods and allow every customer to contact companies in the way that is most comfortable for them.”

“It cannot be that when technology allows us to shop all over the world without leaving the house, we have to waste work hours to authorize changes in the bank. It’s hard to find a person who doesn’t have access to e-mails these days, but it’s harder to find someone with easy access to a fax machine,” the Labor MK added.

It will be interesting to see how this story develops – while email is a much more convenient method of communication for many users, it would likely mean that new technology would have to be developed to ensure banks were able to ensure their clients security and identity, both on the bank side and on the client side.

Read more from the Jerusalem Post at Dropping the fax: Bill would let customers stop searching for nearest fax machine