Dignity of the Knesset (amendment No. 1)

2.

The Knesset Member shall uphold the dignity of the Knesset and the dignity of its Members, shall act in a manner becoming of his status and duties as a Member, and shall avoid using his immunities as a Member of the Knesset in an unworthy manner.

Fulfillment of duty

3.

The Knesset Member shall devote to fulfilling his duty as a Member, all the time necessary for this purpose, and during this time shall give priority to fulfilling his duty, over any other activity.

Fulfillment of mission

4.

The Knesset Member shall not receive, whether directly or indirectly, any material benefit for an act that he has performed, in the Knesset or outside of it, within the framework of his duty, or his status as a Member of the Knesset.

Personal affair

5.

(a)

The Knesset Member should have no personal interest in fulfilling his duty, and there shall be no conflict of interests between the fulfillment of his duty as a Member of the Knesset , and his personal affairs.

(b)

The Knesset Member shall not initiate anything in which he has a personal interest, and shall not be a partner to such an initiative.

Revelation

6.

Should the Knesset Member have a personal interest in a deliberation or a vote, in the Knesset or its Committees, he shall immediately so inform the Ethics Committee, as well as to the Speaker or the Committee Chairman, as the case may be; The said Knesset Member shall not initiate, whether directly or indirectly, any proposal on that issue, and shall not participate in a debate thereof, except after having stated, during the deliberation in the Knesset or in a Committee, as the case may be, his personal interest; Should the deliberation be in a committee - the Member shall not participate in a vote on that issue.

Prohibition to take advantage of information

7.

The Knesset Member shall not take advantage, whether directly or indirectly, for his personal interest or for the material interest of another person, of prior information, or confidential information, or any other information, which has reached him in the course of fulfilling his duty, that is not common knowledge.

Purchase of state property

8.

The Knesset Member shall not purchase or receive state property, whether directly or indirectly, except for the purchase or receipt of assets sold or granted by other means to the public, on the basis of previously defined general principles, and which the public has an equal opportunity to purchase or receive.

Representa-

tion before the Knesset

9.

The Knesset Member shall not represent a client, or act on behalf of a client, in the Knesset or its Committees.

Receiving clients in the Knesset building

10.

The Knesset Member shall not receive a client in the Knesset building, and shall not act within the Knesset building on behalf of a client.

Limitations in representation and consultation

11.

The Knesset Member shall not represented any Government authority for a fee, and shall not act as a paid consultant to any Government authority.

Representa-

tion before Government authorities

12.

(a)

The Knesset Member shall not represent a client before a Government authority, except for a matter requiring notation in a registry being run under the law.

(amendments Nos. 2 & 3)

(b)

The Knesset Member representing a client before a Government authority, on a matter as stated in paragraph (a), shall act in accordance with the following rules:

(1)

Where rules or tests have been laid down for the decision of the Government authority on a matter, the Knesset Member shall not ask to diverge from them, unless a way has been laid down in them, and in accordance with that way.

(2)

Where no rules or tests have been laid down as stated in clause (1), the Knesset Member shall provide a copy of his appeal to the Attorney General, or to his representative, simultaneously with providing it to the Government authority.

(c)

The provisions of this article shall also apply to representation by the partner or employee of the Knesset Member, unless the relationship of partnership or work, as the case may be, was established six months or more before he became a Member. The Ethics Committee is entitled, for special reasons, to enable a Member to diverge in a certain case from the provisions of this paragraph.

Position in body or association

13.

The Knesset Member shall not be a member of a Board of Directors of an Association, established by law, or a Government body.

Lectures and missions

14.

The Knesset Member shall not receive payment for lectures or appearances; In any event, the Member shall not receive payment, if he has traveled abroad on a state mission or on a mission on behalf of a public institution.

Statement (amendments Nos. 1 &7)

15.

(a)

Within sixty days of the day on which he was elected to the Knesset, or from the day on which he became a Member of the Knesset, whenever a significant change has occurred, in his opinion, in the content of his statement, and also within sixty days after he has terminated his office as a Knesset Member, the Member shall submit to the Speaker, on a form determined by the Speaker, a statement, which shall include the following details:

(1)

The capital, assets, rights, obligations and debts, that the Knesset Member and members of his family have; In the statement the type of assets and their value at the time of purchase, shall be indicated;

(2)

The sources of income of the Knesset Member and his family, and sums of income from any additional source.

(b)

A Member of the Knesset, who was elected for a further consecutive term of office, and is not obliged to submit a capital statement, as stated in paragraph (a), shall submit to the Speaker, within 60 days of being elected for a further term, a declaration, according to which no significant change has taken place in the content of his previous statement.

(c)

Anyone, whose membership of the Knesset was suspended according to article 42b(a) to Basic Law: the Knesset, shall submit to the Speaker a capital statement, as stated in paragraph (a), within sixty days of the day on which he returned to fulfilling his post according to article 43(b) to Basic Law: the Knesset.

Prolongation of deadline for submission of statement (amendment No. 5)

15a.

Despite what is said in article 15, the Speaker is entitled, if he believes that the circumstances justify it, to prolong the deadline for submitting the statement, from time to time, for a period that should not exceed 30 days, as long as all the total of the prolongations shall not exceed 90 days.

Action by Speaker

16.

(a)

The Speaker shall protect the secrecy of the Knesset Members’ statements, and shall not reveal any detail thereof, except with the consent, or upon the request of the Knesset Member making the statement, or on the basis of a court order.

(b)

The Speaker is entitled to report to the Ethics Committee of the Knesset, if in his opinion the circumstances of the matter justify it, the non-fulfillment of the rules of this chapter, or a divergence from them by the Knesset Member, and to bring his findings to its attention.

(c)

Should the Speaker see that there is a suspicion of a criminal offence, he shall refer the matter to the attention of the Attorney General.

Jurisdiction

17.

(a)

A Member of the Knesset who is in breach of a rule of ethics, or does not abide by it, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Knesset Ethics Committee.

(b)

A former Member of the Knesset shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Ethics Committee, as stated in article 13d of the Knesset Members’ Immunity, Rights and Duties Law, 1951 (hereafter - the Law), as well as should he have committed one of the following:

(1)

Did not fulfill the duty, as stated in article 13b of the Law, of submitting a capital statement, as long as no more than a year has gone by since the time when he was obliged to submit the statement;

(2)

Was in breach of another rule of the Rules of Ethics for Members of the Knesset, as long as a complaint was submitted against him, while he served as a Member of the Knesset, and the Ethics Committee believes that there is an interest to the public in an examination of the complaint.

Setting up of the Ethics Committee

18.

The Ethics Committee shall be made-up of four Knesset Members, who shall be appointed by the Speaker, while taking into account the representation of the parliamentary groups in the Knesset. The Speaker shall appoint one of the Committee members to head it.

The hearing of a complaint

19.

The Ethics Committee shall receive a complaint against a Member of the Knesset, shall deliberate and decide on it, after it has given him an appropriate opportunity to contradict the complaint, bring his evidence and express his arguments, in a manner to be determined by the Committee.

The decision of the Committee

20.

(a)

Should the Ethics Committee see that a Member of the Knesset is in breach of, or did not fulfill the ethics of Knesset Members, it is entitled to impose on him one or more of the following:

(1)

A comment;

(2)

A warning;

(3)

A reprimand;

(4)

A serious reprimand.

(b)

The Ethics Committee is entitled, in addition to its decision under paragraph (a), or in its place, to order the publication of all or part of the decision, mentioning the name of the Knesset Member, or without mentioning his name, all in accordance with what the Committee decides.

Prohibition of publication

21.

Ethics procedures against a Member of the Knesset, and the deliberations of the Ethics Committee thereof, and the documents, minutes and decisions related to them, shall be confidential; One is not to attend them, except with the permission of the Committee; and one is not to publish them, wholly or partially, except with written permission of the Committee, and under conditions set by it.

Procedures

22.

The Ethics Committee shall set itself its work arrangements, the manner of dealing with complaints, and the procedure of its deliberations.

Opinion

23.

Should a Member of the Knesset have doubts as to whether a certain act of his corresponds with the Rules of Ethics, he is entitled to ask for an opinion from the Ethics Committee. In this article “action” - includes failure to act.

Ethics precedents

24.

A matter connected with the ethics of Members of the Knesset, regarding which there is no provision in these Rules, shall be decided by the Ethics Committee.

Interpretation

25.

The authority to interpret the Rules of Ethics is placed exclusively in the hands of the Ethics Committee.

Compilations of ethics

26.

The Ethics Committee is entitled to publish, compilations of rules of ethics, for the instruction of Members of the Knesset, in which all the laws, rules, decisions and opinions connected with ethics shall be concentrated.

Transition provision

27.

Despite what has been said in article 15, a Member of the Tenth Knesset shall submit his first statement within ninety days of the entry of article 15 into force, and a Member of the Tenth Knesset, who has become a Member after the entry of article 15 into force - within ninety days of his becoming a Member.

Entry into force

28.

(a)

Except for articles 11, 12(a) and (c), 13, 15, and 16, these Rules shall go into effect on 1 December 1983.

(b)

Articles 11, 12(a), and 13 shall go into effect on 1 March 1984.

(c)

Articles 15 and 16 shall go into effect on 1 June 1984.

(d)

Article 12(c) shall go into effect at the beginning of the term of the Eleventh Knesset.

Eitan Livni

Chairman of the House Committee 22 November 1983

¹ (a) Publications Collection 5744 (1983/84), p. 842; Correction of error - p. 2839; Correction No. 1 - 5746 (1985/86), p. 1964;

Correction No. 2 - 5747 (1986/87), p. 1558; Correction No 3 - 5755 (1994/95), p. 947; Correction No. 4 - 5758 (1997/98), p. 4448; Correction No. 5 - 5760 (1999/2000), p. 1355; Correction No. 6 - 5761 (2000/2001), p. 2061; Correction No. 7 - 5761 (2000/2001), p. 3221.

(b) According to article 13e of the Knesset Members’ Immunity, Rights and Duties Law, 1951 (adopted on 25.7.1988), the Rules of Ethics shall be regarded as having been enacted under its authority , in so far as they do not contradict what is said in articles 13a-13d of the Law.