Bill seeks to pull plug on fax machines

The bill by MK Stav Shaffir (Zionist Union) seeks to address the anomalous ubiquity of outdated fax machines in what is otherwise known as the start-up nation.

A fax machine (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
A fax machine
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
A proposal to require service providers to use emails was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday.
The bill by MK Stav Shaffir (Zionist Union) seeks to address the anomalous ubiquity of outdated fax machines in what is otherwise known as the start-up nation.
According to the proposal, which she previously submitted in the last Knesset, government offices, local authorities, government-owned companies, phone companies, Internet providers, cable and satellite TV companies, banks and more will have to allow customers to send emails, not just faxes.
The Zionist Union MK’s version of the bill is to be combined with a government bill.
When Shaffir proposed the bill last year, she explained that the current system wastes customers’ time and money in having to search for the fax machine nearest to their home and then pay to use it.
“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 emails these days, but it’s harder to find someone with easy access to a fax machine,” she added