Background
The underlying petition concerns a clarification issued by the Ministry of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding the license required to operate truck-mounted cranes. The clarification followed an official certificate submitted by the Ministry’s chief labor inspector in a pending civil action, in which third-party notices had been served on the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Transport, and Israel Police.
An attorney who represented Menora Insurance Company in that civil action sought access to the High Court file. He said access would allow him to consider seeking joinder in the petition and assess how the parties’ arguments might affect the civil litigation. The petitioners objected, primarily because the file contained personal and commercial material belonging to them and to nonparties. Alternatively, they requested extensive redactions and restrictions. The government respondents left the matter to the Court’s discretion.
The Court’s Holding
President Yitzhak Amit granted the access request in part. Under Regulation 4(a) of the Courts and Labor Courts Regulations (Inspection of Files), 2003, any person may request access to a court file unless access is prohibited by law. That right extends to nonparties and derives from the constitutional principle of open justice, although it must be balanced against competing rights and interests. The asserted connection between this petition and another legal proceeding supported the request.
To protect privacy and trade secrets, the Court excluded Exhibits 1 and 10–13 to the petition, the August 31, 2026 application for interim relief and its exhibits, and the names of companies and individuals who were not parties. The petitioners were ordered to submit a redacted hard copy, accompanied by an affidavit confirming that only the court-authorized material had been removed. Inspection was limited to that copy, at the court registry, from October 18 through November 8, 2026, and did not extend to documents filed after the access request. The applicant was also required to provide a written undertaking not to publish or disclose information that could harm any person’s privacy or any company’s trade secrets. The Court declined to act on the petitioners’ request to strike portions of the access application, noting that the applicant was not a party to the proceeding.
Key Takeaways
- A nonparty may obtain access to an Israeli court file when access is not prohibited by law, including where the file may bear on related litigation.
- The open-justice principle does not override privacy and trade-secret interests; courts may redact documents, names, and exhibits and impose conditions on inspection.
- Permission to inspect applies only to the authorized materials and does not itself permit publication of information whose disclosure is barred by law.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates how the Supreme Court of Israel accommodates legitimate nonparty access while safeguarding sensitive commercial and personal information. A demonstrated connection to separate litigation can support access, but it does not entitle the requester to unrestricted inspection.
The ruling addresses only access to the record. It does not decide the merits of the underlying challenge concerning licensing requirements for truck-mounted cranes.