In the event of deficiencies, various steps are taken against the amutah – including non-granting or canceling an existing one, appointing an investigator (section 40 of the Associations Law), imposing an administrative fine (which can also be imposed on the board members) (section 64A of the Associations Law), and taking liquidation proceedings or requiring the amutah to comply with a recovery plan (section 50 of the Associations Law). Section 50(a) of the Associations Law grants the Registrar of Associations and the Attorney General the authority to submit to the District Court an application for the dissolution of an association on various grounds, one of which is because the association is acting contrary to the law, its objectives or its bylaws (section 49(1) of the Associations Law). A request for liquidation under section 49(1) of the Associations Law can be filed only after the Registrar has permitted the association to correct the distortion.
- In accordance with the Sports Law, the Association is also subject to additional supervision by the Ministry of Culture and Sport (or the Ministry of Science and Culture until 2009). Thus, for example, the law stipulates that the Minister of Culture and Sport or whoever he has authorized to do so is entitled to review the books of accounts of the association (Section 9(b) to the Sports Law). The Association must report in writing to the Knesset's Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, once a year, on the implementation of the provisions of the law regarding appropriate representation, and the committee must hold a discussion of the report (Section 9A(b) to the Sports Law). The law also establishes the activity of an institution for examining the eligibility of appointments in sports, which is appointed by the Minister of Culture and Sports. It is an institution that examines the eligibility for the appointment of sports referees and members of an internal judicial institution in associations or associations, while maintaining the independence of their activities (Sections 10a-10b and11(b)-11(d) to the Sports Law).
Subsequently, on March 2, 2016, the Chairman of the Association contacted the Director General of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, requesting an extension of the time period designated for the submission of a Sol opinion, which was intended to clarify the Association's action plan. After his request was accepted and the Association did not submit the opinion within the allotted date, The Ministry's Director General contacted the Chairman of the Association on July 27, 2016, and complained that the Association had not yet submitted its action plan regarding the various aspects of the Alkalai Report, even though the deadline to do so had passed. The Ministry's Director General demanded that the Association present a plan that addresses all aspects of the report, the planned operational handling of them, including the status of the handling "in all matters related to the collection of the excess payments paid to the teams" (see Appendix 7 to the State's Notice of October 29, 2017).
- In addition to the aforementioned supervisory powers, the Association is also subject to supervision by the State Comptroller, being a "controlled body" in the sense of this term Section 9(8) of the State Comptroller Law [Consolidated Version], 5718-1958. The association was even defined as a "public authority" In section 2(9a) of the Freedom of Information Law, and it is subject to the criteria for receiving support from the state as it is a "public institution" as it defines In Section 3A to the Foundations of Budget Law.
The association is therefore supervised by a number of external regulators. There is no supervisory "vacuum" regarding it. At the same time, it is necessary to further examine whether this supervision is sufficient to lead to the conclusion that in accordance with the existing legal situation, it is not possible to file a derivative claim on behalf of the association – similar to the situation with the health funds – or whether there are significant differences between the health plans and the association that justify a different legal outcome for each of them. This comparison will be addressed in the next chapter.
Comparison between the HMOs and the Association
- There are a number of differences between the association and the health funds, as described in the Supreme Court's ruling.
First, the Association differs from the HMOs in the type of service it provides. Indeed, the Association's activity relates to an essential service – the management of the soccer industry, which is one of the most popular sports in Israel. At the same time, a distinction must be made between this service and the more basic vitality of the service provided by the HMOs – the provision of basic health services (and cf. the Cohen case, at para. 20 of the judgment of Justice Y. Amit).