Guide: Adapting a WordPress Site for Amendment 13 of the Israeli Privacy Protection Law

To address the new requirements introduced by Amendment 13 of the Privacy Protection Law, I have developed a dedicated WordPress plugin that makes it easier for website and WooCommerce store owners to comply. In addition, this guide also provides an explanation for setting up a Privacy Policy page on your site, with a suitable text template for both WooCommerce and brochure websites.

Important Update: The ‘ATR Cookie Notice’ plugin is available in the official WordPress Repository.

This guide has been updated to reflect that the ‘ATR Cookie Notice’ plugin has been officially published in the WordPress plugins repository. This is a significant change that streamlines the installation and update process.

ATR Cookie Notice

Future of the Plugin and Ratings

I plan to add more options and features to the plugin in the future, including automation for adding the privacy policy checkbox to forms and WooCommerce.

It is very important for me to receive high ratings and positive feedback for the plugin in the WordPress repository. Positive ratings and reviews help the plugin advance in search results and reach more users. If the plugin is helpful to you, please take a moment to rate it.

Amendment 13 to the Israeli Privacy Protection Law

Amendment 13 to the Privacy Protection Law, which comes into effect on August 14, 2025, requires many websites in Israel to protect user privacy. The main requirements include displaying a clear notice about the use of cookies and obtaining explicit consent from users for the collection of their data. This guide is designed to help you implement these requirements on your WordPress site using the ‘ATR Cookie Notice’ plugin.

For the full text of the law:
- Amendment 13 – Explanations
- Amendment 13 – Publication in the Book of Laws

Why it’s important to adapt your site for Amendment 13 and how the plugin helps

If you are a site owner, it is important to understand what the changes are and how they affect you.

What does Amendment 13 require?

The amendment mandates increased transparency and accountability for how users’ personal information is collected, processed, and used, including:

Displaying an updated and accessible privacy policy.
Creating a link to the privacy policy page from every page on the site.

Regarding the following topics, I’m not sure, this is still under review:

Obtaining explicit consent for the use of non-essential cookies (such as analytical and marketing cookies).
Documenting the consent given by the user.
Adding an explicit approval for the privacy policy when performing sensitive actions, for example, when completing an order on an e-commerce site.

The Privacy Policy Plugin – The Pop-up That Appears on the First Visit

Why is it important to update your site?

Failure to comply with the law can lead to fines and may complicate digital advertising and marketing processes. It can have several practical consequences beyond fines:

Difficulty in Digital Advertising and Marketing: Platforms like Google and Facebook require compliance with privacy terms and proper data collection to allow campaigns and the use of analytics and marketing tools. Non-compliance can lead to advertising account suspension or restrictions on data collection. Google requires sites using Google Ads and Google Analytics to display explicit cookie consent and to comply with an updated privacy policy, otherwise, they may restrict data collection, reduce ad effectiveness, and even suspend accounts. Facebook (Meta) requires users to comply with appropriate privacy regulations to use the Facebook Pixel and its marketing tools. Non-compliance can lead to account freezes or targeting limitations. These platforms invest in automated checks and user complaints regarding privacy issues, and they are responsive to local regulations like Amendment 13.
Additional Legal Risks: Beyond fines, there is the possibility of private lawsuits from users or class-action lawsuits.

Therefore, even if fines are the main concern, the various consequences are widespread and require serious attention.

How to install and use?

Please note: Using a plugin downloaded from GitHub or other sources is not recommended at all. You must deactivate and delete the plugin you downloaded from GitHub before installing the plugin from the official repository.

The plugin in the official WordPress repository is the most up-to-date, has been reviewed by the WordPress team, and allows you to receive future updates automatically through the built-in WordPress update mechanism.

Important: The plugin in the official repository does not currently include the automatic feature for adding a privacy policy checkbox, as many compatibility issues were discovered with various forms and plugins. The development of this feature is planned for the future, and over time, automated options will be added to handle this issue. See below for how to manually create what is required.

To install the plugin, go to the WordPress Dashboard > Plugins > Add New.
Search for ‘ATR Cookie Notice’.
Click “Install” and then “Activate”.

Plugin Documentation

In the sub-menu, under “Cookie and Privacy Policy Consent Documentation – Israel,” you will find extensive documentation for the plugin, including test mechanisms for performing cookie blocking.

Privacy Policy Checkbox: Manual Installation (for now)

As noted, the plugin in the official repository does not currently include the automatic feature for adding a privacy policy consent checkbox. In the meantime, you must manually add the checkbox to every form on your site:

Adding to a Contact Form 7 form:
- Go to the form’s editor.
- Add the following code above the “Send” button:
- [acceptance privacy-policy] I agree that my details will be saved and used to handle my request, in accordance with the <a href="/privacy-policy/" role="link">site's privacy policy</a>. [/acceptance]
- Make sure the link to the privacy policy is correct.
General instructions for other form plugins (Elementor, Ninja Forms, etc.):
- You must add a field of type “Checkbox” or “Acceptance.”
- Add the required legal text.
- Include a link to your privacy policy page.

Special Instructions for WooCommerce

If your site has a WooCommerce store, you must add the consent for the privacy policy and terms of use in the checkout process.

Go to Appearance > Customize > WooCommerce > Checkout.
In the “Privacy policy” text box, enter:Your personal data will be used to process your order, support your experience on this website, and for other purposes described in the [privacy_policy].
In the “Terms and conditions” text box, enter:I have read and agree to the [terms] and [privacy_policy] on the website.

Disclaimer for Plugin and Privacy Policy Use

Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability:

There is no warranty for full compliance with the Privacy Protection Law and its Amendment 13. The offered plugin (hereinafter: “the plugin”) is a tool that allows the display of a banner notifying about the cookie policy on the site. The plugin does not guarantee that its use alone will grant the site full compliance with the requirements of the Privacy Protection Law, 5741-1981, and its Amendment 13, and it is not responsible for the content you add to the banner or your privacy policy. Therefore, we will not be liable for any claim that any person or entity may raise against you regarding compliance with the legal requirements of cookies, privacy policy, or any other related matter.

The responsibility towards users visiting your site rests on you. For the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that we will not have any liability to the users of your site or to any other entity, in any claim related to the management of privacy policy and cookies on the site or any other claim. You will bear the responsibility for any claim that is raised and for handling it, including the costs arising from it, even if it arose from the plugin’s activity.

The plugin is provided “as is” and without representations. The plugin is provided for your use “as is,” and bears no liability to you or any person. For the avoidance of doubt, the plugin does not provide a warranty that after its installation, your site will be fully compliant with any relevant legislation regarding cookies, including the Privacy Protection Law and its Amendment 13.

The plugin is not responsible for any result, damage, and/or cost of any kind (direct or indirect) caused as a result of its use, its content, or the information displayed through it, or as a result of non-compliance with any standard and/or law, including if malfunctions on the site occurred as a result of its use.

While the plugin allows for the display of a cookie banner, it does not exhaust all legal requirements and does not replace legal advice on the matter.

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How to set up a Privacy Policy page and link it to the plugin

For the plugin to work properly and to display the link to the Privacy Policy page (for example, in the cookie banner and in the policy approval checkbox on the checkout page), it is important to properly set up a Privacy Policy page in WordPress.

Steps to set up the Privacy Policy page:

Create a new page in WordPress: Go to Pages > Add New.
Name the page something like “Privacy Policy”.
Add content based on the privacy policy text adapted for Amendment 13 (you can use the example in the privacy-policy.md file in the plugin).
Publish the page.

Set the page as the main Privacy Policy page in WordPress:

Go to Settings > Privacy in the admin interface.
Select the page you created from the list under “Privacy Policy Page.”
Save the changes.

Why is it important to set it up this way?

WordPress provides a built-in function that automatically returns the link to the policy page you defined according to the steps above. The plugin uses this function to display the exact link to the privacy policy page in all places where user consent is required—for example, in the cookie banner and in the approval checkbox on the checkout page. If a privacy page is not defined in the WordPress settings, the function will return an empty value.

Please note! You must add a link to the Privacy Policy page that is displayed on every page of the site. This way, the plugin and the site work properly and maintain compliance with Amendment 13 of the Privacy Protection Law.

For any questions or assistance with installation, feel free to contact us!