Virtually every commercial website should comply with the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. Between these Regulations and the Companies Act, the requirements for websites are to display, in an easily accessible manner, the company or firm’s

i) full name (including ‘Ltd’ etc.; this may be different from its trading name);
ii) email address;
iii) geographic address;
iv) registered office (if a company);
v) registered number (if a company);
vi) VAT number;
vii) place of registration (if a company, e.g. England and Wales); and
viii) membership details, including any registration number, if a member of a trade or professional association.

On-line businesses that sell to consumers without face-to-face contact before the contract is concluded also have to comply with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

If prices are stated on a website, they must be stated clearly and unambiguously.

A data protection notice about how information about people will be used is usually also required, and must contain information on any use of cookies.

Posted: February 26th, 2008 under Business Regulation.
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