Make sure your blog fulfills legal requirements

Posted by: Krishna De | Posted on: January 19th, 2007 | 2 Comments | Posted in: Business blogging, Ezines and newletters, Marketing offline, Marketing online

Recent legistlation came into force in the UK that applies to legal requirements online and therefore applies to your website, blog and emails. 

Even if you are not based in the UK, the following would be considered good practice, so I recommend that you audit your compliance against these guidelines and you may want to seek legal guidance to ensure you cover your own local jurisdiction.

The following is an summary of the minimum information that must be on any company’s website (from OUT-LAW’s guide, The UK’s E-commerce Regulations) and is quoted from the Outlaw website.

1. The name, geographic address and email address of the service provider. The name of the organisation with which the customer is contracting must be given.  This might differ from the trading name. Any such difference should be explained – e.g. “XYZ.com is the trading name of XYZ Enterprises Limited.”
2. It is not sufficient to include a ‘contact us’ form without also providing an email address and geographic address somewhere easily accessible on the site. A PO Box is unlikely to suffice as a geographic address; but a registered office address would. If the business is a company, the registered office address must be included.
3. If a company, the company’s registration number should be given and, under the Companies Act, the place of registration should be stated (e.g. “XYZ Enterprises Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 1234567″)
4. If the business is a member of a trade or professional association, membership details, including any registration number, should be provided.
5. If the business has a VAT number, it should be stated – even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.
6. Prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous. Also, state whether prices are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.

 Thanks to Mark for posting about this subject which caught my attention in the first instance.