In the 2000’s the UK Government implemented the Distance Selling Directive and the E-Commerce Directive through the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. These had the aim of promoting the internet for e-commerce by providing consumers and businesses with reassurances that their personal and financial details would be safe and that they could enforce their legal rights if they made a purchase online. This legislation requires website operators to provide specific information on their websites, with the nature of the requirements depending upon what type of business they engaged in. We’ll have a brief look at these requirements in this post. However, we recommend that you obtain advice from an employment law solicitor or IP solicitor before taking any action.
Information required from all commercial websites
The operator of a website must provide the following information for their customers or clients:
- The name of the business
- The geographical address which the business is located at
- The email address to use for the business
- If the business is a company, then the company number
- The VAT registration number for the business
Information required where the owner of the website is a member of a regulated profession
If the owner of the website is a member of a regulated profession then they must also provide the following details. This applies to solicitors, doctors, engineers etc.:
- The details of the professional body with which the website operator is registered
- The professional title of the website operator and where the member state has been awarded
- A reference to the rules that apply to the website operator as a member of that profession and where those rules can be found
Information required from websites owned by companies
Companies must provide the following information on their website:
- The company’s registered name
- The part of the UK in which the company is registered
- The company’s registered number
- If the company is an investment company, then the fact that it is such a company
Redmans Solicitors offer employment law advice and are based in the City of London.
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