What are the legal requirements for a website?

Milena Stefanova

Legal requirements? For a website? Really? Yes, really. Included in the minefield of stuff you need to know who starting a business (just to make life harder) are the legal requirements you should be considering when creating content for your site. Not to worry, this blog is here to clarify all.

Note: some legislation applies specifically to websites, and some will apply to everything.

Your business’s details

Limited companies and similar entities are required to list the same information on their website as they do everywhere else. This typically includes their registered address, company number and phone number. This information also needs to be listed on all emails and invoices.

Also, according to The European E-commerce Directive, if you’re a limited company, you should also be listing your email address on your website.

Distance selling regulations

Because of the distance selling regulations, there are some additional laws which will apply if you are selling through an e-commerce website. If you are selling goods online, it’s probably wise to get expert advice from a specialist solicitor to ensure you are fulfilling your distance selling obligations, and to get your T&Cs drawn up properly. Without accurate and effective terms and conditions, you could land yourself in hot water further down the line.

Using cookies

If you’re storing information about your users in the form of cookies, you are required to have a clear warning on your website, advising users that information will be stored. Whilst there are a few exceptions, these make up less than 1% of cookies (and their exact nature hasn’t yet been clearly defined), so it is best to assume that cookie warnings should be used.

Opt-in statements for your newsletters

The UK currently operates under the Data Protection Directive, and after 2018 a double opt-in became a requirement for all business marketing. If your users, shoppers and fans would like to sign up to receive information from you, they will need to fill out a form or tick a box to confirm they do actually want to be contacted and haven’t just ended up on a list accidentally.

Whilst this two-step approach will limit the quantity of ‘data’ (we prefer humans) you can communicate with and market to, once you have legal consent in place, you will probably have fewer unsubscribes, and a healthier mailing list over-all.

Also, penalties are not fun so we really need to all be following the rules when it comes to Data Protection.

Allowing disabled visitors to read your content

Compared to the minefield which is date protection, it is pretty easy to comply with The Disability Discrimination Act, and while the legislation is open to some interpretation, the regulation for websites is pretty easy to get your head around.

All you need to do to comply, is make a few behind-the-scenes tweaks to your website code, which will ensure your website can be interpreted by the software and browser settings disabled visitors may be using. Also as a bonus, putting these codes in place means improved SEO!

On the flip-side, there are a ton of legal implications if you do not comply so it might worth getting expert advice from a professional at some point.

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