E-commerce and the law

Tips for complying with the E-commerce Regulations

To comply with the general information requirements of the E-commerce Regulations 2002 you must give recipients of your online services:

• your business' name, geographic address and other contact details including your email address
• details of any publicly available register in which you are entered, together with your registration number or equivalent
• the particulars of the supervisory body if the service is subject to an authorisation scheme
• details of any professional body with which you are registered
• your VAT registration number

If your website refers to prices, these must be clear and indicate whether they include tax and delivery costs.

You must also ensure your website complies with the Companies Act 2006. All companies in the UK must clearly state the company registration number, place of registration, registered office address and, if the company is being wound up, that fact, on all of their websites. A common place to put this information is in the 'About us' or 'Legal info' page of the site - it does not have to appear on every page. This rule also applies to any electronic communications sent out by your company, such as emails.

How to comply when contracting online

If your business forms contracts online you must provide your customers with information about:

• all technical steps required to conclude the contract, eg 'click this box'
• whether the concluded contract will be filed by you and whether it will be accessible
• the languages offered for the conclusion of the contract
• any relevant codes of conduct to which you subscribe, and information on how these can be consulted electronically

You must make sure that your website allows customers to go back and correct any mistakes made in their order before the order is placed.

Once a customer has placed an order electronically, you must acknowledge receipt without undue delay.