Spider Trax

Mandatory Company Information For Web Sites

According to OUTLAW.COM, companies in the UK must include certain regulatory information on their websites and in their email footers by 1 January 2007 or risk breaching the Companies Act.

Every company should list its company registration number, place of registration, and registered office address on its website as a result of an update to the legislation of 1985. The information, which must be in legible characters, should also appear on order forms and in emails. Such information is already required on “business letters” but the duty is being extended to websites, order forms and electronic documents.

The specified information does not need to appear on every page of a site but can be listed in an “About us” or “Legal info” page.

The following is the recommended minimum information that must be on any company’s website according to OUT-LAW’s guide, The UK’s Ecommerce Regulations.

• The name, geographic address and email address of the company. 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.” 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.
• 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″)
• If the business is a member of a trade or professional association, membership details, including any registration number, should be provided.
• If the business has a VAT number, it should be stated – even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.
• Prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous and state whether prices are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.

Finally, do not forget the Distance Selling Regulations which contain other information requirements for online businesses that sell to consumers as opposed to businesses. For details of these requirements, see the OUTLAW.COM guide, The Distance Selling Regulations – An Overview.