Website Legal Requirements

Your company's website must include the following information as a minimum (from OUT-LAW's guide, The UK's   E-commerce Regulations).

 
• 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. "ABC.com is the trading name of ABC Limited."
 
• 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.
 
• 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")
 
• 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. Also, state whether prices are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.
  
  

Regarding cookies:

The law requiring websites to gain explicit consent before storing cookies on users computers was passed in May 2011 but the ICO granted firms a year to comply before prosecuting any cases. At Alchemy we have found the most effective way to fulfill the legal requirements is to include a cookie acceptance tool called cookie control. An example of this can be found on our web pages in the bottom left.