Is Your Website Breaking The Law?

You are probably aware that as a limited company, it is a legal requirement that your letterhead features your company registration name, number, place of registration, and registered office address. If you were not aware of this then I would recommend reading up on this on the Companies House website.

Many businesses, however, do not realise that the same requirements apply to their company websites and email footers as well, as a result of an update to the Companies Act legislation of 1985. If you are trading as a limited company, then you are required to display your company’s registration number, place of registration and registered office address on your website. It does not need to appear on every page, so you may decide that it would be sufficient for it to be present only on a ‘contact details’ or ‘legal information’ page.

With regards to email footers, legal opinion suggests that your company information should appear on any outgoing email that you send that ‘amounts to a business letter’.

These changes to the Companies Act to include websites and emails came into force back in 2007, but I am constantly surprised by how many websites I find that are seemingly unaware of their responsibilities. These companies may well be in line to receive a fine, when all it would take would be a small change to ensure compliance.

Of course, with all matters of a legal nature it should be noted that my thoughts above are meant for guidance only. You can find out more details on the issues discussed above along with further regulations in this article on web and email regulations. We also recommend the law firm Technology Law Alliance for legal advice in the field of technology, IT, and E-Commerce.