Changes required to Websites and Electronic documents

[DK Karaoke]

Hi all,

Just thought I would highlight the new law for companies and LLP's as follows:

The government has recently issued new legislation extending the requirements for companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) to provide certain particulars about themselves on their websites and in electronic versions of all documents.

The new legislation became effective from 1 January 2007 and there are penalties for those who do not comply.

The changes mean that companies and LLPs must disclose their name, place of registration, registered number and the address of their registered office on their websites. This information must already be included on business letters and order forms. The new legislation extends the requirements to include this information to such documents in electronic format. As so many of us now conduct business correspondence by email, this has implications for the amount of information that must be included.

A lot of changes for us all eh

[soundtracker]

Very few of us on here are either Ltd or LLP, so we remain unaffected, but thanks for highlighting the change, it may remind some of their new obligations.

[Corabar Entertainment]

As it's always been the case on paper docs, I've always automatically done it for electronic docs as well - but thanks for pointing it out

As an extension of that though, I saw an ad on telly last night (more of an info-mercial, actually) by one of the govt consumer advisory bodies. It was giving advice to the public about dealing on the net and it basically said don't buy / trust sites that don't give you a full UK address and landline telephone number. I have to admit that I have always felt this myself and don't use any sites that don't give this information, but I know that a lot of you don't want to give your address on your website, and that some of you only use mobile numbers..... it might be worth re-thinking that as it is probably hurting your business

[sleah]

As it's always been the case on paper docs, I've always automatically done it for electronic docs as well - but thanks for pointing it out

As an extension of that though, I saw an ad on telly last night (more of an info-mercial, actually) by one of the govt consumer advisory bodies. It was giving advice to the public about dealing on the net and it basically said don't buy / trust sites that don't give you a full UK address and landline telephone number. I have to admit that I have always felt this myself and don't use any sites that don't give this information, but I know that a lot of you don't want to give your address on your website, and that some of you only use mobile numbers..... it might be worth re-thinking that as it is probably hurting your business

The 'compromise' way round this is to just add a small 'Legal' (or similar) button somewhere that displays the required contact information. That way you can leave your main contact details as-is but still comply with regs.
I've noticed quite a few sites do this.

[DK Karaoke]

The tip about adding a small buttom directing the viewer to the necessary info, might be the answer, however, I think I will check it out just in case. Or, perhaps someone else on the forum might.

If the info is not there, the owner/director responsible for the business is personally liable to a fine

As we are ltd, I think I will ensure the info in on all electronic docs. I did have all the details on my site, but before Xmas changed it to just show the company number and where registered.

I have given the link to the official statutory instrument:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20063429.htm

Do you think this alert needs to be shown in say the disco thread section, as not everyone looks at the Law section?

[Corabar Entertainment]

Well, this is where it belongs! We can't duplicate all the posts all over the place just because people choose not to read particular forums!

Most regulars use 'New Posts' anyway, and it will appear as a new post for them

[DK Karaoke]

Okey kokey, is that how you spell it, as I know you chaps are keen on spelling and such things.

Been caught by this new legislation already, not legally or anything. I was just sending an invoice via my paypal link email setup, and suddenly realised, oh... I haven't got my company details on etc., on the templates. I think this is something that Paypal has to do. Wonder do they know about it.

Anyway, I sent it off without changing.

I wonder what else it will affect, like what about those who have a link to Paypal on their site. Surely the Paypal link details needs to show the info. After all if it realtes to your company - asking for money - should it need to show it???

I hate this sort of change, nothing is really clear.