Confusion over company law amendment

by Brian Turner

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you for visiting!

Computers & Internet

The New Year has opened in confusion with regards to when and where a company must display corporate information online.

This comes after the EU First Company Law Amendment Directive was legislated into UK law for January 1st.

The question is - in what way exactly does it require changes in company communications?

For example, companies are required to display registration and registered office information on their websites, something many will already have complied with.

However, the situation becomes more confusing with online communications.

For example, will staff at limited companies need to display a company registration number and address in emails?

Although the initial suggestion is that this may be the case, the problem then arises where companies may reply to email lists, online communities, and forums, when speaking in an official capacity. This is not least because such groups may not always allow for such information to be posted.

According to the report at the Register:

Such information is already required on “business letters” but the duty is being extended to websites, order forms and electronic documents.

Additionally, website developers need to understand that the regulations may apply even to websites that do not even sell services online, directly or indirectly.

Which means that every website may need to display detailed contact and company registration details on any website connected with company operations.

With continued confusion over some of the more ambiguous elements of the ecommerce regulations, it remains to be seen to what extent these may be applied and enforced.

In the meantime, Out-law.com provides a useful guide on compliance with the recent changes in ecommerce regulations relating to company law:

The UK’s E-commerce Regulations
Email notices
The UK’s Distance Selling Regulations

Questions? Discuss this in our Internet Business forums for help and advice

Story link: Confusion over company law amendment

Add to Bookmarks: