Businesses trading online could have their websites closed down for minor transgressions under tough new e-commerce legislation.
The E-Commerce Regulations came into effect on 23 October.
They a ...
Businesses trading online could have their websites closed down for minor transgressions under tough new e-commerce legislation.
The E-Commerce Regulations came into effect on 23 October.
They allow the Office of Fair Trading and other consumer bodies to apply to the courts for stop orders on websites that they believe harm consumers' interests.
The regulations apply to all businesses that advertise or sell goods or services online via a website or email.
Addleshaw Booth & Co technology head Andrew Rigby is an experton ecommerce law.
He said businesses with online presences had previously operated in a fairly unregulated environment and were not sufficiently briefed about the new regulations.
"Under the new laws, websites have to provide specific information, such as the name of the website owner, the geographic address at which it operates and even an electronic mail address which makes it possible for a consumer to contact the website owner rapidly.
"Even emails will need to comply with minimum information requirements."
Rigby said there were a number of other failures that could result in site closure.
These included failing to provide basic information on promotional offers and competitions, failing to provide terms and conditions, failing to acknowledge orders and failing to allow the consumer to correct errors in an order.
