# Website disclosures

Three regimes run in parallel: the e-commerce information duty, the companies trading disclosure duty, and the business names duty. One page can satisfy all three, none may be omitted. There is no single UK instrument equivalent to a German Impressum, and no page is legally required to be called anything in particular.

Accessibility of the information: reg 6(1) ECR 2002 requires it to be "easily, directly and permanently accessible". In practice a persistent footer link on every page, reachable without login and without dismissing a cookie banner.

## Reg 6, Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2013)

Status as at 2026-08-05: in force, revised text to 31 December 2020.

A service provider must make available to the recipient of the service and any relevant enforcement authority, in a form and manner which is easily, directly and permanently accessible:

1. the name of the service provider
2. the geographic address at which the service provider is established
3. details of the service provider, including electronic mail address, which make it possible to contact the provider rapidly and communicate in a direct and effective manner
4. where the provider is registered in a trade or similar register available to the public, details of the register and the provider's registration number or equivalent means of identification
5. where the activity is subject to an authorisation scheme, the particulars of the relevant supervisory authority
6. for a regulated profession: details of any professional body with which the provider is registered, the professional title and the member state where granted, and a reference to the applicable professional rules and how to access them
7. where VAT registered, the VAT identification number

Reg 6(2): prices must be indicated clearly and unambiguously, stating in particular whether they are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.

"Rapidly and in a direct and effective manner" is not satisfied by a contact form alone; an email address is expressly named in reg 6(1)(c).

## Reg 25, Company, LLP and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/17)

Status as at 2026-08-05: in force. These Regulations revoked and replaced the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 with effect from 31 January 2015 — the 2008 instrument is no longer the correct citation.

Reg 25(1) applies to business letters, order forms and websites. Reg 25(2) requires disclosure of:

- the part of the United Kingdom in which the company is registered (England and Wales, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland)
- the company's registered number
- the address of the company's registered office
- if exempt from the requirement to use "limited" in its name, the fact that it is a limited company
- if a community interest company which is not a public company, the fact that it is a limited company
- if an investment company within CA 2006 s 833, the fact that it is such a company

Reg 25(3): if share capital is referred to at all, the reference must be to paid-up share capital.

Reg 24 requires the registered name in all business communications, including websites. Reg 26 requires disclosure where the company is in liquidation or an insolvency procedure.

## CA 2006 Part 41, ss 1200–1206 — business names

Status as at 2026-08-05: in force.

Applies to a sole trader or partnership trading under a name that is not the proprietors' surnames with permitted additions. Section 1201 requires disclosure of each proprietor's name and an address in the UK at which service of any document relating to the business will be effective. Section 1202 requires that disclosure on business letters, written orders for goods or services, invoices and receipts issued in the course of the business, and written demands for payment. Section 1204 requires the same particulars to be displayed at business premises to which customers or suppliers have access, and supplied on written request to anyone the business deals with.

Sections 1202 and 1204 do not name websites. Publishing the same particulars on the website is nonetheless the safe course, because order confirmations, invoices and payment demands generated by the site do fall within s 1202. Failure to comply without reasonable excuse is an offence; s 1206 additionally makes contracts unenforceable by the trader in defined circumstances.

## Companies House identity verification (ECCTA 2023)

Status as at 2026-08-05: identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025 (GOV.UK guidance "Verifying your identity for Companies House", last updated 1 June 2026). Directors, PSCs, members of LLPs and those filing on a company's behalf must verify, with staged deadlines depending on when the role was taken up. This is a filing obligation, not a website disclosure, but an unverified director is a live compliance defect that surfaces during any pre-launch review.

## Template

```html
<!-- DRAFT – NOT LEGALLY APPROVED -->
<h1>Legal information</h1>

<h2>Service provider</h2>
<p>
  [[Registered name exactly as registered]]<br>
  [[Street address]]<br>
  [[Town, postcode]], United Kingdom
</p>

<h2>Contact</h2>
<p>
  Email: <a href="mailto:[[address]]">[[address]]</a><br>
  Telephone: [[number]]
</p>

<h2>Company details</h2>
<p>
  Registered in [[England and Wales / Scotland / Northern Ireland]]<br>
  Company number: [[number]]<br>
  Registered office: [[registered office address]]<br>
  VAT registration number: [[GB…]] <!-- omit the line entirely if not VAT registered -->
</p>

<h2>Regulatory information</h2>
<p>
  Supervisory authority: [[authority, or delete this block if the activity is not subject to an authorisation scheme]]<br>
  Professional body and registration: [[body, number]]<br>
  Professional title: [[title]], granted in [[country]]<br>
  Applicable professional rules: [[name]], available at [[URL]]
</p>

<h2>Complaints and dispute resolution</h2>
<p>[[see complaints-adr.md — no ODR link]]</p>

<h2>Content and image credits</h2>
<p>
  Content on this site is protected by copyright.<br>
  Image credits: [[photographer / stock provider / licence]]
</p>
```

Sole trader or partnership variant: replace the "Company details" block with the proprietors' names and the UK address for service required by CA 2006 s 1201, and delete the registered number and registered office lines.

## Checkpoints

- [ ] Reachable from every page, no login, no consent gate in front of it
- [ ] Registered name matches the Companies House register character for character
- [ ] Part of the UK of registration stated, not just "UK" (reg 25(2)(a) SI 2015/17)
- [ ] Registered number and registered office present (reg 25(2)(b), (c))
- [ ] Geographic address of establishment, not a PO box (reg 6(1)(b) ECR 2002)
- [ ] Email address given explicitly, plus one further channel (reg 6(1)(c))
- [ ] Supervisory authority named where an authorisation scheme applies (reg 6(1)(e))
- [ ] Regulated profession block complete: body, title, country, rules, access route (reg 6(1)(f))
- [ ] VAT number present if registered, absent if not (reg 6(1)(g))
- [ ] Prices state whether tax and delivery are included (reg 6(2))
- [ ] Sole trader or partnership: proprietors' names and UK address for service (CA 2006 s 1201)
- [ ] No "Impressum", no "§ 5 TMG", no "§ 5 DDG", no EU ODR link
- [ ] No citation of the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 — revoked
- [ ] All `[[…]]` placeholders resolved or explicitly reported as open