21 August
2002
Eversheds e80
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The e-news service from Eversheds - Business Lawyers in Europe
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E-Commerce Regulations - Are you Ready?
The E-Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, which
implement the EU
E-Commerce Directive into UK law, come into force today. Customers have
the right to enforce their new rights from now on. The Regulations are
now some seven months overdue and effect online businesses by introducing
further regulation into the area of e-commerce and ironing out some of
the
uncertainties which have previously existed. From 23 October 2002 the
Office of Fair Trading and other trading standards bodies will have the
power to take action against businesses that do not comply with the new
law.
Do the Regulations apply to me?
The Regulations may apply if you:
· sell goods and services to businesses or consumers
on the Internet or by
email;
· advertise on the Internet or by email; or
· convey or store electronic content for your customers or provide
access
to a communications network.
Scope of the Regulations
The main provisions of the Regulations are as follows:
· Country of Origin Principle: UK based businesses
will now only be
required to comply with relevant laws and regulations in the UK when
trading in the EEA. However, there are exceptions to this principle. In
particular, where dealing with consumers UK based businesses must comply
with any consumer contract laws in place in the consumer's home state.
So, those providing services from the UK to consumers in other EEA member
states will have to comply with, for example, rules on implied terms in
place in the consumer's home state;
· General Information Requirements: The Regulations
provide that you must
make specified information about your business available to your customers
when communicating to them electronically.
· Advertisements and Promotions: Advertising on
the web and which is sent
by e-mail or over a mobile phone must be clearly identifiable as an advert
and comply with specific information requirements. Unsolicited advertising
(spam) must also be clearly and unambiguously identifiable as such as
soon
as it is received so that recipients can delete the spam without reading
it.
· Contracting Online: The Regulations introduce
new requirements that
apply when you contract online. You cannot contract out of these
requirements when dealing with consumers.
· Liability of Intermediaries: The Regulations
limit the liability of
intermediary service providers where they are storing third party content.
This is good news for ISPs and anyone who hosts a bulletin board or chat
room. Intermediaries will not liable for damages or under criminal law
where acting as a "mere conduit", "caching" or "hosting"
provided certain
conditions are met.
All businesses need to check that they are complying
with the Regulations.
We'll return to the Regulations tomorrow with a note setting out practical
steps which will help ensure compliance.
Suzanne Mercer
Telephone: 020 7919 4794
Fax: 020 7919 4919
Email: suzannemercer@eversheds.com
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