All contractors should, if they don’t already, have a website. Even if it’s not something they design and build themselves, they should at least have some kind of personal landing page to lure in prospective clients. Information you would be likely to include on your website includes past clients, a portfolio of selected work, contact details and perhaps some kind of blog. But did you know there are legal requirements as to what must be included on a corporate website? If you are a contractor operating under your own limited company, this includes you!
The Electronic Commerce Regulations (2002) detail precisely what details you must include on your website if it is the property of a company. Specifically, the website must include -
- The name of the service provider
- The geographic address at which the service provider is established
- The details of the service provider, including his electronic mail address, which make it possible to contact him rapidly and communicate with him in a direct and effective manner
- Where the service provider is registered in a trade or similar register available to the public, details of the register in which the service provider is entered and his registration number, or equivalent means of identification in that register
- Where the provision of the service is subject to an authorisation scheme, the particulars of the relevant supervisory authority
- Your companies VAT Registration number (if you have one)
Where the service provider exercises a regulated profession (for example a medical professional)—
- The details of any professional body or similar institution with which the service provider is registered
- His/her professional title and the member State where that title has been granted
- A reference to the professional rules applicable to the service provider in the member State of establishment and the means to access them
These details do not have to be included on every page, but they must be clearly accessible on your website.
Photo by Quinn Dombrowski – CC
