E-commerce

This section is for those who take payments online. Other areas of OUT-LAW deal with non-transactional issues in e-business.

See also: Legal info about Accessibility, Data Protection, Development and Financial Services

OUT-LAW Guides (UK law)

• The UK's Distance Selling Regulations
  If you're selling to consumers online, you need to know these Regulations. 
• The UK's E-Commerce Regulations
  These cover more than just e-commerce: your business is almost certainly affected.
• Selling online: an overview of the rules
  An overview of the law governing online sales in the UK and an analysis of the issues that a business should consider before setting up an online sales process.
• Terms and Conditions (Checklist)
• Selling online: structuring your e-commerce process
  Some 'recommended' best practice techniques to ensure that your sales process is legally correct and contractually enforceable.
• How to protect your site against pricing errors
  From a legal point of view there is no reason why companies should be out of pocket for pricing errors, so long as they follow a few simple legal rules.
• Amazon's pricing error
• Kodak error shows need for legal protection
• Dealing with consumers
  A detailed guide on the various laws that protect consumers, e.g. product liability, trade descriptions, spam, credit agreements.

OUT-LAW Guides (Hong Kong law)

• Dealing with consumers
• Internet advertising
• Foreign investment in China's e-commerce

Recent OUT-LAW News

• Business rival makes highest ever online libel payout
• Children ignore age rules on social networking sites, says Ofcom
• Children ignore age rules on social networking sites, says Ofcom
• Retailers can lawfully offer BOGOF deals, says Commission official
• OFT forces web billing company to limit pop-ups

Added-value services

We reckon that our experience of running OUT-LAW - which is a busy and popular website - has given us a solid understanding of how to apply e-commerce laws in practice. Get in touch with any of our contacts.

You may also be interested in OUT-LAW Compliance, which involves us checking your site for a fixed fee to ensure it complies with various e-business laws.

Useful links

Warning: The links below are to legislation, some of which may be out of date. Some Acts may have been amended many times, but when you follow the link to HMSO's website you will not see the end result of all these amendments. So be careful before relying on what you read.

• Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000
• Distance Selling Directive 1997
• E-commerce Directive 2000
• E-commerce Regulations 2002
• Electronic Communications Act 2000
• Electronic Signatures Directive 1999
• Electronic Signatures Regulations 2002
• E-money Directive 2000
• The Financial Services (Distance Marketing) Regulations 2004
• Sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees Directive 1999
• Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002
• Unfair Commercial Practices Directive - DRAFT
  • See also: Commission's Q&A on draft Unfair Commercial Practices Directive
• VAT on e-commerce services Directive 2002
  • See also: Law Commission's guidance on formal requirements for e-commerce transactions (44-page PDF)

• A guide for businesses on distance selling, from the DTI and OFT (48-page / 127KB PDF)