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Legislative Compliance

Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)

The UK Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 states:

"It is unlawful for a provider of services to discriminate against a disabled person [...] in refusing to provide, or deliberately not providing, to the disabled person any service which he provides, or is prepared to provide, to members of the public."

It includes "access to and use of information services" among its examples of services to which the rules apply. It adds:

"Where a provider of services has a practice, policy or procedure which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled persons to make use of a service which he provides, or is prepared to provide, to other members of the public, it is his duty to take such steps as it is reasonable, in all the circumstances of the case, for him to have to take in order to change that practice, policy or procedure so that it no longer has that effect."

Initially, there was some ambiguity because the wording of the Act did not explicitly refer to web sites, although the consensus has long been that the reference to "information services" was inclusive of web sites.

This ambiguity was removed in February 2002 by the publication of a Code of Practice: Rights of Access - Goods, Facilities, Services and Premises which is based on the DDA.

In explaining the services which a business should make accessible to people with hearing or visual disabilities, the Code cites "accessible web sites" among its examples. The Code goes on to give the following example:

"An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the public on its web site. This is a provision of a service and is subject to the Act."

So the duty on any organisation with a web site that is not accessible to the disabled is to take "reasonable" steps to make that site accessible.

E-Commerce Law

Online retailers are affected by two types of legistlation, well established consumer protection regulations that apply to all consumer sales made on the internet and the more recently established E-Commerce regulations largely derived from EU directives.

Traditional consumer protection regulations

These regulations are in place to protect purchasers and consumers rights irrespective of whether the transaction is taking place over the counter or over the internet.

These regulations include:

  • Sale of Goods Act
    This Act gives certain rights to purchasers about the quality of the goods they receive, and their rights if the goods fail to live up to these standards.
  • The Consumer Credit Act
    This Act protects consumers' rights when they enter into an agreement for someone to provide them with loans or credit facilities including circumstances where they buy goods or services using a credit card.
  • The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations
    These regulations protect consumers' rights where they enter into agreements with retailers who try to impose unfair terms in the agreement.

This is not an exhaustive list as there are also other pieces of legistlation which may apply depending on the type of contract or product type.

Online regulations

These regulations have been bought in more recently with the purpose of protecting consumers' rights when they purchase products either over the internet or by telephone. They largely derive from EU Directives and include:

  • E-commerce Regulations
  • Distance Selling Regulations
  • Electronic Signatures Regulations

Companies Act 1985

An update to the Companies Act 1985 coming into effect on the 1st of January 2007 requires all companies to include specified information about their organisation in electronic communications, including websites and emails.

The required information includes:

  • The name, postal address, and email address of the company.
  • If the sender is a registered company, the registration number should be provided as well as the place of registration.
  • If the business is a member of a trade or professional association, details of these should be provided including membership numbers.
  • If the business has a VAT number, it should be listed even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.

Companies and company officers who fail to comply with these regulations are liable to a fine.

These rules are currently not applicable to sole traders or partnerships, but it’s good practice to provide such information as your name, address and registration details on websites and emails.

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