When you set up your website for your new business there are certain documents that should always be in place and visible.
This is necessary for complying with the law. But it is not just about legal protection – it is also important for the credibility of your business and for good optics. Your website is the public face of your business, and a potential customer or supplier will nearly always check it before deciding to do business with you. If a customer checks your website and it isn’t in order, they might think that the rest of your business isn’t in order.
Here are the minimum requirements:
Terms of Use
Your website “Terms of Use” or “Terms and Conditions” describes how users may use your website and ensures that the necessary legal protections are in place. For example, it would include a disclaimer of warranties and a limitation of your liability. The Terms of Use may also include elements such as: referencing other terms that apply (for instance your privacy notice), account security, user posted content, prohibited uses, protection of your intellectual property, and governing law.
Depending on the nature of your business and website (for example, if you intend to contract directly with customers through your website) the Terms of Use may also describe how you deliver and charge for your products and services.
Privacy Notice
Your “Privacy Notice” or “Privacy Policy” describes how you as the responsible party collect and process the personal information of your website’s users. It is required in order to comply with the data protection laws that apply in the jurisdictions in which you do business – for example, the Protection of Personal Information Act in South Africa or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU. The Privacy Notice describes what personal information you collect, how you collect it and how you process it. It also sets out your website’s users’ rights over their personal information and how to contact you in order to assert these rights.
Cookies Notice
Depending on the nature of your website, it might be better to describe how cookies are used to collect and process user personal information in a separate “Cookies Notice” or “Cookies Policy”. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that is stored on a website user’s browser or computer hard drive, if the user agrees. The Cookies Notice sets out the types of cookies that your website uses. Related to this, we can advise you on the need for a “Cookies Banner”, which is a mechanism that you can implement to obtain user consent to cookies.
It is essential that you have the right documents in place, and we can help ensure that you do.
Where to get legal documents for your website?
Contact us if you need help – we are expert in drafting website documents and advising on requirements for all types of businesses.
We’ll help to review your plans and advise you on what else you may need, from email disclaimers through to customer contracts, or shareholder agreements to formalise the relationship between the business owners.
Need help with your ecommerce business?
Talk to a professional.
Talk to us!
We are here to help.
Get in touch at +27 (0) 78 728 4498 or via email at nick@nicholasbent.co.za or web https://www.nicholasbent.co.za.
