The Regulations, properly called the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, implement the EU's E-commerce Directive into UK law, albeit over eight months behind schedule.
They introduce a limited “country of origin” principle, certain information and e-mail and text messaging requirements, and also address the liability of ISPs and other so-called intermediaries.
Struan Robertson, editor of OUT-LAW.COM, said:
"Almost every business will need to make changes to its web site to comply with these Regulations. Most will not have done so because, although late, the final Regulations were only published earlier this month.
"Fortunately, for most businesses the changes are straightforward. Every web site should provide certain clear information, clarifying who is running the service, together with full contact information and details that may not previously have appeared on the site, such as the registered VAT number of that business.
"For those involved in e-commerce, more changes may be necessary. But some of these can benefit the business, by giving it discretion in stating the point at which a contract is formed on the web site - something that helps to avoid the potential losses incurred in a web site pricing error such as that experienced recently by Kodak."