Web sites wanting to register with the scheme will have to conform with the TrustUK regulations and will be obliged to do so under a signed agreement. All approved web sites will display a TrustUK logo which contains a link to the TrustUK web site.
The project has received backing from the consumer body Which?, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Direct Marketing Association and the Alliance for Electronic Business.
Parties formerly involved in the development of TrustUK have expressed their concern that it may not succeed in providing consumers with adequate protection against the potential dangers of e-commerce.
However, a spokesman for the DTI defended TrustUK, saying: “we feel that TrustUK’s criteria are of a high enough standard that it allows all customers to trade safer. But they’re not too high that new companies can’t meet them”.