On the 1st January 2007 legislation came into force which extends the duty of a company to make disclosures of its details in relation to its correspondence. The existing requirements relate to paper based communications and require the following information to be included:

• the company's name;
• the company's registered number;
• the company's place of registration (i.e. England and Wales or Scotland);
• the situation of the company's registered office.

The legislation now requires that this information also appears on the following:

• all company order forms;
• all company websites.

It is not necessary that the information appear on every page of a website. However, so the information is easily accessible, it is advisable that it appear on the front page or homepage of the website or under an "about us" or "legal" section of the website.

Additionally, where the information would be required on a hard copy document, it will now also be required where the document is in electronic format. Consequently, companies should now ensure that footers of emails contain the relevant information.

Failure to comply with the requirements may result in both the company and an officer of the company who issues a document being liable to a fine. You should note that if an officer of a company signs a cheque or other documents such as an order for money or goods in which the company's name is not mentioned, in addition to a fine, he will be liable to the recipient of such documents for their value if it is not paid by the company.

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AN ACCESSIBILITY AGENCY that has been investigating how easy websites are to access by users with disabilities, has concluded that the majority of web designers are failing to produce sites in line with the minimum levels of accessibility for all. Commissioned by the United Nations as part of its International Day of Disabled Persons, Nomensa investigated many of the world's leading sites, taking a sample from five different sectors in 20 countries. The sectors studied included: travel, retail, banking, government and media. In the UK, the brands under scrutiny were:
British Airways, Marks & Spencer's, Lloyds TSB, the British PM's site and The Guardian. The report states that across all 100 sites probed, only three (including Tony Blair's) achieved the minimum standards, along with Blair's Spanish and German counterparts.

Among the portfolio of statistics it was revealed that 93 per cent failed to provide adequate text descriptions for graphics, 78 per cent used colours with poor contrast causing issues for colour blind sufferers, 97 per cent denied the ability to resize pages and 89 per cent offered poor navigation. "It's important for commercial, legal and moral reasons that websites put in place a strategy for accessibility," urges Alex Metcalfe, Nomensa's head of client services.

The Act in full - Disability Discrimination Act 1995

The good old days of laissez-faire marketing would appear to have gone forever. Like it or not, marketing is now a highly-regulated part of business life. The question is not so much "What can we do about it?" as "How do we live with it? There are currently 10 new bills that will affect marketers before parliament. They won't be the last.

'Marketing compliance is a duty not an option'

Ignorance of the Law is no defence, so burying your head in the sand isn't a realistic option either.

In the past, self-regulation has been the basis for marketing's relationship with governments. But this self-regulatory framework is being written with legislation. In the UK, 21 new ACTS, regulations or amandments affecting marketers have been passed in the last year.

Did you know?

• Global laws - Internet law, such as COPPA. Recent US law that forbids companies, whether in US or overseas, from collecting personal data about minors (defined as children under 13).
• Olympic Bill - It is illegal to combine words like 'games', 'medals', 'gold', 'sponsors', or 'summer' in any form of advertising. More..
• Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) - e.g. companies required to provide 'opt-in' boxes for unsolicited electronic mail, rather than the 'opt-out' boxes which are still prevalent.
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 - Did you know, it just doesn't cover the accessibility of your physical premises; it covers your virtual presence as well. Your website is leaglly required to be accessible to anyone with a disability. 81% of websites failed to meet basic criteria. More..

'1 in 4 advertisements for private home mortgages were non-compliant with FSA (Financial Services Authority)'

Survey by Mortgages Plc (May 2005)..