What a UK business website must show by law

Every business: the E-Commerce Regulations

Regulation 6 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 asks anyone providing a service online to make these details easy to find:

• Your business name
• The geographic address where you are established (not only a PO box)
• Contact details, including an email address
• Your registration number, if you are on a public register such as Companies House
• Your VAT number, if you are VAT registered
• The details of your regulator or professional body, if your work is regulated or you use a protected professional title

Limited companies: extra details

Under the Company, LLP and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015, a limited company’s website must show its registered name, its registered number, its registered office address and the part of the UK it is registered in (England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland). GOV.UK sets this out in its guide to signs, stationery and promotional material.

Sole traders and partnerships

The details above still apply to your website: your name and a geographic address are required. If you trade under a business name, GOV.UK also asks you to include your own name and the business name on official paperwork such as invoices and letters.

Privacy notice

If your website collects personal information, even through a simple contact form, UK GDPR requires you to tell people who you are, what you collect, why, how long you keep it and what their rights are. Most organisations that handle personal information must also pay the Information Commissioner’s Office a data protection fee unless they are exempt; the ICO has a short self-assessment.

Cookies

Cookies that are not strictly necessary for the site to work have normally needed consent before they are set. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 relaxed the rules for some low-risk uses, such as certain analytics, so check the ICO’s current guidance before you decide whether you need a banner. A site that sets no such cookies needs no banner at all.

If you sell online to consumers

Selling to the public at a distance brings extra rules under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, including the information you give before someone buys and, in most cases, a 14-day right to cancel.

Not legal advice

This is a plain summary of the main rules as they stand, with links to the sources. It is not legal advice; if your situation is unusual, check the rules or ask a professional. Every page we build carries the details its owner gives us for these rules.

Sources

• The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, regulation 6
• The Company, LLP and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015
• GOV.UK: Running a limited company, signs, stationery and promotional material
• GOV.UK: Become a sole trader, choose your business name
• ICO: The right to be informed
• ICO: Data protection fee
• ICO: Cookies and similar technologies
• The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013