European ruling says company websites need phone numbers
or web forms
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that companies
must provide a means of contact on their websites in addition
to the required postal or e-mail addresses. A telephone number
or contact form that is answered within 60 minutes were deemed
acceptable.
The European Union's E-commerce Directive orders companies to
publish certain information about themselves on their websites.
The UK regulations that implemented this directive require a
website to list, in addition to its postal address, "the
details of the service provider, including his electronic mail
address, which make it possible to contact him rapidly and communicate
with him in a direct and effective manner". It has always
been assumed that a postal and e-mail address would suffice in
the UK but, given this latest ECJ ruling, UK judges may now be
under pressure to follow this decision.
