A legal notice, also called an imprint (the French call it mentions légales), is a page or block that lets anyone know who is behind a website and how to reach them. In the EU it comes from Article 5 of the e-commerce directive (2000/31/EC), which each country transposes; other countries have their own rules, such as UK company disclosure requirements.
What it contains
Under the directive, a business website must give easy, direct and permanent access to at least:
- the business name and geographic address;
- contact details, including an email address;
- the trade register and registration number, if registered;
- the VAT number, if the business has one;
- details of the supervisory authority or professional body for regulated activities.
National laws add items: in France, for example, the hosting provider and the consumer mediator.
Legal notice, privacy policy, terms: the difference
The legal notice says who runs the website. The privacy policy explains what data is collected and why (contact form, bookings). Terms and conditions set the rules of a sale. They are three separate texts.
Common mistakes
- copying another website’s notice without adapting it;
- forgetting registration or VAT numbers;
- hiding the page: a “Legal notice” link should be reachable, usually in the footer.
The full list and a template are in the guide to legal pages for a small business website.
Go further
Related terms
Domain name
A domain name is a website’s address, such as “martinsbakery.co.uk”. It is rented by the year from a registrar and must be renewed to stay yours.
Fake review
A fake review is a review that doesn’t reflect a real customer experience: written by the owner or relatives, bought, or posted by a competitor to cause harm. Many countries treat it as an unfair commercial practice.
Structured data (Schema.org)
Structured data is information added to a page’s code, using the Schema.org vocabulary, to tell search engines clearly what the page is about: a business, its address, opening hours, FAQs…