What a Jersey business website has to show

Most guidance about website legal requirements is written for UK businesses and quietly assumes UK rules. Jersey has its own, and in a couple of places they differ in ways that matter. Here is what applies to a business established in Jersey.

This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Official sources are linked throughout, and anything complicated is worth an hour with a Jersey lawyer.

1. Data protection: register with the JOIC

This is the big one, and the one most often missed. Any controller or processor established in Jersey that processes personal data must register with the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner (opens in a new tab). Not the UK ICO, but the JOIC.

Failing to register is a criminal offence. The annual charge starts at £70 for organisations with fewer than ten employees, rising to £90 for 10–50 and £500 above that. For a sole trader or small firm, £70 a year is trivial insurance against a criminal matter.

And yes, this applies even if you think you hold almost nothing. A contact form that captures a name and an email address is processing personal data. So is a customer list, a mailing list, or a spreadsheet of past jobs with phone numbers on it. There is no "we are too small" exemption.

The upside nobody mentions

Registering puts you on a public register (opens in a new tab) with a registration number and an expiry date that anyone can look up. That is a genuine trust signal and it costs nothing extra to use: put your registration number in your website footer. A cautious customer can verify you in about fifteen seconds, and most of your competitors will not have bothered.

2. Say who you are

A commercial website is expected to make clear who is behind it: a business name, a contact route a real person answers, and, if you trade as a limited company, the company details.

Beyond compliance this is simply good business. A site with no name, no address and a contact form as the only way in reads as evasive, and people buy from businesses that look findable.

3. Cookies and consent

Analytics and advertising cookies (Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, embedded video, most heatmap tools) collect personal data, and the Data Protection (Jersey) Law needs a lawful basis for that. Asking for consent before they load is the safe standard, and a cookie policy should explain what each cookie does. "Strictly necessary" is a narrow category: it covers keeping a shopping basket working, not measuring your traffic.

The practical test is whether the tracking fires before the visitor agrees. A banner that appears while analytics is already running is decoration, not consent.

4. Selling online: the distance selling rules

If you sell goods or services to consumers through your website, the Distance Selling (Jersey) Law 2007 (opens in a new tab) applies. Broadly, you must give clear information before purchase (what they are buying, the full price, delivery arrangements, who you are) and honour a cancellation period afterwards.

Alongside it, the unfair commercial practices rules mean prices, availability and claims have to be accurate. "From £99" when nothing is actually available at £99 is a problem, however common it is.

5. GST: probably not yet

Jersey GST is 5%, and registration is mandatory only once taxable supplies reach £300,000 in the preceding twelve months, or you reasonably expect them to. Most small island businesses are comfortably under that and do not need to register.

You can register voluntarily below the threshold, which lets you reclaim GST on purchases. Whether that is worth the paperwork depends on your position: an accountant will answer it in ten minutes. If you are registered, your prices need to be clear about whether GST is included.

6. Accessibility

Not a website-specific statute in Jersey, but the Discrimination (Jersey) Law applies to services generally, including a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled customers, and the recognised standard is WCAG 2.x level AA. In practice: text that contrasts properly with its background, every image carrying alt text, forms with real labels, and a site that works by keyboard. Our website accessibility guide covers the law and the fixes in detail.

This is worth doing on its own merits. In the 2021 census about one in five Jersey residents reported a longstanding health condition, the same fixes help everyone squinting at a phone in bright sunlight, and search engines read the same markup screen readers do.

The short checklist

• Register with the JOIC: £70/yr under ten employees, criminal offence not to. Put the number in your footer.
• Publish a privacy policy saying what you collect and why.
• Cookie banner and policy if you run analytics or any other non-essential tracking: consent before it loads, not after.
• Identify yourself: business name and a contact route that works.
• Terms and cancellation rights if you sell online.
• Check your GST position: likely nothing to do under £300k.
• Aim at WCAG 2.x AA for accessibility.

If you are based off-island

Registration follows establishment: a UK-based business serving Jersey clients remotely registers with the UK ICO, not the JOIC. Some Jersey rules still reach you through your customers, though. The Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 (opens in a new tab) applies to organisations outside Jersey that offer goods or services to people in Jersey, the Distance Selling Law covers contracts closely connected with Jersey, and overseas businesses selling goods to Jersey consumers must register for Jersey GST above £300,000 a year. If you are unsure which side of the line you fall on, confirm it rather than assume.