Website legal basics for Jersey businesses: six checks

The 6 checks in the video

The video opens with a question: what should a Jersey business website show? The legal basics are easy to miss, so it gives visitors the right information in six checks.

1. 1

   Step 1: Identify your business

   0:18

   Make it clear who runs the website.

   Show your business name and a contact route a real person answers, usually in the footer of every page. If you trade as a limited company, use the company name. A visitor should never have to guess who they are dealing with.

   If you sell at a distance, this is also a legal point. The Distance Selling (Jersey) Law 2007 (opens in a new tab) lists your identity among the things a consumer must be told before they buy, and your address as well when they pay in advance.

2. 2

   Step 2: Check JOIC registration

   0:30

   Review your data protection obligations.

   Every 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) (JOIC), unless an exemption applies. The duty comes from the Data Protection Authority (Jersey) Law 2018, and failing to register is a criminal offence. A contact form that collects names and email addresses is processing personal data, and so is a customer list.

   The JOIC’s registration page lists a charge of £70 a year for organisations with fewer than ten full-time equivalent employees, sole traders included. Once you’re registered, your name, registration number and expiry date appear on the public registry (opens in a new tab), so you can put the number in your footer for customers to check.

3. 3

   Step 3: Explain your data use

   0:42

   Say what information you collect and why.

   The Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 (opens in a new tab) says people must be given certain information when you collect their details: who you are and how to contact you, why you want the data and your legal basis, who receives it, how long you keep it and what rights they have. On a website, that information lives in a privacy notice, linked from your footer and from every form.

   Write it for your own business. A notice copied from another site often lists tools you don’t use and misses the ones you do. The JOIC’s advice for new businesses (opens in a new tab) points to its own privacy policy template.

4. 4

   Step 4: Control tracking

   0:54

   Check consent before non-essential tools load.

   Analytics, advertising pixels and some embedded media can collect personal data about your visitors, which brings them under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law. Where you rely on consent, the law defines it as a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication, given by a statement or a clear affirmative action. A pre-ticked box, or a banner that appears while tracking is already running, is hard to square with that.

   The practical test: open your site in a private browser window and check that nothing non-essential loads before the visitor says yes. Then list each tool in a cookie policy, with what it does and who provides it.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you sell online

   1:06

   Show the terms customers need before checkout.

   Under the Distance Selling (Jersey) Law 2007, a consumer buying at a distance must be told, in good time before they buy, who you are, the main features of what you sell, the price including all taxes, any delivery costs, how payment and delivery work, and whether they have a right to cancel.

   For goods, the cancellation period normally ends 7 working days after the customer receives them, once you have sent the written confirmation the law requires. Goods should arrive within 30 days unless you agree another date, and refunds are due within 30 days of a cancellation. Trading Standards’ guide (opens in a new tab) lists the goods with no right to cancel, such as personalised items and perishable goods.

6. 6

   Step 6: Make access easier

   1:18

   Build pages people can read and use.

   The Discrimination (Jersey) Law 2013 (opens in a new tab) doesn’t mention websites, but it covers disability in the supply of goods, facilities and services. Failing to take reasonable steps to avoid putting a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage counts as discrimination under it.

   The recognised standard to build to is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) at level AA. In practice that means text with enough contrast, alt text on images, forms with proper labels and pages you can use with a keyboard alone. Our website accessibility guide goes through the fixes.

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