Website Legal Pages

Legally mandated data protection policies and optional but highly advisable website and business terms and conditions (colloquially regarded as Website Legal Pages) are often completely overlooked by web designers as well as website owners.

They may be perceived as “unnecessary”; “red tape”; or even be totally ignored, usually due to lack of knowledge regarding financial and business consequences of ignoring laws and prudent practices.

Unfortunately, as in so many legal issues, ignorance is NOT a defence.

BIAS offers a range of solutions to common website legal pages requirements both in Do It Yourself template form and as a Done For You Service – please see our disclaimer.

Table Of Contents
  1. What are "Website Legal Pages" and Why Do I Need them?

What are “Website Legal Pages” and Why Do I Need them?

When you create your own website you presumably do so with the express intention of attracting visitors!! To be honest there really would be no point otherwise, would there?

Did you know that even for the very simplest of websites certain information will be passed by default between your website’s server and your visitor’s browser in order to make the interaction function correctly. Some of this information could potentially be used to identify the visitor’s browser; the device they are using; and IP (internet) address of that device.

Data Privacy and Data Protection

In most jurisdictions where Data Privacy is a legislative issue – including UK; EU; USA; Canada; Australia for example – such information which could potentially lead to unauthorised disclosure of an individual’s details is strictly classified as “Personally Identifiable Information” (PII) or “Personally Identifiable Data” (PID).

Personal data is, in simpler terms, any information about you that enables you to be identified. Personal data covers obvious information such as your name and contact details, but it also covers less obvious information such as identification numbers, electronic location data, and other online identifiers.

So even though you or your visitors may be completely unaware of it happening, your website is almost certainly gathering such information automatically, and may also be setting “cookies” (which are small text files) to store information in the user’s browser – information which may be as basic as remembering them next time they visit, or which may be used for other potentially intrusive functions including tracking and advertising preferences.

Data Protection legislation largely addresses the COLLECTION, STORAGE and SECURITY of PII; the PROCESSING of PII; and the rights of the individual to control how their data is used.

For more details of how the use of personal information affects YOUR business this section of the UK Government website is a good place to start.

It is also a good idea to check whether your business needs to appoint a nominated Data Protection Officer.

Because you, as the site owner, are ultimately responsible in law, the onus is on you to set out rights, responsibilities and procedures relating to Data Privacy and Data Protection for users of your site. Bearing in mind that non-compliance can result in significant financial penalties, it makes sense to cover yourself and your business from the outset.

In the UK, the data protection is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

For reasons set out below BIAS advises that having a Privacy Policy and a Cookie Policy (which may be combined if desired) should be regarded as the Mandatory Minimum Requirement in satisfying the law and protecting your business’ interests.

Privacy Policy

UK data protection laws state that you MUST provide a GDPR-compliant (or post-Brexit equivalent) Privacy Notice (commonly referred to as your Privacy Policy) – easily accessible on your website and to be made available before or at the time of collecting any Personally Identifiable Data.

There are stringent requirements as to the information which must be given – a summary of the main points is:

  • Contact Details
    • Who are you and how can you be contacted?
  • Data Processing
    • Why do you use people’s data? Where multiple “whys” exist you need to cover them all
    • What is your lawful basis for processing? You may have multiple lawful bases for the different “whys”
    • What are your legitimate interests for processing?
  • Data Sharing, Transfer and Retention
    • Who do you share people’s data with?
    • Do you transfer personal data outside of the UK/EU?If so what safeguards do you have in place?
    • How long do you keep personal data?
  • Data Subjects’ Rights
    • You have a statutory obligation to inform your data subjects of their rights with respect to use of their data as follows:
    • Rights in relation to access; rectification; erasure; restriction; objection; and data portability
      • The right to withdraw consent – and an easy process do do so
      • The right to complain to statutory authority
      • The right to be informed when they are required to provide personal data by law or under contract
      • The right to be informed of details of the existence of automated decision-making or profiling

You may find this article useful – it addresses those rights from the point of view of the data subject, and may help in clarification of YOUR obligations.

Business Benefits of Having a Comprehensive Privacy Policy
A properly drafted Privacy Policy addresses all the listed legal obligations and is your business’s first layer of protection against investigation and action by data protection authorities. Simply having had the foresight to publish your Privacy Policy is likely to help mitigate any future transgressions in their eyes.
Having a readily accessible and comprehensive Privacy Policy indicates your business has authority and integrity. It enhances your business credibility and professionalism, whilst evoking high levels of confidence in site visitors, prospects and customers.
If you are looking to include advertising on Pay-per-Click and Social Media platforms you will find that – in order to protect their own legal positions – those platforms will not allow linking to websites which do not have appropriate policies in place.
Important Points to Note regarding Privacy Policies
It is essential to recognise that your Privacy Policy relates to a dynamic business environment and may be subject to frequent change.
Data Protection legislation is moving forward all the time, and is still in a state of relative infancy with major changes expected in the use of cookies, for instance.
As your business grows and diversifies, your needs for and uses of personal data are also likely to change.

These factors mean that once published, your policies (and other website legal pages) will require regular review and occasional updating. One of the most convenient ways for a small business to keep on top of this issue is to ensure that reviewing and updating of your policies, terms and conditions are included in your Website Maintenance and Care Plan.

BIAS offers a range of products and services to take the time burden from you and to ensure you have an appropriate Privacy Policy in place and maintained giving you peace of mind into the future.

Our Privacy Policy Templates are available for Do It Yourself completion, or we offer a Done For You service using information you give us to create a completed draft policy.

The DIY templates are available pre-formatted for inclusion in a Gutenberg-enabled WordPress website, or in MS Word docx format (readily readable by Google docs and Open Office if you do not use MS Word).

The DFY service can produce website legal pages formatted for WordPress; as a Word document; as a PDF document; or as plain text.

Please ensure that you read our disclaimer before publishing any Website Legal Pages or policy documents created for you by BIAS or by yourself from BIAS templates

Cookie Policy and Cookie Control

Cookies and their uses are regulated under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) which sit alongside the Data Protection Act and the UK GDPR. These regulations give people specific privacy rights in relation to electronic communications. In brief:

You must tell people if you set cookies, and clearly explain what the cookies do and why. You must also get the user’s consent. Consent must be actively and clearly given.
There is an exception for cookies that are essential to provide an online service at someone’s request (eg to remember what’s in their online basket, or to ensure security in online banking).
The same rules also apply if you use any other type of technology to store or gain access to information on someone’s device.

For more details check out the Guide to PECR on the ICO website.

Compliance with the “Cookie Rules”

Although cookies themselves are only simple, small text files, dealing with them in such a way as to achieve compliance with PECR can be extremely involved and require a significant degree of technical knowledge. There are issues at every step of procedure, and once again as your website evolves, and as your users interact with the site in different ways the dynamic nature of things requires frequent review and updating of you policies and controls.

PECR are not specific regarding the information you must provide or how you should provide it – those decisions are left to you. There is however the requirement that it must be “clear and comprehensive” information about your purposes in setting cookies.

The simplest way tell your users that you are placing cookies is to use a combined “cookie information bar”/”cookie consent bar”. A wide range of software options to create these is available.
For best compliance we recommend that your solution prevents users from further accessing your site until they have given explicit consent, and that it includes links to details of the “strictly necessary” cookies already set to facilitate access thus far; details of other cookies which will be set if consent is given; and to your Privacy and Cookie Policies.
Your Cookie Policy is the document where you set out the explanations of the way “your” cookies (or other similar technologies) work and what you use them for. Your Cookie Policy and your Privacy Policy are arguably your most important website legal pages and should be regarded as being mandatory for most business websites.
Consent MUST be obtained BEFORE placing any cookies (other than those strictly necessary for the user to access your site to sufficient extent to be able to give such consent!). This is done using your cookie consent bar software.
To be valid, consent must be freely given, specific and informed. It must involve some form of unambiguous positive action – for example, ticking a box or clicking a link – and the person must fully understand that they are giving you consent.

For further details you can read this article from the ICO website regarding cookie consent.

BIAS offers a range of solutions to ensure you have an appropriate Cookie Policy and Cookie Consent software in place and maintained giving you peace of mind into the future.

Our Cookie Policy Templates are available for Do It Yourself completion, or we offer a Done For You service using information you give us, and details gleaned from the operation of your website to create a completed draft policy.

The DIY templates are available pre-formatted for inclusion in a Gutenberg-enabled WordPress website, or in MS Word docx format (readily readable by Google docs and Open Office if you do not use MS Word).

The DFY service can produce website legal pages formatted for WordPress; as a Word document; as a PDF document; or as plain text.

We offer information, advice/training, or full Done For You installation of an appropriate Cookie Consent plugin to your WordPress site.

Please ensure that you read our disclaimer before publishing any Website Legal Pages or policy documents created for you by BIAS or by yourself from BIAS templates

Website Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policies

Website Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policies broadly cover similar ground. It is not unusual for an Acceptable Use Policy to be incorporated into more general Website Terms of Use.

For most people, the distinction between them lies in the audience they are aimed at. Terms of Use are most often intended to direct the activities of external visitors such as prospects or customers using the site. Acceptable Use is directed more towards internal visitors – employees etc.

Theses policies are probably second only to your Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy in protecting you and your business from legislative issues and litigation.

By setting out clearly what people are and are not permitted to do when interacting with your site or network you are setting firm foundations for mitigating possible future liabilities and further establishing the professionalism and credibility of your business.

BIAS offers a range of solutions to ensure you have appropriate Website Use policies in place giving you peace of mind into the future.

Like our other website legal pages templates they available for Do It Yourself completion, or we offer a Done For You service using information you give us to create a draft policy.

The DIY templates are available pre-formatted for inclusion in a Gutenberg-enabled WordPress website, or in MS Word docx format (readily readable by Google docs and Open Office if you do not use MS Word).

The DFY service can produce pages formatted for WordPress; as a Word document; as a PDF document; or as plain text.

Please ensure that you read our disclaimer before publishing any Website Legal Pages or policy documents created for you by BIAS or by yourself from BIAS templates.

Miscellaneous Website Legal Pages

Terms of Business

When you are selling goods or services online it makes good business sense to have your terms of business readily available for your prospective customers to peruse. Not that many will, to be fair! But having the the appropriate website legal pages easily accessible at the point of ordering gives you the significant opportunity to gain acknowledgement and acceptance of your terms before the order is placed.

It enhances YOUR control over the process and gives you the head start in the unfortunate event of disagreement further down the line.

BIAS offers a range of business terms documents covering professional services; digital products and services; physical goods and service; business to business (B2B); business to consumer (B2C) – you name it, we probably have it!!

Samples of the most popular BIAS website legal pages are showcased on our individual Product pages. If you don’t see what you want why not use our enquiry form in the sidebar to see if we have a solution for your business needs?

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