The Email Disclaimer: what's the UK law when it comes to an Email Signature?

Is your business aware of all of the current regulations in place regarding an appropriate email disclaimer? Are you prepared to receive fines in the seven-figure range? Have you ignored this vital part of your email signature?

As with all electronic communications, you have to ensure that every email leaving your company is compliant with the laws and regulations within the recipient’s country. For example, European Union states require an email disclaimer on all outgoing emails to include the company’s name, registration number, the place of registration and the registered office address … no exceptions!

These regulations are becoming more common in light of increased Internet security and it only takes one errant email to cause an influx of financial penalties. The only solution is to have an email disclaimer in place on all signatures.

If your business is a private or public limited company or a Limited Liability Partnership, the Companies Act 2006 (amended 2007) requires all business emails (and your letterhead and order forms) to include the following details in a legible email disclaimer:

Your company registration number.
Your place of registration (e.g. Scotland or England & Wales).
Your registered office address.

This UK email disclaimer also has to appear on a company’s website. Failure to comply with these requirements puts a company at risk of a fine of up to £1,000.

What’s the best way to enforce this?

With Microsoft Outlook you can set a signature up … but individual users can change, edit, or forget to apply the signature. The same goes with mobile phones – people often forgot to change the “Sent from my iPhone” bit at the bottom of their messages, and most didn’t even know that there was a law in place that required its change.

From just £1 per month, Exclaimer is a product which will take away your compliance and branding headaches. With a centrally-managed system and a simple drag-and-drop interface, you can craft a beautiful (and legally compliant) email signature in a few minutes!

Update any email signature element, such as the legal disclaimer, and apply the changes instantly

Built for users of all IT abilities, you create and manage all email signatures via an easy-to-use portal, accessible from any web browser.

Create multiple signatures, apply rules to who gets which signature within minutes. One for marketing, one for sales…

For more information about Exclaimer, head over to our Exclaimer product page or download this product guide PDF which will give you more information.

Phone Number

Email Address

Address