In a survey of 300 e-businesses in the UK, the London Chamber of
Commerce has found that only 44% are complying with the basic
requirements of the Data Protection Act in giving site visitors
information on how their registration details will be used, thereby
risking fines and/or closure of the site.
The study also found that:
- 40% of firms have not carried out an audit to ensure compliance
with the Data Protection Act or did not know if they complied;
- Only 27% of firms were concerned about regulatory issues
involved in cross-border trading, despite the obligation to comply
with foreign laws and regulations;
- 44% of firms had no recognised policy for staff use of e-mail
or the internet, or did not know if they had one, leaving them
vulnerable to litigation arising from the improper actions of their
employees;
- Despite this, only 4% of firms had sought any legal advice when
setting up their web site or implementing an e-commerce
strategy.
OUT-LAW.COM's Linda Molloy, a solicitor specialising in
e-commerce, said:
"Data protection compliance is particularly
key to e-commerce businesses. Ideally this issue should be dealt
with before the launch of a web site. Businesses must have a policy
for the collection and use of data, and ensure that data protection
notices are implemented correctly on the site.
"However, businesses should not operate on
the basis that they might not be caught. The consequences can be
severe. E-commerce businesses should act now to ensure that they
resolve these issues.
"We are often approached by businesses who
have a web site either ready to launch or already available on the
web. We can review the web site and identify compliance issues.
When compared with the threats of non compliance it is fairly
straight forward to deal with data protection compliance."
