Lamtha2 Web Solutions - Newsletter Spring 2007

Welcome to spring 2007, so the first topic this issue is a prompt to spring clean your website. In this issue we cover changes to 0870 number regulations and review the E-commerce Regulations (Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002) which came into force in the UK on 21st August 2002

Time for a Spring Clean?

Most businesses find that spring is one of their busiest times as prospective customers look to spending the last of their budgets before the new tax year. But it is all to easy to forget that maybe your website needs a spring clean too; there’s nothing like displaying obsolete information on a website to undermine confidence in you, so now is the time to remove all references to Christmas/New Year, remove all date related special offers that have expired and update that News/Events page.

While you’re doing this you should consider if your message is still relevant to your market place; have a look at your competitor’s sites and see what key phrases are in and which are old hat, review and incorporate these key phrases into your text and replace stale imagery. If you’ve had your website for a number of years you might even consider a complete re-design.

What’s happened to Lamtha2.com?

Here’s a lesson for all on the dangers of buying from an overseas supplier. The domain Lamtha2.com was registered several years ago via a US registrar. We used a US registrar because at the time we wanted to try out their hosting (which subsequently was found to be not up to the job). Recently as the domain was due for renewal we decided to transfer it to out current UK registrar and that’s where our problem began. The current US registrar obviously wanted to retain the domain and supplied us with an incorrect transfer code so the transfer was repeatedly rejected. After many increasingly heated exchanges we got the correct code but by then our current UK registrar said that we had exhausted their allowed number of transfer requests, so we had to use a different UK registrar. The new registrar’s transfer request was accepted but the transfer wasn’t immediate taking a full 7 days during which time the site was not available. Thankfully the transfer completed one day prior to the domain expiring. Had it expired it would have been put up for auction and we would have lost it. Be vigilant with your domain, it is your brand and its loss would be a major inconvenience.

Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations

Whether your business is trading on-line or not, it is almost certainly affected by the E-commerce Regulations (Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002) which came into force in the UK on 21st August 2002. They cover more than just e-commerce. The Directive was introduced to clarify and harmonize the rules of on-line business throughout Europe with the aim of boosting consumer confidence.

This article explains the rules with reference to the Regulations, which follow closely the terms of the Directive itself.

What is covered?

Virtually every commercial website is covered by the Regulations.

Minimum information to be provided

Service providers, whether involved in e-commerce or not, should provide the following minimum information, which must be easily, directly and permanently accessible:

The name of the service provider must be given somewhere easily accessible on the site. This might differ from the trading name and any such difference should be explained – e.g. "XYZ.com is the trading name of XYZ Enterprises Limited."
The email address of the service provider must be given. It is not sufficient to include a 'contact us' form without also providing an email address.
The geographic address of the service provider must be given. A PO Box is unlikely to suffice as a geographic address; but a registered office address would. If the business is a company, the registered office address must be included in any event.
If a company, the company's registration number should also be given.
If a company, the place of registration should be stated (e.g. "XYZ Enterprises Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 1234567") though this is a requirement of the Companies Act as from 31st December 2006, not the E-commerce Directive.
If the business is a member of a trade or professional association, membership details, including any registration number, should be provided.
If the business has a VAT number, it should be stated – even if the website is not being used for e-commerce transactions.
Prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous. Also, state whether prices are inclusive of tax and delivery costs.
Finally, do not forget the Distance Selling Regulations which contain other information requirements for on-line businesses that sell to consumers (B2C, as opposed to B2B, sales).

What you should do

Examine your website.
Do you need to amend your terms and conditions?
Do you have suitable disclaimers in place?
Does your order process take advantage of the Regulations' flexibility to "acknowledge" rather than "accept" orders?
Do you have insurance in place?
Have you assessed your international exposure?

FreePhone and Other Non-Geographic Numbers

Do you have a non-geographic number such as 0800, 0845, 0870 or 0871? If you do then you should familiarise yourself with the changes being proposed by Ofcom.

In summary, from late 2007 Ofcom have decided that 0870 numbers must be chargeable at the same rate as national geographic numbers or be preceded by a free pre-call price announcement. Therefore if you have a 0870 number and don’t want a pre-call announcement you can expect any revenue share that you receive to disappear.

0871 numbers are expected to be subject to Premium Rate regulations i.e. a licence may be required from ICSTIS to operate them.

The review of 0845 numbers has been postponed for two years; however because of the change to 0870 numbers, 0845 ‘local rate’ numbers will in the interim actually cost more to dial than 0870 numbers!

A new number range, 03xx, are to be introduced and these are expected to have the same commercial terms (i.e. outpayment rates) as current 0870 numbers. There is currently uncertainty within the industry as to whether mobile operator will open up 03xx number ranges.

On the surface these changes proposed by Ofcom appear to be a knee-jerk reaction to a backlash against 0870 numbers yet they completely ignore other disparities e.g. that 0845 numbers are no longer charged at local rates and that 0871 numbers are equally disliked by consumers.

Till next time

Lamtha2 Web Solutions

Tel: 01296 768 237

Email: enquiry@lamtha2.com

Web: www.lamtha2.com