The exponential increase in online shopping in a world marked by the Covid-19 pandemic should convince many operators to assess the legal compliance of their e-commerce sites. This also in light of the fact that the Agicom, the Privacy Guarantor and the judicial authorities are certainly more active in times of great expansion of the Internet and it is then easy to get checks by the authorities on reports of customers or competitors that can lead to the elevation of penalties often high.
For our part, we have identified five macro areas where it might be useful to think about a "legal check-up" to avoid sanctions by the competent authorities.
General Terms and Conditions of Business
If the owner of an online shop intends to introduce clauses in the relationship with consumers, these must always be specified in the general terms of contact. The general terms and conditions must state the general terms and conditions of sale as well as all information regarding the right of withdrawal, the method of returning the goods, delivery times and costs of the goods and shipping, in full compliance with the provisions of the Consumer Code.
2. Privacy and Cookie Policy
The Privacy Policy is a document that informs your users about the processing of their personal data, it is mandatory by law even in case of tracking visits by means of web analytics tools.
Unfortunately, many companies still pay little attention to the obligations regarding the processing of personal data but if you do not want to incur significant fines from the Privacy Guarantor it is important that your company site is in compliance with the law.
Legislative Decrees 69/2012 and 70/2012 have established the obligation to insert a banner when opening the website, which requires the user's consent to the processing of data, in order to be able to continue with the navigation. The consent will also be required when you intend to share your customer's data with third parties.
In addition, if the site uses certain types of cookies for user profiling, it is mandatory to insert a specific information banner on the nature of the cookies used.
3. Indication of company data
The owner of an e-commerce must always provide certain data such as: name, registered office, e-mail address, registration number in the REA or in the Commercial Register. For corporations, the paid-up share capital (or liquidation status) must always be indicated.
4. VAT and business register notices
Except in the case of purely occasional activities and earnings of less than 5,000 euros, the opening of an online store involves the opening of a VAT number and registration in the Register of Companies, at the Chamber of Commerce.
5. Copyright and industrial property rights.
A website (shop windows, blogs, e-commerce, portals, etc.) consists of multiple elements that can be protected:
the domain name;
the logo;
the graphic configuration;
the structural and organized conception that emerges when you navigate through your pages: comparable to the "scenography" of the site;
the texts and images of the pages
It is important to check whether your site complies with copyright law and does not violate the industrial property rights of third parties.