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In the process of building your website, we are certain you have spent countless hours perfecting the layout, the catchy phrases in the “about us” page, the colour palette, building you social media following and every other minor and major design aspect of the website. In this process, your website terms and conditions or the privacy policy for your website is likely not all that exciting.

Even when visiting websites, we know that most people have not thought too much about that tiny bit of legal fine print at the bottom of every website that says, ‘Website terms of use’ or ‘privacy policy’. Nonetheless, it is essential to protecting your business, website, IP and minimising your risk.

What are website Terms and Conditions?

Website terms and conditions are the rules for individuals intending to access and use your website which outlines the terms of use will be if they choose to proceed. These website terms and conditions act as a binding contractual agreement between your business and those on your website to help mitigate and manage your risk and liability. This is particularly important when considering businesses are usually unable to control who can access their website and how the information on their site may be used or interpreted. 

A website terms and conditions typically contain the following clauses:

• User rights and permissions;
• Proper use of services and what constitutes misuse;
• Intellectual property and confidentiality;
• Privacy policy regarding use of personal data;
• Payment details (if applicable);
• Termination policy (if applicable); and
• Disclaimer, Limitation of Liability and release and indemnity.

What about a Privacy Policy for your website?

We understand that businesses are gathering more data now than ever before and often through their website. You may be using data, not only to market to existing customers, but to predict future customers and future shopping habits.  When customers visit your website, they entrust you with protecting their personal information.

However, are you prepared for when things go wrong? 

The privacy policy for your website should typically contains the following clauses:

• The type of information collected by your website;
• Use of cookies;
• Use of Google Analytics;
• The purpose for collecting the data;
• Data storage, security and access;
• Details of data transfers;
• How to file a complaint or access the data;
• Affiliated websites or organizations (third parties included)
• Compliance with EU GDPR laws and California Consumer Privacy Act; 
• Disclaimer, Limitation of Liability and release and indemnity.

Both the privacy policy and the website terms of use acts as a safety net to protect your business and outline your rights, responsibilities, liabilities and limitations.

Gladwin Legal regularly provides businesses with tailored legal advice and the preparation of E-Commerce documentation. If you have any questions, please contact us today.