www.astrolox.com

I’m not sure where I found this or under what understanding I made a copy of it but it was on my old website for quite some time. So I’m going to keep it until I’m asked to remove it.

The Truth About Email Disclaimers
By Jeremy Holt, Clark Holt Solicitors

Published in Computing 15 April 2004

Businesses sometimes believe that all their ills can be cured by a well-drafted
disclaimer at the foot of an email not so. Email disclaimers are of little
value, other than to notify the recipient that the contents of the email are
confidential and to offer a method of reporting any misdirection. They can look
particularly absurd if a one line message about the time of a meeting is
preceded by an eleven line disclaimer (large firms of accountants please take
note.) Email disclaimers are no substitute either for a proper email policy for
staff within a business or for the legal information that must be shown in an
email, which is the same as must be shown on a business letter.

The following information must appear on company letters: the full name of the
company, the registered number of the company, the address of the registered
office and an indication that that address is the registered office and, finally,
the country of registration of the company. A sole trader must have their real
name (ie. not just a trading name) and an address on their business letters.
Businesses who do not abide by these rules risk looking amateur, or newly
started, or both.

There is no reason to differentiate between a postal letter and an email.
Businesses failing to follow these rules fully is all the more surprising when
the vast majority of business messages are now sent by email. There are a
number of consequences in failing to abide by the Companies Act 1985 and the
Business Names Act 1985 in providing the required information in company
letters or emails:

* it is a criminal offence BOTH by the company concerned AND by the person
who authorises the communication on behalf of the company
(Section 349(3) Companies Act 1985)

* if it relates to an order for goods and the company’s name is not mentioned
in the email the individual who sent it can be PERSONALLY LIABLE for the
order (Section 349(4) Companies Act 1985)

* difficulties can arise in bringing legal proceedings to enforce a contract
made where the appropriate information has not appeared on the company’s
notepaper or in the company’s email (Section 5 Business Names Act 1985)

Jeremy Holt is head of the Computer Law Group at Clark Holt Commercial
Solicitors, chairman of the BCS IT Law Specialist Group, and co-editor of the
new BCS book A Managers Guide to IT Law.