Your company’s Impressum (legal disclosure) is an essential part of online presence in Germany. Operating a company website that does not comply with legal regulations may lead to consequences, such as Abmahnungen: official written warnings often go along with my fine, and simply not being aware of current laws would not protect you. Thus, the same goes for the website Impressum or legal disclosure, so be sure the individual is legally sound with our free download legal disclosure template for UGs and GmbHs!. Lets learn what is an impressum in a clear way.
Does the website need an Impressum?
Therefore, every commercially uses website must include a legal disclosure, with no particular case. Thus, every instance of the corporation’s internet presence is subject to the Impressum or the obligation to display a legal disclosure.
Where should the Impressum be placed?
Thus, your website’s legal disclosure cannot hide. Therefore, it must be easily recognizable, at once reachable, and constantly accessible, but what does that mean for your website plan.
Hence, even if there is no exact legal specification for how an Impressum should integrate with a website, must follow the following specification:
- Reachable from every subpage
- Reachble through a clickable link that is titled ‘Legal disclosure’ or ‘Impressum.’
- Reachable through a link has a fixed sidebar menu or in the website’s header or footer section.
- Constantly accessible
What are common mistakes should I avoid when designing my website?
Vague designations
Choosing your legal disclosure with a general term like ‘legal’ or ‘contact’ does not make it ‘easily recognizable’ and therefore does not fulfill that legal criterion. Your legal disclosure should, thus, permanently be appointed. Vague selection such as ‘Info’ or Behind the scenes is not accepted.
Hidden legal disclosures
You may neither place belong to legal disclosure of pop-up window nor make a thing in a dropdown menu, as doing so would not make it ‘immediately reachable’ to the user. As presently as more than two clicks are necessary to reach it, or if browser extensions like pop-up blockers can block access, your website can be subject to fines. Thus, it also isn’t enough to include the disclosure in your website’s terms and conditions. Accordingly, it will be planning immediately, reachable when the user can reach it in two clicks or less.
Disclosures that can only set up on the homepage
Thus, every website has static and dynamic elements has; one example is the Facebook navigation bar, which always appears in its header, no matter what subpage is displayed. These are the website elements into which you must integrate your company’s legal disclosure.
A clickable legal disclosure that can only reach the homepage or specific subpages does not fulfill the immediately reachable criterion.
Even if the disclosure is complete and legally water-tight, its possibility is still determining when it comes to anyhow you will not receive an Abmahnung. Thou may also receive an Abmahnung for not complying with placement and reachability specifications.
Compatibility problems
To ensure your GmbH’s legal disclosure is constantly accessible, it must display in a way that is compatible with the expected quality browsers. Responsiveness is an essential factor here: Therefore, the disclosure should be perfectly viewable on smartphones, tablets, and other devices. Thus, if it is necessary for compatibility of lacking, you may receive an Abmahnung.
What information must include in the legal disclosures for UGs and GmbHs?
- “Disclosures following § 5 TMG” (“Angaben gemäß § 5 TMG”) as a lead-in
- Contact information
- Company name and legal company form designation (‘GmbH’ or ‘UG (haftungsbeschränkt)’)
- Additional designation following the company name if your company is currently being incorporated (in Gründung – i. G.) or liquidated (in Abwicklung – i. A.)
- Address of the business’s head office
- Telephone number
- Contact email address (clickable)
- Link to the website’s homepage (clickable)
- Commercial register entry/Handelsregistereintrag information (as soon as will achieve it)
- Registry court (Registergericht)
- Register number (Registernummer)
- First and last name of the managing director/Geschäftsführer (authorized representative)
- VAT ID number/Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (if applicable)
Every GmbH or UG (haftungsbeschränkt) must list these features (at least) in its legal disclosure.
