Email is now the predominant mode of communication in any modern business. We use them daily and sign them off without a second thought. This blog is a useful guide to some things you may not know about email.
Signing off – email signatures
Your email signature is probably automatically generated on every email you send and you probably never even look at it. But are you aware of the specific legal requirements which set out what your email signature should contain?
If you are a company or an LLP, then certain information is required in your organisation’s email footer. All of your business emails should include the following in legible characters: your company’s registered name; your company registration number; your place of registration; and your registered office address.
It is not enough to merely provide a link to this information. Any ‘display’ or disclosure of information must be ‘in characters that can be read with the naked eye’.
Failure to comply with these requirements could lead to a company being fined up to £1,000.
Interestingly, there is no legal requirement for a disclaimer to be included in an email signature. Disclaimers will often add a page, or more, of text to an email and their effectiveness is unclear. In Baillie Estates Ltd v du Pont (UK) Ltd it was suggested that unless the wording of a disclaimer explicitly covers the facts at issue the courts may be reluctant to accept it. Using general wording in a disclaimer is likely to be insufficient.