E-commerce is rapidly evolving and businesses are trying to adapt to these changes. If you are a business owner in the tourism industry, you should keep the legal aspects of e-commerce in mind when deciding to sell your products or services online.
This article will look at:
As a business person who wishes to distribute products and services via the internet, you are required to obey European legislation on e-commerce regulations. This means your website must clearly notify users of a series of important aspects:
The e-commerce site must confirm all website purchases by notifying the client within 24 hours. These notifications can be delivered electronically or by any other means indicated during the contractual procedures. The only requirement is that the method chosen must allow the client to save the notification.
Under the directive on consumer rights, consumers have 14 calendar days to exercise their right to withdraw from the contract if they are not satisfied with the product. The e-commerce website must inform the user of this right. If this right is not clearly stated, the user will have a longer period of 12 months.
Cookies are pieces of data sent by websites that remain stored on a user’s computer to facilitate future web browsing. However, cookies can also pose a security risk.
This means that your e-commerce website must have a cookies policy informing the user that cookies are being used when they access the website.
When gathering user information (via registration, purchase, or contact forms) from those who visit your e-commerce website, you are obligated to notify the user.
You must also indicate both:
All of these policies are designed to offer a higher level of user security for those browsing e-commerce websites. As a tourism business owner, you must respect these policies on your website.
It is also recommended that you stay informed on e-commerce in the EU single market, including on the European directives aiming to establish a harmonised regulatory framework among EU countries.
Before launching your website, you must make sure that it meets all of the requirements on e-commerce mentioned above. If your website is already active on the internet, it is important to review and revise the page to make sure that it meets these rules and regulations.
To help the process, here are some ways that companies communicate these measures to their clients. This list can serve as a checklist to make sure that everything is in order on your website or on the site that you intend to create.
You must respond ‘yes’ to all of the following questions:
If my website includes a newsletter subscription or a contact form:
When the user accesses my e-commerce website:
When the user makes a purchase on my website: