Which country law applies to a website?

[Riccardo]

I'm going to be a UK self-employed and I was wondering what to do in the following situations

Case 1
Making a website for a UK company on a uk domain
Obviuosly UK laws apply

Case 2
Making a website for an italian company on .it domain
IT laws apply (quite sure 99,99%)

Case 3
Making a website for me (UK resident + UK sole trader) on .it domain in italian language on a physical server in Germany.




At the moment these are my "beliefs"

- I suppose the physical server location is not very important unless there is illegal material on board: in that case the physical location determines what Police is involved (at least for direct operations like a seizure).

- On the contrary I think the nationality of the company of the owner of the domain is the most important variables for all other matters, isn't it?

- About the policies (privacy, cookies, rules about exposing the VAT, etc.) I think they must comply with the domain nationality (e.g. it=policies for .it, uk=policies for co.uk). All other legal stuff depend on the nationality of the company of the owner.

- If the domain is a neutral domain like com/org/net I suppose a UK company must comply completely (policies and any other stuff) with the UK law, and the language used on the website is not important (Not sure about the language).

Any advice is welcome!

[Bellona]

I'm probably being dense here....
What "laws" are your referring to ?
Law in general?
ecommerce in general?
or specifically data handling/ cookies /copyright blah blah?

[jamesbrown]

AFAIK, it's bloody complicated as some offenses are under international jurisdiction while others may be prosecuted internationally.

On a separate issue, the jurisdiction and governing law of your work for the client should be stated in the contract (it could be silent on either or both, but that isn't ideal).

[Bellona]

AFAIK, it's bloody complicated as some offenses are under international jurisdiction while others may be prosecuted internationally.

On a separate issue, the jurisdiction and governing law of your work for the client should be stated in the contract (it could be silent on either or both, but that isn't ideal).

Indeed !

For example, in the case of domain name disputes, a court case might be heard:
In the country where the domain name was registered: for example, in the UK for a .uk domain name. in the country where the plaintiff suffered damage. or in the defendant's home country.

For a libel case, this might conceivably be anywhere in the world where the website can be seen !

IMHO I’d start (if you haven’t already) by looking at ECommerce Regs – covers 30 Member countries

In general, the Regulations apply a "country of origin" principle. In its simplest form, this means that as long as a UK business complies with the provisions of the Regulations, it can "ignore" the laws of other Member States that touch upon the same subject matter (“Country of Origin” is where the business is established, not where the servers are located)

There are exceptions, consumer contracts, copyright etc.

It’s a real minefield.

I’m not sure if you are going to operate them yourself or just design them for clients (your post has a selection of scenarios), but your best bet, IMHO, is to read the regs and then seek professional advice.

[SueEllen]

Riccardo make sure your contracts with the end-client are water tight so domain hosting and the content has nothing to do with you.

That way if there are any disputes about the domain, website content etc you are not involved especially after you have completed work for the client.

[Riccardo]

Thanks everybody for your replies!

What "laws" are your referring to ?
Law in general?
ecommerce in general?
or specifically data handling/ cookies /copyright blah blah?

The original question was tought about cookies and privacy policies, but I turned it in a more general case.

In general, the Regulations apply a "country of origin" principle. In its simplest form, this means that as long as a UK business complies with the provisions of the Regulations, it can "ignore" the laws of other Member States that touch upon the same subject matter

OK!

I’m not sure if you are going to operate them yourself or just design them for clients

Both. At the moment the only scenarios I do have to face for sure are case 3 and 2.
I make software for italian companies but I also have some websites on my own.
I'm new to UK and at the moment I'm still working with my company in Italy (I'm going to close it at the end of the year to reopen here keeping all the italian clients, websites, etc.).

The case 2 it's quite clear: everything is in Italy except the developer but the developer doesn't matter: it's comparable to selling a software package.

The case 3 is more complex because, e.g., the company website I own is a .it + .com + .co.uk (the DNS points directly to the .it).
Starting as a sole trader, e.g., here is a common practice to show a banner informing the visitors about the cookies usage (fortunately this has been relaxed few months). I suppose I should use that UK rule on my italian website. On the contrary I should continue writing italian policies when I make wesites for italian companies.

Riccardo make sure your contracts with the end-client are water tight so domain hosting and the content has nothing to do with you.

In Italy that's not a big problem: when the domain is in the name of the client, he's responsible of everything happens on that domain. If the developer use illegal images the problem is of the client who didn't investigated or ask for a declaration from the developer saying the resources used are royalty free etc. (despite I wouldn't never be in that scenario because the judge can decide differently). Without a declaration from the developer the owner is the only responsible.
I suppose in UK it's not the same, is it?