ContractStore Legal Business Blog

The longest statute ever passed by the UK parliament is the Companies Act 2006. There is some irony in this because one of the reasons for the new law, according to the government, was that they wanted to simplify company law, in particular for smaller companies.

Because of its length and complexity, the Act is being introduced in stages, commencing in January 2007, and going through to October 2008. We will provide updates on the blog as the stages unfold.

Among the sections which came into effect on 1 October, are the following changes:

• New duties for Directors. As well as having to act in good faith to promote the company, directors now have to exercise care, skill and diligence; independent judgement; and have regard to not only the interests of the company but also the interests of its employees and the impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment. There is more detail in the Act itself.
• Shareholders approval is now required for any service contract for a director which lasts more than two years.
• Shareholder approval is also required for any payoff to a director which exceeds the amount to which he or she is entitled under their employment contract. (Presumably Mr O’Neal, until recently the Chairman of Merrill Lynch, may not have seen so much of his £80 million had his contract fallen under the new jurisdiction)
• Shareholders also have to approve a loan to a director of more than £10,000.
• There is no need for a company to hold an Annual General Meeting any more.
• Notice periods for meetings of shareholders are reduced to 14 days. Until now the notice period has generally been 21 days.

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PRIVACY POLICY

Introduction

We [name of company] are incorporated in England carrying on business as [brief description - e.g. suppliers of widgets] and we are committed to protecting any data that we collect concerning you. By using our services you agree to the use of the data that we collect in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We are committed to protecting your privacy

We collect the minimum amount of information about you that is commensurate with providing you with a satisfactory service. This Policy indicates the type of processes that may result in data being collected about you. Your use of this website gives us the right to collect that information.

Information Collected

We may collect any or all of the information that you give us depending on the type of transaction you enter into, including your name, address, telephone number, fax number and email address, together with data about your use of the website. Other information that may be needed from time to time to process a request may also be collected as indicated on the website.

[Data in relation to credit card payments is processed by [name of organisation] on a secure website linked to ours and they have their own privacy policy.]

Information Use

We use the information collected primarily to process the task for which you visited the website. Data collected in the UK is held in accordance with the Data Protection Act. All reasonable precautions are taken to prevent unauthorised access to this information. This safeguard may require you to provide additional forms of identity should you wish to obtain information about your account details.

Cookies

Your Internet browser has the in-built facility for storing small files - “cookies” - that hold information which allows a website to recognise your account. Our website takes advantage of this facility to enhance your experience. You have the ability to prevent your computer from accepting cookies but, if you do, certain functionality on the website may be impaired.

Disclosing Information

We do not disclose any personal information obtained about you from this website to third parties except when we need to do so in order to complete the transaction - e.g. when arranging for a courier company to deliver goods that you have ordered. We may also use the information to keep in contact with you and inform you of developments associated with our business. You will be given the opportunity to remove yourself from any mailing list or similar device. If at any time in the future we should wish to disclose information collected on this website to any third party, it would only be with your knowledge and consent.

We may from time to time provide information of a general nature to third parties - for example, the number of individuals visiting our website or completing a registration form, but we will not use any information that could identify those individuals.

Changes to this Policy

Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be placed here and will supersede this version of our Policy. We will take reasonable steps to draw your attention to any changes in our Policy. However, to be on the safe side, we suggest that you read this document each time you use the website to ensure that it still meets with your approval.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, or if you want to know what information we have collected about you, please email us at [insert email address]. You can also correct any factual errors in that information or require us to remove your details form any list under our control.

Privacy Policy written by ContractStore Ltd - Business Contracts.

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We’re really pleased with the results of the free website privacy policy which was launched in May.

We’ve noticed that a number of web designers have been using the privacy policy as a standard in their new website builds, and have linked back to our main site.

Moma is a graphic design agency, which is responsible for some of the strange places that our privacy policy has turned up… including a site dedicated to Anti Gravity Boots! And Mike Young Designs have used the policy for their main website.

We’d love feedback about the privacy policy, and if you’ve used it for your site.

Or if you want to make any suggestions for legal resources you would like - particularly for use online, please feel free to comment below and we’ll look into the best ideas.

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This blog is maintained by the ContractStore Lawyers and team members.

You can expect regular posts about the latest changes in business law and our take on events in the news.

This will also be the first place to come for news about ContractStore, offers on contract templates, and any free business documents we offer our readers.

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If you own a trademark, beware! Since the 1st October, the rules have changed and the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) will no longer automatically refuse a new trademark application simply because a similar or identical mark is already registered.

Now, when their search identifies the existence of a registered trademark, the IPO will inform the applicant for the new mark, who then has to decide whether to go ahead with the application.

If the applicant does go ahead, then the owner of the existing registered mark will be notified. They then have three months in which to make a block on the application.

For more information take a look at the IPO website.

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