Do business websites need to provide a phone number?

The recent ECJ (European Court of Justice) ruling requiring any business website which deals with consumers to provide a means of contact in addition to their postal and email addresses has caused a fair degree of consternation. It's still not clear whether the UK will follow the ruling which appears to have given the generic "contact form"  a status above and beyond the poor man's email address.

The ECJ ruled that businesses dealing with consumers needed to provide either a telephone number or a contact form (described as an "electronic enquiry template") giving consumers the opportuntity to contact them rapidly in what the court described in a "direct and effective manner" before any contract was formed.

The case was about a German car insurance company, known as DIV, that offered its services exclusively on the internet. On its website DIV provided an email address but no phone number. The body representing German consumers took legal action on the basis DIV had an obligation to mention its telephone number to give consumers a chance to talk to DIV before they entered into any agreement.

On the face of it, that makes sense because we all know as consumers there are times when it is quicker and simpler to pick up the phone. On the other hand, it's obvious there's a cost impact of employing staff to answer those questions. I assume that DIV could probably offer more competitive rates than over insurance companies because it didn't trouble itself with answering the phone to its customers, who presumably could have gone to another insurance company if they had wanted to.

Be that as it may, the judgement is relatively clear and businesses operating in the consumer market in the UK are now on notice that they may be required to provide either a phone number or a contact form which must be responded to promptly if they are going to enter into contracts with consumers.

There's a helpful,detailed note on Out-Law.com about the impact of the decision on UK businesses with a post script noting that  BERR (The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) was still considering the impact of the decision for UK businesses operating in the e-commerce sphere.

Comments

[Business Development]

Some businesses deal solely with virtual goods, so why would they need to offer a physical contact form beyond email? Doesn't make sense that such a thing would be required for such companies.

-Marc