Any website is required to comply with the provisions established in Law 34/2002, on Services of the Information Society and Electronic Commerce (LSSICE), and in the European Directive 2000/31/CE.
This regulation establishes a series of formal obligations that any website aimed at the direct or indirect sale of products or services must fulfill. If the website also includes systems for the distance selling of products or services (e-commerce), additional obligations must be met.
These are, in summary, the formal obligations that should be applied when implementing an ecommerce.
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The person, company or entity that owns the website shall be obliged to provide users, in a permanent, easy, direct, and free manner, the following information (this document is the LEGAL NOTICE and can be accessed as a link on the HOME page of the website):
a) Identity of the service provider (Sant Joan de Binissaida CB, E07712540, email: santjoan@binissaida.com, phone: +34 971 35 55 98).
In addition to complying with the information requirements set forth in the previous section, the company that owns the website must, before starting the contracting procedure, provide the recipient, in a permanent, easy, and free manner, clear, understandable, and unequivocal information on the following aspects:
a) The various steps that must be followed to finalize the contract.
b) Whether the provider will archive the electronic document in which the contract will be formalized and if it will be accessible.
c) The technical means that the company provides to identify and correct errors in data entry.
d) The language or languages in which the contract can be formalized. The Law allows for this information (points a, b, c, and d) to be included in the general LEGAL NOTICE.
e) The GENERAL CONDITIONS to which, if applicable, the contract must be subject, so that they can be stored and reproduced by the recipient. EXCEPTIONS: The provider shall not be obliged to provide the information mentioned in the previous section when:
1. Both contracting parties agree to this and neither of them is considered a consumer.
2. The contract has been concluded exclusively through email exchange or another equivalent electronic communication.
The owning company is obligated to confirm the receipt of the order to the sender by one of the following means:
a) Sending an acknowledgment of receipt via email or another equivalent electronic communication, to the address specified by the acceptor, within twenty-four hours following receipt.
b) Directly on the same website, as long as the consumer is allowed to save this information. As in the previous section, it will not be necessary to confirm the receipt of the acceptance of an offer when:
1. Both contracting parties agree to this and neither of them is considered a consumer.
2. The contract has been concluded exclusively through email exchange or another equivalent electronic communication, provided these means are not used solely for the purpose of evading compliance with such obligation.
For evidentiary purposes, it is recommended that the contracting process be carried out through a system that allows verifying that the user accepts the conditions and confirms the purchase of the products once they have been able to access them.
In addition to the obligations established by the LSSICE, the general obligations derived from the LOPD-RGPD must be taken into account, which will be complied with by having contracted this service on this website:
a) Maintain a record of processing activities.
b) Comply with the duty of INFORMATION and CONSENT.
c) Contracts with DATA PROCESSORS.
d) Comply with the corresponding security measures.
We must consider that, apart from the indicated obligations, which are the most important in any online purchasing process and require including a series of formalities prior to the implementation of the website, there are other obligations derived from other general regulations that may affect any new establishment (whether real or virtual), the purchasing process, or even the recipients.
This regulation must be kept in mind when drafting the general contracting conditions and when providing the service (for example, the period for proceeding with the return of an order under the Consumers Act). The most important regulations are:
a) Royal Decree 1906/1999, of December 17, which regulates telephone or electronic contracting with general conditions.
b) Law 44/2006 of December 29, improving the protection of consumers and users.
c) RDL 1/2007, of November 16, approving the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users (TRLGDCU).
d) Law 29/2009, of December 30, which modifies the legal regime of unfair competition and advertising to improve the protection of users and consumers.
e) Law 3/2014, of March 27, which modifies the consolidated text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users.
f) Law 7/1998, of April 13, on General Contracting Conditions, and subsequent modifications,
g) Law 7/1996, of January 15, on the Organization of Retail Trade, and
Another obligation of the LSSICE is the acceptance of cookie usage by users accessing the website. The service provider, at the moment it installs third-party cookies on the users' devices, must request their consent to do so. (more info in the COOKIES POLICY document)
The sale of products over the internet is specifically regulated by the LSSICE and the current regulations on data protection (LOPD-RGPD), and other laws that may directly or indirectly affect the way the service is provided must be considered.
Most of the established obligations are formal in nature. It is advisable to make available on the website in an accessible manner through links the following information: ‘legal notice’, ‘privacy policy’, ‘cookies policy’, and ‘general contracting conditions’ (for e-commerce). Our platform provides these texts in its documentation area.
Moreover, for e-commerce, the purchasing process should be conducted in such a way that it is clear that the consumer can access the necessary information before contracting, that they accept the conditions, and, once the contracting has been completed, that they can access (and save) the confirmation. For all these reasons, we recommend that in the case of an online store, a complete audit regarding LSSICE be performed to ensure that the conditions fully comply with its activity.
If you wish to carry out a tailored audit on this matter, contact us for a quote.