[ncdnhc-discuss] Generic TACD recommendations on Minimum Disclosure Standards for Suppliers in Electronic Commerce

[James Love]

The following is the generic TACD recommendation on the types of disclosures
that e-commerce businesses should make to disclosures.  We might think of
something along this lines for registrar services, tailored to the issues in
registry services.    Jamie

http://www.tacd.org/cgi-bin/db.cgi?page=view&config=admin/docs.cfg&id=55

TACD

Trans Atlantic Dialogue Transatlantique

Consumer Dialogue  des Consommateurs

Doc No. Ecom-6-99
Date Issued: April, 1999

Minimum Disclosure Standards for Suppliers in Electronic Commerce
Transactions

The EU and the US should determine the necessary minimum of information that
businesses have to  provide to achieve sufficient market transparency in
electronic transactions. For transaction involving the purchase of goods and
services over the Internet, consideration should be given to the following
items:

[Editors note:  This is not a resolution on the issue of jurisdiction, and
takes no position on what jurisdiction should be. However, the resolution
does address the relevant  information about jurisdiction that sellers must
disclose to consumers].

Information on the supplier:

>From the consumer's point of view it's necessary to know who the partner of
the contract is and where the supplier is located. According to the national
laws in many countries it is often necessary to publish the name of a person
who is allowed to represent the company. In some countries this is a
necessary pre-condition to file claims in legal proceedings. Apart from this
specific problem the following details about the supplier are important:

i)                    name of the company;
ii)                  geographic address of the company;
iii)                phone, fax and e-mail numbers of the company;
iv)                any relevant registration or license number and the name
and address of the body by which the business is registered or authorized.

Information on the offer:

To make the use of electronic offers as convenient as possible and to
provide consumers a basis for purchase decisions, they must know, at least,
the following :

i)                    geographic targeting, length and validity of the
offer;
ii)                  price and currency of the purchase including all
relevant costs, including,  for example, such items as actual costs of
delivery, postage and handling, insurance and customer taxes and duties;
iii)                any safety or care warnings required by relevant
national laws as well as instructions for proper use, where necessary;
iv)                for offers targeted to other than the suppliers' home
country, additional duties and taxes or an easy accessible source where the
consumer can get these information.

Information on the terms and conditions:

Before buying consumers should be informed about the terms and conditions of
the transaction, including such items as:

i)                    the main characteristics of the goods or services;
ii)                  terms of payment including a clear description of the
procedure;
iii)                information on the liability of the supplier for
fraudulent use of consumers' personal data provided by them online;
iv)                terms of delivery including the time period of delivery;
v)                  guarantees, warrantees or other provisions relating to
after-sales service;
vi)                details of any cooling-off period;
vii)              information on the complaint procedure;
viii)            conditions related to return, exchange, cancellation,
refund policy;
ix)                privacy policy.

Information on the applicable law and jurisdiction:

For cases of any dispute related to the contract the consumers must be
informed about the applicable law and jurisdiction and procedures for
redress.

Information after placing an order:

Confirmation concerning the details of an order should contain such items
as:

i)                    the date and the number of the order;
ii)                  the shipping address;
iii)                the number of items and name of the product;
iv)                 the price the consumer has to pay as a whole.