Legal notice and privacy policy – what must your website include?

In short: If you offer services or products on your website, the law requires clear information about your identity and a contact address including email (Art. 3 para. 1 let. s UCA). If you collect personal data – via a form or web analytics – you must inform people about it (Art. 19 FADP). This is done in the legal notice and the privacy policy.

Legal notice: what the UCA requires

Anyone offering goods, works or services in e-commerce must in particular:

1. provide clear and complete information about their identity,
2. state a contact address, including an email address.

For online sales, the law also requires information on the steps leading to the contract, a way to correct input errors and an electronic order confirmation.

For a sole proprietorship, the identity is always that of the owner – the business name also contains the surname.

Privacy: what the FADP requires

If you collect personal data, you must inform the people concerned appropriately. You state at least:

• your identity and contact details,
• the purpose of processing,
• where applicable, the recipients of the data, such as your hosting provider or newsletter tool,
• and if data is disclosed abroad: to which countries and with which safeguards.

Typical cases on a small website: contact form, newsletter, web analytics, embedded maps or videos, online booking.

Practical steps

1. List the services your website uses (hosting, form, analytics, newsletter, payment).
2. Note which data is collected and where it goes.
3. Write your legal notice and privacy policy so that they match your website exactly – no unused services, nothing missing.
4. Link both pages from every page of your website, for example in the footer.
5. Review the texts whenever you add or remove a service.

For specific questions, consult a specialist or check with the FDPIC.