Email Confidentiality, are you adhering to the rules?

We spend the day pinging off emails left right and centre, but have you got the correct bits and bobs included in your business communications or could you be missing something really important?

Below are a few things to check depending on the nature of your business.

Confidentiality Notice
You don’t legally have to include a disclaimer or confidentiality notice on your mails, these are for your protection, and you can choose whether to do so or not. However, as we are all human and could quite possibly hit send before double checking it’s gone to the correct person it’s probably a good idea right?

Here’s an example of a confidentiality notice you might want to include for your more ‘commercially sensitive/confidential’ emails:

“This email is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any dissemination, distribution, copying or use of this communication without prior permission of the addressee is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, you have received this email in error. Please accept our apologies, notify the sender on the above address, and then delete all copies of this email.”

Tip! To increase the chances of the notice being effective it should appear at the top of your e-mail and should not be generated automatically but only added to particularly sensitive emails.

Information that you must include by law:
Depending on the status of your business and nature of the work you carry out, it’s important to check you are adhering to the following:

Trading through a company or LLP? You must include the following information on ALL business communications, including email by law:

1.Your company’s registered name
2. The part of the UK in which your company is registered, for example, England and Wales.
3. Your company’s registered number.
4. Your company’s registered office address.

If you are a member of a regulated profession (such as a financial services company or a solicitor) you must also provide:

1.The details of any professional body or similar institution with which you are registered.
2. Your professional title and the member state where that title has been awarded.
3. A reference (ideally through a hyperlink) to the professional rules applicable to you. If you can’t add a hyperlink, you must explain how such professional rules can be accessed.

If you would like to chat through your current process when it comes to sensitive information or need a little help, please feel free to get in touch and I’d be happy to take a look with you.