LINKS
IN THIS SECTION
- Offshore
Company Formation
- Accountancy Services
- Financial Services
RELATED
SECTIONS
-
Taxation
of Offshore E-commerce
- Regulation
of Offshore E-commerce
-
Offshore
E-commerce Facilities
-
Offshore E-commerce Applications
It was initially
imagined that the Internet was an unregulated
entity which was to some extent immune from
normal legal process. This is, and was, far
from the truth - the reality is that both at
national and supra-national levels, the laws
governing business operations apply to e-commerce
and e-business just as much as they do to traditional
methods of trade. However, some legal concepts
which are normally well-defined have traditionally
been slightly less clear cut on the Internet;
for example, see our section on Tax
Law.
Many branches
of law impact the Internet, and especially offshore
e-commerce, in addition to tax law: Intellectual
Property, Company Law, Data Protection, Privacy,
Commercial Law, Distance Selling, Product Liability,
Financial Regulation, for example. Depending
on its line of business, a company beginning
to trade on the Internet needs to think carefully
about its legal situation. Some particularly
relevant aspects are as follows:
IP rights
– covering the entitlement to copyright,
royalties, patents etc, such rights are complicated
by the combination of the international context
of the Internet and the taxation implications
for IP revenues.
Company law
–- the rights and obligations of companies
vary between jurisdictions. An awareness of
these differences is essential for offshore
e-commerce.
Data protection
and privacy – rights of access and
rules on data storage affect every company holding
data on clients and customers. The EU's data
protection regime is the most restrictive among
major trading countries, and has already created
difficulties for EU companies needing to share
data with regions that don't have adequate protection.
The EU adopts a 'safe harbour' principle, and
US partners can qualify under the 'safe harbour'
rules, but it is quite doubtful whether many
offshore jurisdictions would qualify. Therefore
it would probably be wise to ensure that offshore
operations do not themselves house sensitive
data-bases. The status of an offshore subsidiary
which uses information from a protected (onshore)
database for commercial purposes is hazy, and
professional advice should be sought in particular
situations.
The details given
above are not meant as an exhaustive list but
merely as a indication of the broad nature of
the law governing electronic commerce. accepts
no responsibility for actions taken or not taken
as a result of material published on this site,
which is provided simply to alert visitors to
the need for care on legal matters. Any company
considering an involvement in e-commerce or
offshore is strongly advised to seek assistance
from its legal and tax advisers.
For information
about laws and taxes in force in offshore jurisdictions,
please see the Lowtax.net
Jurisdictions sections.
OFFSHORE
PROFESSIONAL AND FINANCIAL SERVICES
- Offshore
Company Formation - Forming an offshore
company for E-commerce purposes.
- Accountancy Services
- Professional services for offshore tax optimisation.
- Financial Services
- Banking and financial support for offshore
E-commerce.
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