A new online service backed by the peer in charge of Internet policy and a former lawyer is aiming “to shine a light into the dark recesses of digital legal compliance” for UK businesses.
With Secretary to the All Party Internet Group Lord Erroll as chairman and former lawyer Will Roebuck as chief executive the site – at www.eradar.eu – tracks pending legislation likely to affect UK businesses online.
The site, which borrows its design from Wikipedia, also has a diary that lists meetings that are likely to have political and legislative impact. Backing this up, are articles, case studies and comment from informed sources.
It aims to help non-lawyers in organisations that do business online understand basic legal and regulatory requirements, know what’s coming up in Westminster (and other Parliaments), and connect them to people and organisations that can help them with strategic and project-based issues.
Lord Erroll said: “We’ve taken a risk-based approach to legal compliance in line with the views of enlightened regulators, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, and tried to keep the information simple but trusted and of good quality,” he said.
Lord Erroll, who is also president of the not-for-profit association that challenges the legal barriers to UK e-business investment, The E-business Network, hopes to encourage organisations to work together to promote UK competitiveness, innovation and enterprise.
“The site is designed to provide an online forum to discuss legal and regulatory barriers to doing business electronically, and give empirical data to law-makers on what legal barriers and red tape need removing,” he said.
Roebuck says the aim is to help organisations mitigate their legal and regulatory risks through collaboration, thought-leadership and best practice.
