Imprint, Privacy & Cookies: What Your Business Website Needs

Legal mandatory disclosures aren't the most exciting topic – but missing or incorrect information can result in costly cease-and-desist letters. This overview shows what a business website in Germany typically needs. Important note upfront: This does not replace legal advice. For binding texts, you should rely on specialised providers or a lawyer.

The Imprint

Business websites require provider identification – an imprint. The legal basis today is the Digital Services Act (DDG), which replaced the Teleservices Act in 2024. Typical information includes:

• Full name or company name with legal form
• Postal address (no PO box)
• Contact options, including an email address
• Commercial register with registration number, if applicable
• VAT identification number, if applicable
• For certain professions: regulatory body, job title and professional regulations

The imprint must be easily recognisable and accessible from every page – a link in the footer is standard.

The Privacy Policy

As soon as personal data is processed, you must inform users about it – and this is practically always the case, because IP addresses are processed when a website is accessed. The privacy policy describes, among other things:

• Who is responsible and how to contact them
• Which data is processed for what purpose
• What legal basis applies
• Which service providers are involved, such as hosting, contact forms or appointment booking
• How long data is stored
• What rights visitors have

Important: The policy must match your website. Every new form, every embedded video and every analytics tool belongs in there.

Cookies and Consent

For cookies and similar technologies that are not strictly necessary – such as for marketing or many analytics tools – you typically need consent before they become active. The legal basis for this is the TDDDG (Telecommunications Telemedia Data Protection Act). A cookie banner must make rejecting consent just as easy as accepting it.

Tip: The fewer external services you integrate, the simpler it becomes. Many websites get by without a banner at all by using data-sparing, cookie-free statistics.

Common Pitfalls

• Fonts or maps loaded directly from external servers
• Contact forms without appropriate information in the privacy policy
• Outdated texts after a redesign or new features
• Imprint only accessible indirectly

Conclusion

Clean mandatory disclosures protect you from trouble and build trust. Whether your imprint and privacy policy are linked on your website is also checked by our free website check. And when we build a new website, we focus on data-efficient technology from the start – find out more about our web development.