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•  Disclaiming content standard

Guide to the Disclaiming content standard

Consider the need

The agency is encouraged to seek its own legal advice on whether to include a disclaimer and, if so, its appropriate scope. Any disclaimer, or a link to the disclaimer, must appear at least on the About this site page. (See also the Disclaiming content standard.)

Examples

Content disclaiming should be assessed on a case-by-case basis by reference to the website in question and the kinds of information it contains. For example, where material on a government website originates from outside government, the following may be appropriate:

"The following information [specific document etc] is provided for convenience as part of the service we offer at this web site. However, the [organisation name] cannot accept any liability for its accuracy or content. Visitors who rely on this information do so at their own risk."

A suitable disclaimer for links to information on non-government websites might read:

"This website may provide links to non-governmental websites. The [site owner] is not responsible for the currency or accuracy of content on such websites and the inclusion of such links does not imply endorsement by the [site owner] of the linked website or its provider."

Consider media

Where agencies do add content disclaimers, they should be careful to ensure that the same disclaimer applies to web versions of the relevant content as applies to versions of that content released via other media (eg, emailed PDFs or web feeds) and that the disclaimers are sufficiently prominent to be brought to the attention of readers (in the absence of which they may not be binding).

Rationale

While agencies should strive to ensure that content on their sites is accurate and up to date, it is inevitable that there will be occasions where inadvertent items “slip” through or where third party content will appear on an agency’s website over which the agency has little or no control.