What must be included in a website Impressum in 2025?

Almost every website in German-speaking countries requires a legal notice, commonly known as an Impressum, es­pe­cially in Germany and Austria. UK companies that target users in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzer­land) — for example by offering products or services in German, using local domains, or running marketing campaigns in the region — may be legally required to include an Impressum on their website. Many online tools offer templates, sample texts, or even fully automated Impressum gen­er­at­ors to help busi­nesses create a legally compliant notice with just a few clicks.

Legal notice re­quire­ments for websites

Sometimes trans­lated as an ‘imprint’, an Impressum is a type of legal dis­clos­ure that provides visitors with key in­form­a­tion about the entity re­spons­ible for a website. While there is no direct equi­val­ent or legal re­quire­ment for an Impressum in the UK, it shares sim­il­ar­it­ies with terms like ‘legal notice’ or ‘site notice’ commonly found in English-speaking countries. It can also resemble website credits, though it is not the same as an ‘About Ussection.

In the UK, there is no general legal re­quire­ment to publish a site notice like an Impressum. However, most website owners are legally required to include a copyright notice and a privacy policy, and in some cases, terms and con­di­tions or legal dis­claim­ers—es­pe­cially for busi­nesses selling products or services online.

Who is required to provide an impressum?

Any company, online store, or media outlet (e.g., news­pa­pers, magazines, journals) operating in Germany, Austria, or Switzer­land must make this in­form­a­tion easily ac­cess­ible to the public. German media law requires all publicly ac­cess­ible websites—including social media profiles—to feature a clear and complete Impressum.

For example, online service providers should include an Impressum on their Facebook pages. The same ob­lig­a­tion applies to merchants using third-party platforms or mar­ket­places to conduct business: an Impressum must be provided for their in­di­vidu­al offerings.

Does this apply to UK companies?

Yes. The Impressum ob­lig­a­tion also applies to foreign companies, including those based in the United Kingdom, if they target users or conduct business in Germany, Switzer­land or Austria. Failure to include a proper Impressum can lead to legal warnings (Abmahnun­gen) and, in serious cases, fines of up to €50,000 (approx. £43,000) under German law.

What should an Impressum contain?

Before launching your website for users in Germany, Austria, or Switzer­land, it’s important to ensure that your legal notice is accurate and complete. The following items are core com­pon­ents of a legally compliant Impressum under local reg­u­la­tions:

• Name of the website owner or company (including the official legal structure)
• Business address
• Contact in­form­a­tion (email address and phone number are typically required)
• Com­mer­cial register and re­gis­tra­tion number (if the business is of­fi­cially re­gistered in a com­mer­cial register)
• VAT iden­ti­fic­a­tion number or equi­val­ent business iden­ti­fic­a­tion number
• Pro­fes­sion-specific in­form­a­tion (e.g., chamber af­fil­i­ation, pro­fes­sion­al title, or governing body—if ap­plic­able)
• Details of the relevant reg­u­lat­ory authority (if your business requires licensing or oversight)

Some business types are subject to ad­di­tion­al dis­clos­ure re­quire­ments. For example, if your website provides journ­al­ist­ic or editorial content, you must name the person re­spons­ible for the content. There are also special rules for part­ner­ships and cor­por­a­tions that are currently un­der­go­ing dis­sol­u­tion or li­quid­a­tion. This status must also be clearly indicated in the Impressum. As a result, the specific content of your legal notice depends on both the legal structure of your business and the type of content or services provided on your website.

Legal con­sequences of failing to include an Impressum

Failure to comply can result in fines of up to €50,000 (approx. £43,000) in Germany. Ad­di­tion­ally, the law mandates that the com­mer­cial nature of your website must be clearly disclosed. If you use your site to conduct business, you must include your business address and legal entity in the Impressum.

Missing or incorrect in­form­a­tion can also lead to formal warnings (Abmahnun­gen) from com­pet­it­ors, trade as­so­ci­ations, or consumer pro­tec­tion or­gan­isa­tions. These warnings often require immediate cor­rec­tion and may involve legal fees or set­tle­ment costs.

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach when doing business in­ter­na­tion­ally. As this example shows, un­der­stand­ing and re­spect­ing the specific legal ex­pect­a­tions of your target country builds trust and helps you avoid costly penalties or ad­min­is­trat­ive headaches.

While Impressum vi­ol­a­tions have been re­peatedly chal­lenged in court over the years, there is still no unified legal stance on how strictly they should be penalised. Nev­er­the­less, en­force­ment remains active—and proactive com­pli­ance is strongly advised.

Impressum templates and gen­er­at­ors

The key com­pon­ents listed above can serve as a basic Impressum template for your website. However, creating one is even easier and faster with the help of an Impressum generator. These tools typically guide users through a form-based process: you enter your company’s legal and contact in­form­a­tion, and the tool auto­mat­ic­ally generates a legally compliant Impressum.

Many of these gen­er­at­ors are available for free. While they cannot replace in­di­vidu­al legal advice, they are generally suf­fi­cient for most standard websites—provided the site does not operate within a highly regulated or legally complex industry.

Using a generator makes it possible to quickly and pro­fes­sion­ally create a cus­tom­ised provider iden­ti­fic­a­tion. This helps protect against legal warnings (Abmahnun­gen) and potential fines. A website with a proper Impressum also meets pro­fes­sion­al online standards and enhances user trust.

Please refer to the legal dis­claim­er for this article.