The legal requirements for letterheads are an important part of design with laws that must be adhered to.  We’ve put together a checklist regarding the laws that may influence your artwork and may help avoid re-prints and extended studio time.

According to the Government Website titled “Running A Limited Company” all printed letterheads, company documents and note paper must include the company name.  Whilst this is relatively straight-forward, there are other requirements that must be adhered to…

Legal Requirements for Letterhead Design

Sole Trader or Partnership

• Company owners names must be included
• The Company Name
• Company address (where legal documents could be mailed to)

 

Limited Company Letterheads

• The Company Name with “Limited” or “Ltd” after the name.
• The Company’s registered number
• Where the company is registered (eg “Scotland”, “Northern Ireland” or “England and Wales”)
• Listing Directors Names – You don’t have to list directors names on your letterheads or other documents, however if you do, you must include ALL of the directors names.
• Share Capital – If you wish to show the Company Share Capital, you must also state how much is owned by shareholders (also known as “Paid up”)

 

Letterheads for the Financial Services Industry

There is additional text and information required for company’s who are connected to the financial services industry. You may have to state that the company is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.  If you are dual regulated the the following disclosure needs to be used  “Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority”

See the official statements on the FCA page explaining disclosures in more detail

Proofing

When we print any kind of stationery we proof with print-ready soft proofs.  However hard copy proofs can be printed too – discuss this with your print manager.

If you need any further information regarding the legal requirements of letterheads, see the government website in the link above or give the team a call on 01270 625207.  We’ll do our very best to help you.

The Laws Regarding Invoice Design

Printed Invoices have a larger set of rules.  We’ve set these out on the Invoice Printing Page which gives information on how we print invoices and NCR sets as well as the legal requirements of Invoices and the information required by law.  See the link below for further information.  The laws stated apply to digital invoices also.

Finally, don’t forget to check out the full list of stationery available on the link below.