Impressum

An impressum (from Latin impressum, "the impressed, engraved, pressed in, impression") is the term given to a legally mandated statement of the ownership and authorship of a document, which must be included in books, newspapers, magazines^[1] and websites^[2] published in Germany and certain other German-speaking countries, such as Austria and Switzerland.

There is no equivalent legislation in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, and therefore no consistent legal term is used in English-language media. The closest English terms for impressum are:

• Masthead: for newspapers and magazines, a list, usually found on the editorial page, of the members of its board.^[3]
• Colophon: for books, a note indicating metadata about the book such as the date of publication, printer and publisher.
• Imprint: Under the UK Printer's Imprint Act 1961,^[4] which amended the earlier Newspapers, Printers, and Reading Rooms Repeal Act 1869, any printer must put their name and address on the first or last leaf of every paper or book they print or face a penalty of up to £50 per copy. In addition, under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, any election material — including websites — must show the name of the promoter of the material and the name and address of the person on whose behalf it is being published.^[5]
• "Site notice", "Legal notice" or "Legal disclosure": for websites in English, a page title commonly used to link to legal metadata and terms of use.

None of these terms is an exact replacement in all contexts. The terms "masthead" and "colophon" apply to printed publications only and are not commonly used on English-language websites, while "site notice" is website-specific and "legal notice" or "legal disclosure" are rarely found in printed works. An "imprint" in publishing may also mean a brand name under which a work is published,^[6] and so may not be understood to mean an Impressum.

Webpages

The Telemediengesetz ("Telemedia Act") requires that German websites must disclose information about the publisher, including their name and address, telephone number or e-mail address, trade registry number, VAT number, and other information depending on the type of company.^[7] German websites are defined as being published by individuals or organisations that are based in Germany, so an Impressum is required regardless of whether a site is in the .de domain.

This law has created privacy concerns for individuals who maintain blogs or personal homepages.^[8][9][10] The law has also caused lawyers to scrutinise websites for this information and send cease-and-desist letters to their maintainers in case it is missing.^[11] Due to this law Facebook has added a section in the public page settings for adding an Impressum.^[12]

References