Compliance — Empire UI Kit (Base)

This kit ships structural scaffolding for the most common UK, EU, and US regulatory baselines so that buyers can fill in real values and ship a broadly compliant site without re-engineering the legal layer.

You — the buyer — are the compliant party, not the kit author. The kit is sold as source code that you host yourself. Your obligations under UK GDPR, EU GDPR, CCPA / CPRA, ADA, DMCA, Companies Act, DMCC, ePrivacy, etc. attach to your hosted site. The kit cannot give legal advice. Confirm wording with your own legal counsel before publishing.

At a glance — what this kit ships

Region matrix — what applies where

SITE_CONFIG.regions = {
  uk: true,  // Show UK-specific footer items
  eu: true,  // Show EU-specific items (privacy, AI Act language)
  us: true,  // Show US state-privacy + DMCA links
};

Set the regions you actually serve. Some examples:

• UK-only SaaS: { uk: true, eu: false, us: false } — shows Modern Slavery link (when set), hides US "Do Not Sell" footer link.
• US-first AI tool: { uk: false, eu: false, us: true } — surfaces Do Not Sell + DMCA, hides UK Companies Act layout (still renders entity block but you'd customise).
• Global: { uk: true, eu: true, us: true } — all the things.

UK — what you need

Companies Act 2006 §82 (footer disclosures)

• Registered company name → SITE_CONFIG.legalEntity.companyName
• Company registration number → legalEntity.companyNumber
• Place of registration ("Registered in England and Wales") → legalEntity.placeOfRegistration
• Registered office address → legalEntity.registeredAddress
• VAT number (if registered) → legalEntity.vatNumber
• Direct contact email → SITE_CONFIG.email.legal
• Regulator + membership number (regulated professions only) → legalEntity.regulator / regulatorNumber

UK GDPR + Data (Use and Access) Act 2025

• Privacy policy listing the eight rights (access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection, lodge a complaint, automated decision-making) — already in the /privacy/ template
• Lawful basis for processing each category of personal data — buyer adds
• Cookie consent banner with Reject all at parity with Accept all ✓ scaffolded
• DUAA 2025 relaxation: UK-only sites with strictly-statistical analytics may now omit the cookie banner; advertising/tracking still needs consent. Toggle accordingly.
• GPC honoured automatically ✓

Consumer Rights Act 2015 / Consumer Contracts Regs (e-commerce only)

• 14-day right to cancel — buyer adds to /terms/ if selling goods/services
• Digital goods compatibility statement — buyer adds
• Default 30-day delivery time — buyer adds
• Total price upfront (no "drip pricing") — DMCC requirement; audit your /pricing/ page

DMCC Act 2025

• Fake review verification — kit ships fictional placeholder testimonials. If you replace with real reviews you must take "reasonable steps" to verify each reviewer used the product/service. Posting or paying for fake reviews is a criminal offence.
• Subscription traps: easy one-click online cancellation, free-trial reminder before charge, contract-renewal reminder. Backend concern — the kit doesn't ship the cancel flow.

Modern Slavery Act 2015 §54

• Mandatory only if turnover ≥ £36M
• Set compliance.modernSlaveryStatementUrl to the published statement; footer link renders automatically

EU — what you need

EU GDPR

• Same eight rights as UK GDPR — already in /privacy/ template
• Lawful basis under Art 6 — buyer adds
• DPO contact (if appointed) — buyer adds to /privacy/
• SCCs / adequacy decision references for international transfers — buyer adds

EU AI Act (Regulation 2024/1689)

• AI-system disclosure to users on every generation surface ✓ scaffolded
• Human-oversight notice on high-risk AI uses — buyer adds if applicable
• Synthetic-content marking (deepfake / AI-image) — buyer adds if applicable

EU Accessibility Act (EAA, 28 June 2025)

• WCAG 2.2 AA targeted ✓ kit-wide
• /accessibility/ statement page ✓ scaffolded
• Update LAST_REVIEWED annually after re-audit

ePrivacy Directive

• Cookie consent before non-essential scripts ✓ scaffolded
• Reject-All at parity with Accept-All ✓ enforced by component

US — what you need

State Privacy Laws (CCPA / CPRA + 19 others as of April 2026)

• Privacy notice listing the right to know, delete, correct, opt-out of sale/sharing, limit sensitive PI use, and non-discrimination ✓ in /privacy/ template
• "Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information" footer link → toggle compliance.ccpa.doNotSell = true (only if you actually sell or share PII for cross-context behavioural ads)
• "Limit Use of My Sensitive Personal Information" footer link → toggle compliance.ccpa.sensitivePII = true (only if you collect sensitive PII)
• Verifiable opt-out flow within 15 business days (CPRA) / 45 days (CCPA) — backend concern
• Honour Global Privacy Control browser signal ✓ done in cookie-consent component

COPPA + COPPA Rule update (April 2026)

• Verifiable parental consent if directed at children under 13 — buyer adds if applicable
• Data-retention limits + stricter opt-in for targeted advertising to minors — buyer adds
• The Children's Code (UK Age-Appropriate Design) overlaps; the kit does no profiling by default

ADA Title III + DOJ April 2026 deadline

• WCAG 2.1 AA is the US legal benchmark; WCAG 2.2 AA (which the kit targets) is a strict superset and satisfies it
• /accessibility/ statement reflects this dual standard

DMCA (17 USC §512)

• Designated Copyright Agent → compliance.dmca.{agentName, agentEmail, agentAddress}
• /dmca/ page renders the agent contact + notice procedure ✓ scaffolded
• Register your agent with the US Copyright Office (annual renewal, $6) before publishing user content
• Footer link auto-renders once agentName is set to a non-placeholder value

CalOPPA — Do Not Track signal disclosure

• Privacy policy must state how you respond to DNT ✓ section 8 in /privacy/ template

Sales tax / Nexus / PCI DSS

• E-commerce only — backend / payment-processor concern. The kit doesn't ship checkout.

What you must do before publishing — short version

1. Fill SITE_CONFIG.legalEntity with your real registered details.
2. Set SITE_CONFIG.regions to the regions you actually serve.
3. If you sell/share PII for cross-context advertising, set compliance.ccpa.doNotSell = true.
4. If you publish user-uploaded content, register a DMCA agent with the US Copyright Office, fill compliance.dmca.*, and the footer link auto-appears.
5. Update LAST_REVIEWED and KNOWN_LIMITATIONS in src/app/accessibility/page.tsx.
6. Pass /privacy/, /terms/, /cookie-policy/, /dmca/, /do-not-sell/ through your own legal counsel.
7. When you wire analytics or marketing scripts, set cookieConsent.enabled = true and gate every script tag on getConsent().
8. Confirm AI-disclosure label wording matches your AI provider's brand-usage rules.
9. Verify your build doesn't ship pre-checked marketing-consent boxes (the kit doesn't, but custom additions might).
10. Audit your /pricing/ page for "drip pricing" — total price + mandatory fees must be visible upfront.

What is NOT covered (full-stack concerns)

• Data subject access / portability flows — requires a real backend + account data
• Right-to-erasure / consent withdrawal automation — backend concern
• UGC moderation pipelines — kit ships no UGC
• Subscription cancellation flows — backend concern (DMCC §29 requires one-click online cancel)
• Sales tax calculation / Nexus — checkout / backend concern
• PCI DSS — payment processor concern
• Sub-processor list maintenance — buyer-specific
• Real-time content moderation (UK Online Safety Act) — kit ships no UGC

Related references

• Quality Gate 17 (UK/EU Compliance Disclosures) — the deterministic checks every kit must pass before listing.
• .docs/01_standards/03_compliance.md (org-level) — the full standard with verification commands.
• DEMO_CONTENT.md — placeholder-replacement checklist (brand, copy, images).

See Template Empire's compliance standards for how every kit is held to — and audited against — these requirements.