A Bradford lawyer is warning firms to look out for pitfalls when trading on the Internet.

Susan Clark, above, head of the business law team at Last Cawthra Feather, says extra efforts have to be made to stay within the law when carrying out electronic commerce.

She said: "Selling over the Internet requires additional trade clauses to take into account the different style of trading and companies should take appropriate action.

"Trading terms and conditions need to accord with the laws of the countries from which orders are taken and should be seen and accepted by the customer - otherwise they will not be bound by them."

She said the position on Internet trading was very confused as there were no uniform rules regarding on-line transactions.

"The dangers include sending an e-mail with a virus attached which could mean you are taken to court by the person who receives it," she said.

"Also if a company has a forum or bulletin board on its website, it must make sure that no libellous material is included.

"Another problem could arise if the firm fails to use appropriate levels of security for personal data under the Data Protection Act," she added.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.