Blink and you might have missed it, but on 30 March the House of Lords defined e-mails and faxes as de facto business letters.

This not only puts them on the same level as printed business letters, but also means law firms will need to put a list of partners (if the firm has fewer than 21 partners) and the firm's physical address somewhere on e-mails and faxes sent in the line of business.


Members of the Law Society's company law committee had wanted to see an amendment to the Company Law Reform Bill legally classifying business letters as being recognised either in hard copy or electronic form (see [2006] Gazette, 16 February, 11).


In a confusing exchange on 30 March, Lord Sharman moved one of the amendments to the Bill the committee had asked for, whereupon Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) minister Lord Sainsbury said: '[The amendment] would have the most undesirable effect of implying that writing must be in hard copy. We take the view that writing may be electronic.' Lord Sharman then withdrew the amendment, leaving the original wording of the Bill intact.


What looked like a stumble has been, in fact, a leap. Now that the Lords have openly described electronic documents as equivalent to paper documents, some of those involved say this means the amendment is now perhaps unnecessary.


The Law Society said the development did not mean there was a need to change its advice on e-mail use, but there was now even more reason for firms to consider how they use e-mail in the their everyday business.


A spokesman said: 'The outcome of the House of Lords debate reinforces the need for solicitors' firms to be clear about the status of e-mails. E-mails that include a solicitors' letterhead should be treated as letters and the rules relating to professional stationery in the Solicitors Publicity Code would apply. The rules would also apply to an electronic copy of a letter sent as an attachment to an e-mail.'


Currently wending its way through the Lords, the Company Act Reform Bill will repeal the Business Names Act 1985, incorporating elements of it as necessary. The Society said it had been pressing the DTI 'for years' for a definitive statement on whether electronic communication constitutes a business letter for the purposes of the Business Names Act.


'The same information about a company should be available whether communication is on paper or electronic. A simple amendment to the Bill would achieve this and company law would reflect modern business practice as a result,' it said at the time. But, it turns out, just getting the Lords to comment on the idea might well have been enough.