Endorsement Disclaimer Policy

Policy:

All Department of Commerce Web sites shall have a disclaimer stating that links to non-Federal Government Web sites do not constitute endorsement of any product, service, organization, company, information provider, or content.

Scope:

All Department of Commerce Web sites, except intranet sites not available to the public.

Purpose:

To ensure that visitors to Department of Commerce Web sites know that links to non-government Web sites do not imply endorsement.

Exceptions:

In instances where a Department of Commerce organization is participating in a legitimate and approved export promotion activity a disclaimer as to these activities shall not be required.

Deadline for Implementation:

February 18, 2003

Discussion:

The disclaimer placement and wording is left to the discretion of the individual Operating Unit. It may be on a separate page linked to from the home page, adjacent to the link itself, or handled in any number of ways. However, it must be clear to the Web site visitor that no Department of Commerce endorsement is implied.

For related information see the Offsite Notification Policy and Resource Page.

 

Revision History:
October 28, 2008: Reviewed and Approved by WAG.
November 8, 2008: Formatting corrected.
February 18, 2003:
Approved.

Department of Commerce Web Advisory Council (WAC)
U.S. Department of Commerce

Send questions and comments about this page to WAC@doc.gov
Page last updated October 12, 2010