Four pages people mix up
No EU rule requires a disclaimer, and US-style disclaimer pages copied onto European sites carry little weight. What is required sits on other pages, based on the e-commerce directive, consumer law and the GDPR:
| Page | Required | What for | Who reads it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company details | yes | who you are: name, address, numbers | customers, regulators |
| Privacy policy | yes, if you process personal data | what you do with personal data | visitors, the data protection authority |
| Terms and conditions | yes for a webshop, strongly advised otherwise | delivery, payment, liability | customers who buy |
| Disclaimer | no | a caveat on the content of your site | whoever relies on your explanations |
Which details exactly must be on your site, Belgian style, is in company number on your website; what belongs in a privacy policy in do I need a privacy policy; and whether you need a banner in do I need a cookie banner.
What a disclaimer can do, and what not
What do you want your disclaimer to do?
- Say your explanations are generalWorksWith the date you checked them.
- Say a calculator gives an estimateWorksUnder the result, not on a separate page.
- Exclude liability for your own mistakesDoes not workNever for intent or bodily harm; void towards consumers.
- Replace your legal detailsDoes not workThose must stand on their own.
What a disclaimer is worth in court
A disclaimer is not a contract a visitor accepts, so at best it limits your liability as far as the law allows. Towards consumers EU law is strict: under the Unfair Contract Terms Directive, terms that exclude liability can be unfair and not binding, and national laws add black lists. In Belgium, article 5.89 of the Civil Code, in force since 1 January 2023, allows exemption clauses in principle but never for your own intentional fault or for bodily harm. A line at the bottom of your site that excludes everything does not hold where it matters.
Links to other sites and visitor comments follow other rules. Whoever passes on or hosts third-party information falls under the rules for intermediaries, now in the EU Digital Services Act. What counts there is not your disclaimer but what you do when someone points out something unlawful: act quickly. How that works for reviews is in can I remove Google reviews.
What does build trust
A visitor relying on an outdated price gets little from a disclaimer, and so do you. A date next to every price or rule and a site you keep up do more. On the site we built for Business Centrum, every figure carries its check date and a caveat, with a way to report an error. With a calculator, such as our ROAS calculator, put what the result does and does not say right under it, not on a separate page.
For a webshop selling to EU consumers, two rules no disclaimer covers: the withdrawal button required since June 2026, and accessibility since 28 June 2025. A chatbot on your site must say it is AI; see the EU AI Act transparency obligations. For a text that fits your business, ask a lawyer.