Rules and ethics
Part of When to check affiliate marketing rules and ethics before you scale
What affiliate marketing commercial contracts mean for UK programmes
Affiliate marketing commercial contracts set out commission, disclosure duty and data roles. The clauses UK brands and publishers should settle in writing.
What to take away
- English law lets you sign an affiliate deal on a handshake, but a written contract decides what happens when tracking fails, a publisher goes quiet or a claim is challenged.
- Disclosure duty sits with the publisher, but programme terms are the practical control, and the Competition and Markets Authority can treat hidden paid links as misleading.
- Data roles, cookie consent and commission on cancelled orders cause most disputes, because affiliate tracking touches personal data before any sale completes.
- These are practical drafting points for England and Wales, not legal advice.
Commission and attribution
Commission is the clause everyone reads first and the one most often left vague. State the trigger: a completed sale, a sale after the returns window, or a lead. State the rate, the cookie window and what happens when two publishers claim the same order.
Attribution Models Compared
Last-click
- Who gets paid
- Final click
- Default setting
- Network default
- Duplicate claims
- Resolved by priority
- Contract action
- Assume applies
First-click
- Who gets paid
- First click
- Default setting
- Contract only
- Duplicate claims
- Resolved by priority
- Contract action
- Must specify
Split
- Who gets paid
- Shared credit
- Default setting
- Contract only
- Duplicate claims
- Resolved by split
- Contract action
- Must specify
Networks often apply last-click attribution by default, which decides who gets paid. If you want first-click or a split, put it in the contract rather than assuming the platform allows it. UK-facing networks and platforms include Awin, CJ, Impact, Partnerize, Rakuten, Tradedoubler and Webgains; named programmes include Amazon Associates UK and eBay Partner Network. PartnerRevenue's Affiliate marketing UK rules and compliance guide for 2027 explains how attribution choices feed wider compliance duties, so read it before you draft terms: Affiliate marketing UK rules and compliance guide for 2027.
Disclosure and advertising rules
Paid links and gifted placements must be identifiable as advertising. Require clear disclosure wording, such as “Ad” or “Advert”, and reserve the right to suspend publishers who hide it: disclosure wording. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 were the earlier regime; the current unfair-commercial-practices provisions are in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which the CMA enforces. The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (the CAP Code) is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Disclosure and Green Claims Checklist
- Paid links identifiable as advertising
- Gifted placements labelled as ads
- Required disclosure wording in terms
- Right to suspend hidden disclosure
- Evidence held for green claims
- CMA consumer law applies UK-wide
For environmental claims, the Competition and Markets Authority's Green Claims Code sets out principles that brands and publishers should follow; claims such as “sustainable” need evidence. It applies to affiliate content as well as a retailer's own pages.
Data protection and cookies
Affiliate tracking sets cookies and passes identifiers, so data protection sits inside the commercial deal. The Data Protection Act 2018 is the foundational statute, with the UK GDPR alongside it.
Write down whether each party is an independent controller, processor or joint controller, based on who determines the purposes and means of processing. Do not assume a network's label in its terms settles the question; the allocation affects each party's duties and what privacy notices must explain.
Cookie consent must be freely given and easy to withdraw. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) explains the requirements under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR), alongside UK GDPR requirements. PartnerRevenue's companion article, Affiliate marketing data protection in England, covers consent records.
| Clause | What to pin down | Typical risk if left open |
|---|---|---|
| Commission trigger | Sale, lead or net-of-returns | Publisher invoices for refunded orders |
| Attribution | Window, model, priority | Duplicate or missed payouts |
| Disclosure | Required wording, approval right | ASA or CMA action |
| Data roles | Controller, processor, joint | Unlawful tracking, unclear notices |
| Termination | Notice period, tail commission | Disputes over trailing sales |
Termination and liability
Termination decides how a relationship ends, and affiliate deals end badly when notice periods are silent. Set notice in writing for both sides, and say whether commission continues on sales from clicks made before termination. Many networks apply a short tail, so check the wording.
Liability caps matter more than they look. A publisher can generate a misleading claim that lands on your brand, so address CAP Code compliance, require indemnities for content breaches and keep a right to remove links immediately. Individual cases need a qualified adviser, since contract, consumer and data law interact.
Common questions
Do affiliate contracts have to be in writing in England?
No. A contract can form by conduct, and emails or network terms can be enough. Writing the clauses down still matters, because a dispute over commission or disclosure is harder to settle without a signed record.
Who is responsible for disclosure, the brand or the publisher?
The publisher must make paid content identifiable as advertising. The brand's programme terms can require that wording and allow suspension for breaches, which is why disclosure belongs in the contract rather than in a style note.
Does an affiliate network contract cover data protection?
Only partly. Network terms set platform rules, but brand and publisher must still allocate controller and processor roles for the tracking data they handle.
Can a brand claw back commission on returned orders?
Yes, if the contract says so. Commission triggers and refund rules are commercial terms, so specify whether payment follows the sale or survives the returns window.
