A fax disclaimer warns that the information contained in the fax is confidential and intended for the recipient only. It includes a privacy clause and asks recipients to contact the sender if the fax is sent in error. If received by mistake, the fax should be shredded or incinerated to avoid a breach of confidentiality. Fax disclaimers are printed on the cover page or footer and do not create a legal relationship.
A fax disclaimer is a statement on a fax that contains potentially sensitive or confidential information, indicating that the fax is for the recipient’s use only. Fax disclaimers are typically used when businesses or individuals need to fax sensitive information and want to protect themselves from liability associated with lost information. Similar disclaimers are used in email communications in some regions of the world, and many companies ask people to use a standardized disclaimer developed by legal advisers.
There are several elements to a fax disclaimer. The first is a statement about how the information is intended to get into the hands of the person addressed to the fax and is not intended for other people to use. The disclaimer also contains an information privacy clause and states that the information should not be distributed or shared by any means. Also, a fax disclaimer usually asks recipients to contact the sender if a fax is sent in error.
People who receive faxes in error when they are not intended recipients should contact the sender using the fax disclaimer information both to avoid receiving future faxes in error, so that the sender knows the fax never reached the intended destination. While many fax machines print confirmations, the confirmation doesn’t say who received the fax, only that the information was successfully transmitted. A phone call will notify people and allow them to check the fax number they have on file and resend it to the correct person.
Someone who receives a fax by mistake should ideally shred it, if an office has a shredder, to avoid a breach of confidentiality. Incinerator disposal is also appropriate. While the paper can simply be thrown in the recycling bin, there is a chance the fax will be taken by someone not authorized to look at the information. Depending on the content of the fax, this could be a problem for both the sender and the recipient.
Typically, fax disclaimers are printed on the cover page of the fax, intended to warn people that they shouldn’t look at the fax unless they’re intended recipients. They can also be used as a footer on individual fax pages. While a fax disclaimer does not create a legal relationship, maintaining the confidentiality of information is a common courtesy, and people who use information from confidential faxes may find the validity of that use challenged if a situation ends up in court.
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