The contract clauses a corporate communications buyer should read twice

A communications contract should state who may do what, with which evidence, and how the buyer can correct or end the work. It cannot create statutory permission or certify a claim. This non-ranked list uses Cedar Vale Engineering Ltd, a fictional England buyer commissioning support for a proposed site consolidation.

Method: desk review on 6 September 2026. Scope: an England instruction, with UK rules where stated. Included: eight observable allocation topics linked to official sources. Excluded: contract drafting, model wording, named suppliers, fees, legal conclusions and performance. Conflicts: none.

1. Parties and authority

Record legal names, company numbers where relevant, registered and service addresses, authorised signatories and the difference between a trading name and contracting entity. The Companies Act 2006 provides the wider UK company-law context, but register status does not prove authority for a particular instruction. Counsel should verify capacity and signature.

2. Scope, acceptance and change

Define each deliverable, source-copy version, eligible recipient, channel, acceptance evidence and excluded outcome. Sending a draft, obtaining media coverage and changing customer behaviour are different events. Add a written change route and state who can stop work when the organisational proposal changes.

3. Facts, claims and corrections

Allocate the factual owner, claim file, approval timestamp, correction service and withdrawal authority. A supplier should not infer facts from a brief or promise independent editorial treatment. Advertising and sector review sit outside commercial acceptance and remain non-compensating.

4. Rights and licences

List text, photographs, video, recordings, fonts, data and software separately. Record ownership, licence, territory, duration, edits, attribution and return. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is UK primary law, but the contract reviewer must decide the rights in each asset. Payment alone does not answer that question.

5. Data roles and contact provenance

Map purposes, controller or processor roles, instructions, subprocessors, transfers, rights support, incidents, retention and deletion. The ICO's Article 28 contract guidance is currently under review following DUAA. Labels in a contract do not override actual decisions and conduct.

6. Accessibility evidence

Specify the user task, format, test method, correction window and evidence owner. GOV.UK's accessible-format guidance, updated 17 June 2026, is aimed at government communicators. It is useful method evidence, not a supplier warranty or proof of buyer compliance.

7. Security, confidentiality and incidents

Define access, approved devices, storage, logging, credential recovery, breach escalation and deletion. The NCSC's supply-chain security guidance, reviewed 22 October 2025, discusses contractual assurance and review. Its recommendations need proportionate buyer requirements and actual testing.

8. Charges, termination and exit

Record currency, VAT treatment, unit, period, expenses, correction costs, renewal, notice, work in progress, continuity, evidence export, asset return, account transfer and verified deletion. Qualified finance and tax reviewers decide treatment. The buyer should reject an exit process that leaves no authoritative copy or correction record.

Every topic receives pass, fail or unresolved status with an owner and recheck date. Attach the evidence rather than accepting a supplier's unchecked assurance. The contract remains unsigned if any factual, legal, rights, privacy, accessibility, security or exit gate fails. This list is a review agenda, not contractual wording or legal advice.