Effective October 15, 2024, CTIA and the US Short Code Registry will be introducing a new requirement when leasing new short codes or when manually renewing short code leases, necessitating all brands to undergo vetting. This new vetting process will provide additional transparency for brands associated with each short code campaigns, which will benefit all stakeholders while further protecting consumers and maintaining the short code’s reputation as a trusted messaging channel.
Initial vetting and resubmissions should expect a processing time of 72 business hours and gradually down to 24-48 business hours. Brands will only need to be vetted once and short code leasing will be available only after a successful vetting result. However, in the event of a lease transfer, the brand will need to submit a new vetting request with the new lease holder. There is no additional charge to this new feature and it will not impact short code throughput.
The following Brand Client information will be required:
- Legal Company Name
- Legal Entity Type
- Doing Business As
- Country of Registration
- Stock Market Symbol
- Company Website URL
- Federal Tax ID
- DUNS, GIIN, LEI (if applicable)
- Brand Client Address
- Country
- Street Address
- City
- State/Province
- Zip/Postal Code
- Brand Client Point of Contact
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone Number
- Email
How about existing short codes?
Brand client details for existing short codes, that is on auto-renewal or monthly billing, will be required to undergo the new vetting process by Q1 2025. Brands will have sixty (60) days after the auto-renewal date of the short code to complete the required fields. Short codes that are not updated within that timeframe will be subject to non-compliance audit and may be suspended or terminated.
Sinch will start collecting this information in the near future. Please contact your account manager for more information.
What will contribute to a successful vetting result?
Ensure that the Tax ID matches the exact Legal Company Name registered with the IRS, which can be found in the EIN Confirmation Letter. The address entered should also be the same as what is registered with the IRS. If you do not enter the information exactly as it appears in the EIN Confirmation Letter, your brand will be in an “Incomplete” state and you will not be able to lease the short code until the issue is resolved.
For entities with international presence, please specify the Tax ID and the country of registration. For entities in Canada, please provide the first 9 numeric digits of the Business Number (BN-9) when providing brand client details.
US Tax ID, company name and address can be validated using the following resources:
Canadian Tax ID, company name and address can be validated using the following resources:
Europe, Eastern Europe, North Atlantic, Middle East, South America, and APAC Tax ID, company name and address can be validated using the following resources:
For more information, please check out CTIA and The Short Code Registry's FAQs page or their summary below:
