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- US Short Code Campaign Compliance Overview
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Before you launch your US short code campaign, Sinch and US Carriers must review your brand and campaign. We make sure your message program aligns with carrier and industry requirements. Principally we look for alignment with the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices and CTIA Short Code Monitoring Program Handbook documents.
For Sinch to approve your short code campaign, you will need to:
- Identify the campaign use case(s). It should not be a prohibited use case in North America. Read more about Sinch's Disallowed Content Policy.
- Describe in detail the campaign and the service it is providing to end users.
- Provide information about how the end user will opt-in to the campaign. Identify the opt-in method (website, text-to-join, paper form, etc).
- Provide several message types. This includes the confirmation message, opt-out message, help message, and sample messages.
- Identify special attributes associated with your campaign. For example, if your campaign will use an age gate or if it involves direct lending.
US Short Code Campaign Requirements
Below are some specific requirements you must apply to US short code campaigns you are bringing onboard with Sinch.
Call to Action:
All US short code programs are required to have a call to action. This is how the program is advertised to end user and how consent is granted to receive messages. A call to action may be presented verbally (ie. Point of sale), via print ad (ie. “Text JOIN to XXXXX”) or via web (ie. Mobile number entry). Method of opt-in should be clear and concise. The call to action must include the following criteria for recurring programs:
- Clear Program description
- “Message and data rates may apply” disclosure (not required for FTEU)
- Full Terms OR link to complete Terms and Conditions**
- Privacy policy OR link to privacy policy
- Message frequency (#msgs/mo, msg frequency varies, recurring messages, etc)*
- Opt-out instructions (Reply STOP to stop)*
- Help instructions (Reply HELP for help)**
*Not required for one-time transactional campaigns
**Recommended. If full terms (including HELP instruction) is provided within the Call to Action, then Terms and Conditions for messaging is optional
Opt in:
- Method of consumer’s affirmative opt-in “Web, Keyword or Verbal Opt in”
Opt in confirmation MT:
- Program (brand) name
- Message frequency (#msgs/mo, msg frequency varies, recurring messages, etc)
- “Message and data rates may apply” disclosure (not required for FTEU)
- Customer care contact information (Reply HELP for help)
- Opt-out information (reply STOP to stop)
Example Content Messages:
- Program (brand) name
- Opt-out information (reply STOP to stop)
If transactional notices are sent, examples need to be provided for each type Billing, Notifications etc.
HELP MT:
- Program (brand) name
- Additional customer care contact information (can be phone number, email address and/or URL that leads directly to a support contact page)
Although single-message programs are not required to display HELP keyword, they should support HELP command.
STOP MT:
- Program (brand) name
- Confirmation that user has unsubscribed AND no further messages will be delivered
Although single-message programs are not required to display STOP keyword, they should support STOP command.
Terms & Conditions:
- Program (brand) name and description
- “Message and data rates may apply” disclosure (not required for FTEU)
- Customer care contact information (reply HELP for help) and another form of customer support (Phone number, support email or URL that leads directly to a support contact page)
- Link to Privacy Policy
- Message frequency*
- Opt-out instructions (reply STOP to stop)*
*Not required for one-time transactional programs
Terms & Conditions page must be live in production
Privacy Policy:
- Must be clear that end user’s personal information will not be shared or sold to third parties for the purpose of marketing
- Example statements:
- "No mobile information will be shared with or sold to third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes."*
- “All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with or sold to any third parties."*
Privacy Policy page must be live in production
*No-sharing clause has to be present in Privacy Policy page or in within the Call To Action (as long as nothing contradicts it in Privacy Policy)
Additional documents needed:
- Call to Action screenshot (should be market ready)
- Sample MMS image (if applicable)
- Migration letter (if applicable)
- Website must be live Short code receipt
- Mock up of SMS Terms and Conditions, if that is not live in the website’s Terms and Conditions
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Featured Article
Hoyee_Cheng
Employee
CTIA and the US Short Code Registry introduced a new requirement for leasing short codes, necessitating all brands and customers to undergo vetting. Aegis Mobile has partnered with CTIA to authenticate the identities of brands and service providers utilizing US short codes. This vetting process provides additional transparency for parties involved with each short code campaign, benefiting all stakeholders. It also offers greater protection for consumers and upholds the short code's reputation as a trusted messaging channel.
Brands and service providers will only need to be vetted once and short code leasing will be available only after successful vetting results. In the event of a lease transfer, the brand and the customer will need to submit new vetting requests with the new lease holder. There is no additional charge to this new feature and it will not impact short code throughput.
The following 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)
- Physical Address
- Country
- Street Address
- City
- State/Province
- Zip/Postal Code
- Brand Client/Customer Point of Contact
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone Number
How about existing short codes?
Brand and service provider details for existing short codes that is on auto-renewal will be required to undergo the new vetting process by Q1 2025. Brands and service providers 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 has started collecting this information. Please contact your account manager if you have any questions.
Vetting Process Overview
Upon submission of the Brand and Service provider information, the vetting party will review the following triage criteria:
- Legal name matches FEIN
- POC contact email is valid
- POC email domain relate to the company’s published URL
- If triage criteria are not met, an incomplete status will be issued without further processing
Once triaged criteria are met, the Point of Contact (POC) will receive an email from CTIA’s vetting partner, Aegis Mobile (certify@aegismobile.com). This email will contain a PIN and instructions on how to complete the registration. Be sure to check your junk mail folder.
The PIN is valid for 7 days. A reminder email will be sent 48 hours before the PIN expires. If the initial PIN expires, Aegis Mobile will issue a second and final PIN.
While the POCs completes the PIN verification, the vetting party will continue to review the remaining brand and customer details at the same time.
Vetting Statuses:
- Successful Status – Indicates that the vetting activities were completed with acceptable results. A Successful vet status is retained for up to a year, after which renewal vetting is required to continue participating in short code messaging.
- Incomplete Status – Indicates that certain critical information does not meet the minimum requirements for completing the vetting activity. If we are unable to provide the correct information within 10 days/2 additional resubmission attempts following the Incomplete status, the status will update to Unsuccessful.
- Unsuccessful Status – Indicates that either an incomplete vet status was not resolved or that risk levels were unallowable based on discovered past behaviors.
Tips to a Successful Vetting Results
- Ensure that the Federal Tax ID matches the exact Legal Company Name registered with the IRS.
- Use FEIN and Legal Company Name shown on the first line of CP-575/EIN Confirmation Letter.
- The address entered should also match what is registered with the IRS. If the information does not exactly match the EIN Confirmation Letter, your vet will be in an Incomplete state and you will not be able to lease the short code until the issue is resolved.
- Ensure email address and website URLL provided matches the company being vetted.
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:
- Public business entities: Public business lookup (EDGAR)
- Nonprofit entities: IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search
- Private business entities: If you are a private business in the US, here is a list of private business lookup by state:
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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:
- Europe: VIES VAT number validation - European Commission
- Australia: Australian Business Register (ABN) lookup Note: provide your ABN (Australian Business Number) not your ACN (Australian Company Number) as your Tax ID for brand registration purposes.
For more information, please check out CTIA and The Short Code Registry's FAQs page or their summary below: