{
  "id": "BRD-035",
  "slug": "brd-035",
  "title": "The country of registration must be on the permitted list",
  "statement": "A brand registered in a country outside TCR's permitted-country list cannot be registered at all.",
  "rationale": "This is an eligibility gate rather than a data problem: some countries are excluded from the US A2P framework entirely, usually for sanctions or fraud-rate reasons, and no amount of correct paperwork moves a brand from the wrong side of it. Finding out late is expensive because everything else in the onboarding will have succeeded first.",
  "layer": "BRAND",
  "layerSlug": "brand",
  "object": "brand.country + brand.ein_issuing_country",
  "severity": "BLOCKING",
  "detectability": [
    "EXTERNAL_DATA"
  ],
  "failureClass": "TERMINAL_EXTERNAL",
  "authorities": [
    "TCR"
  ],
  "codes": [
    {
      "provider": "TCR",
      "code": "529",
      "remediable": false
    }
  ],
  "applicabilityText": "Applies to every 10DLC registration.",
  "universal": true,
  "remediation": "Check the country against TCR's current permitted list before collecting anything else from the customer. Where the country is excluded, the only route is a US or otherwise permitted entity that genuinely owns the customer relationship — not a nominee registration under someone else's name.",
  "notes": "TCR publishes and revises the list; we do not hold it. The user has to check their country against the current published list before starting, and must not work around an exclusion by registering under a related entity in a permitted country — that is a fabricated registration (BRD-286) and carries a much worse outcome than a refusal.",
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": false,
  "attestation": {
    "question": "Is the country of registration on TCR's current permitted-country list?",
    "howToCheck": [
      "Check the country against the list TCR publishes and revises, before you collect anything else from the customer.",
      "Where the country is excluded, the only legitimate route is a US or otherwise permitted entity that genuinely owns the customer relationship."
    ],
    "failureLooksLike": "Everything else in the onboarding succeeds first and the eligibility gate is discovered last. Registering under a related entity in a permitted country to get around it is a fabricated registration, which is a far worse outcome than a refusal."
  },
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-035/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-035.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}