# BRD-172 — Document every Texas exemption you rely on

> Where a Texas exemption is relied upon, the basis for it must be documented and retained.

- **Rule ID:** BRD-172
- **Layer:** Brand (`BRAND`)
- **Checks:** `Texas exemption evidence`
- **Severity:** HIGH — Rejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** Human check — only someone holding the document can settle it
- **Fix type:** Supply evidence only you hold
- **Required by:** Texas SB 140
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-172/

## Why this rule exists

Texas exemptions — publicly traded, insurer, supervised financial institution, FCC-regulated, non-profit, existing customer, majority brick-and-mortar — are affirmative defences, which means the burden of proving one sits with the business claiming it. An exemption that was true and undocumented is worth nothing at the point it is needed.

## How to fix it

For each exemption relied on, keep a short written record: which exemption, why it applies, and the evidence — the licence number, the registration, the customer relationship. Review it annually, because several of the exemptions can lapse without anyone noticing.

## Check this yourself

**For each Texas exemption you rely on, is there a written record of which exemption, why it applies, and the evidence behind it?**

1. List the exemptions in play: publicly traded, insurer, supervised financial institution, FCC-regulated, non-profit, existing customer, majority brick-and-mortar.
2. For each, write down the basis and the evidence — the licence number, the registration, the customer relationship — while it is still easy to establish.
3. Review annually. Several of these lapse without anyone noticing.

*What wrong looks like:* The exemption was true and undocumented. It is an affirmative defence, so the burden sits with you, and it fails at precisely the moment it is needed.

## Notes

Nothing in a registration says which exemptions a business relies on. The user has to identify them and write the basis down while it is easy to establish — the exemptions are affirmative defences, so an undocumented one fails at exactly the moment it matters.