Document every Texas exemption you rely on

The requirementstatement

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

Severityseverity: HighHIGHRejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
When it bitesphase: Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
What is checkedobject: Texas exemption evidence
Where it liveslayer: BrandBRAND
How Ekas settles itdetectability: Human checkHUMAN; Only someone holding the document or making the call can settle it. Ekas tells you exactly what to look at.
What the fix involvesfailureClass: Supply evidenceTERMINAL_EVIDENCE; Needs proof only you hold: a screenshot, a recording, a scan of the form people signed.
Who requires itauthorities: Texas SB 140
When it appliesapplicabilityText: Applies to every 10DLC registration.

Why this rule existsrationale

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 itremediation

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 yourselfattestation

No tool can settle this one for you. Here is the check, and what wrong looks like.

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

1List the exemptions in play: publicly traded, insurer, supervised financial institution, FCC-regulated, non-profit, existing customer, majority brick-and-mortar.
2For each, write down the basis and the evidence — the licence number, the registration, the customer relationship — while it is still easy to establish.
3Review 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.

Notesnotes

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.

Rules you will hit next

Other brand rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.

BRD-006Submit every name line above the address on a multi-line IRS recordHighHIGH BRD-007TCR takes only the first line of the IRS-registered nameHighHIGH BRD-010Take the legal name from the CP-575 or 147C, never a W-2 or W-9HighHIGH BRD-014An acquired business registers the details it filed taxes underHighHIGH BRD-027EIN must be old enough to have propagated to IRS recordsHighHIGH BRD-034Validate a non-US identifier against its home register before submittingHighHIGH

All brand rules

BRD-172 is one of 196 brand rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.