# BRD-177 — A duplicate on any identity field blocks the submission

> A brand submission is blocked where it matches an existing brand on legal name, registration number, mobile number, representative phone, email, website or stock symbol.

- **Rule ID:** BRD-177
- **Layer:** Brand (`BRAND`)
- **Checks:** `the seven-field duplicate key`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** External record we cannot query — reported as a warning to verify
- **Fix type:** Wait on an external system or a required interval
- **Required by:** Twilio, TCR
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/brand/brd-177/

## Why this rule exists

Duplicate detection runs across seven fields at once and reports the first collision it finds, so a registration can be refused for a field nobody thought was an identifier — a shared support email, a website reused across locations. It fires before the per-field rules, which is why the message is generic and the cause is usually not the field the team was looking at.

## How to fix it

Before resubmitting, check all seven fields against any other brand your organisation has registered: legal name, registration number, mobile number, representative phone, contact email, website and stock symbol. Change the one that genuinely belongs to the other brand rather than varying a value to get past the check.

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Twilio | `30703` | yes |

## Check this yourself

**Have you checked all seven duplicate-key fields against every other brand your organisation has registered?**

1. Enumerate your own brands first — a collision with your own earlier registration is far more likely than one with a stranger.
2. Compare each of the seven: legal name, registration number, mobile number, representative phone, contact email, website, stock symbol.
3. Change the value that genuinely belongs to the other brand. Do not vary a value to get past the check.

*What wrong looks like:* The refusal is generic and fires before the per-field rules, so it names no field. The cause is usually a shared support mailbox or a website reused across locations — something nobody thought was an identifier.

## Notes

The consolidated duplicate key; the per-field rules (BRD-011, BRD-050, BRD-107, BRD-135) remain separate because each has its own limit semantics — some allow reuse up to a count, this one allows none. The collision is against the whole registry. What the user has to do is enumerate their own brands first, since a collision with their own earlier registration is far more likely than one with a stranger.