Short-code assignment needs a successful vetting status

The requirementstatement

A successful vetting status on the brand and the content provider is required to be assigned a short code or to extend a lease.

Severityseverity: BlockingBLOCKINGBreaking this rule gets the submission rejected. There is no partial credit.
When it bitesphase: Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
What is checkedobject: the vetting status
Where it liveslayer: BrandBRAND
How Ekas settles itdetectability: External recordEXTERNAL_DATA; The fact that settles it lives in a register we cannot query, such as the IRS file, a postal database, or another provider’s tenant. Reported as a warning with the evidence to check, not as a pass.
What the fix involvesfailureClass: Wait on someone elseTERMINAL_EXTERNAL; Needs an external system or a waiting period, such as IRS propagation, a vetting result, or a carrier queue.
Who requires itauthorities: CTIAInfobip
When it appliesapplicabilityText: Applies to every 10DLC registration.
In forceeffectiveFrom / effectiveTo: From 2025-03-31

Why this rule existsrationale

Short codes are leased on a longer cycle than 10DLC brands are vetted, so a lease renewal can arrive when the vet has lapsed — and the renewal is refused for a reason that has nothing to do with the code or the programme running on it. Losing a short code is disproportionately expensive, because the number is printed on things.

How to fix itremediation

Check the vetting status well before a lease renewal date and re-vet if it has lapsed. Done when a current successful vet is in place on both the brand and the content provider ahead of the renewal.

Check this yourselfattestation

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

Is a current successful vet in place on both the brand and the content provider, ahead of the short-code lease renewal date?

1Put the lease renewal date and the vet date side by side. Nothing connects the two automatically, and the renewal window is short.
2Re-vet before the renewal if the vet has lapsed.

What wrong looks like: The renewal is refused for a reason that has nothing to do with the code or the programme on it — and the number is printed on packaging, vehicles and signage.

Notesnotes

A short-code path requirement, recorded here because the vet is a brand-level artefact. What the user has to do is track the lease date against the vet date themselves — nothing connects the two, and the renewal window is short.

Rules you will hit next

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

BRD-001A legal company name is required for every entity but a sole proprietorBlockingBLOCKING BRD-002Legal name must match the IRS record for the EINBlockingBLOCKING BRD-003Legal name must carry its exact entity suffix as filedBlockingBLOCKING BRD-008Legal name must not carry an appended personal name or roleBlockingBLOCKING BRD-009The legal name field takes the legal name, not the trading nameBlockingBLOCKING BRD-011A legal business name may back only one brand across the whole registryBlockingBLOCKING

All brand rules

BRD-237 is one of 196 brand rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.