{
  "id": "CON-146",
  "slug": "con-146",
  "title": "A TCPA exemption is not a substitute for opt-in",
  "statement": "An organisational or governmental exemption from the TCPA does not remove the requirement to obtain an opt-in.",
  "rationale": "Being exempt from a federal statute says nothing about the carriers' own code of conduct, and it is the carriers who decide whether traffic is delivered. Non-profits and public bodies reach this conclusion honestly — their lawyer is right that the TCPA does not reach them — and are then surprised by a rejection that is not about the law at all.",
  "layer": "CONSENT_FLOW",
  "layerSlug": "consent-flow",
  "object": "consent basis declaration",
  "severity": "BLOCKING",
  "detectability": [
    "AI_FORM"
  ],
  "failureClass": "TERMINAL_EVIDENCE",
  "authorities": [
    "Bandwidth",
    "AWS"
  ],
  "codes": [
    {
      "provider": "Bandwidth",
      "code": "1415",
      "remediable": true
    }
  ],
  "applicabilityText": "Applies to every 10DLC registration.",
  "universal": true,
  "remediation": "Describe and evidence a real opt-in as well as the exemption. The exemption is worth keeping in the submission — it explains your legal position — but it must sit alongside a collection surface, not in place of one. Done when the flow names an act of consent, whatever else it also says.",
  "example": "Riverside Shelter is a 501(c)(3) and relies on the non-profit exemption for TCPA purposes. Supporters additionally opt in at riversideshelter.org/alerts by ticking an unchecked box; screenshot attached.",
  "pitfalls": [
    "Bandwidth is stricter here than the statute, and says so — arguing the law in a resubmission does not change the outcome."
  ],
  "notes": "Flagged in the research as stricter than the law: the exemption is genuine and the carrier requirement is separate. Say that plainly to a user who pushes back, rather than implying their legal analysis is wrong.",
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": true,
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/consent-flow/con-146/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/consent-flow/con-146.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}