A TCPA exemption is not a substitute for opt-in
The requirementstatement
An organisational or governmental exemption from the TCPA does not remove the requirement to obtain an opt-in.
- 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
- consent basis declaration
- Where it liveslayer
- Consent flowCONSENT_FLOW
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- AI · formAI_FORM
- A semantic question about what you wrote: whether a description matches a use case, whether a name looks like a filed entity. Judged by a model against written criteria.
- 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
- BandwidthAWS
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies to every 10DLC registration.
Why this rule existsrationale
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.
How to fix itremediation
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.
A compliant exampleexample
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.
Common mistakespitfalls
- Bandwidth is stricter here than the statute, and says so — arguing the law in a resubmission does not change the outcome.
Provider rejection codescodes
The code you get back when this rule is what failed, and whether that provider lets you resubmit.
| Provider | Code | Resubmit |
|---|---|---|
| Bandwidth | 1415 | Yes |
Notesnotes
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.
Rules you will hit next
Other consent flow rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.
CON-008The live CTA and the declared message flow must say the same thingBlockingBLOCKINGCON-010The three subscriber-management attributes must be declared trueBlockingBLOCKINGCON-013Subscriber attributes must agree with the message bodies suppliedBlockingBLOCKINGCON-023Evidence URLs must resolve without a loginBlockingBLOCKINGCON-024The opt-in URL must serve a certificate that verifiesBlockingBLOCKINGCON-027The opt-in URL must land on a page that carries the opt-inBlockingBLOCKING
CON-146 is one of 101 consent flow rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.