# POL-109 — A cart-reminder programme must say how abandonment is detected

> Where the programme sends shopping-cart reminders, the policy must state explicitly how cart abandonment is detected.

- **Rule ID:** POL-109
- **Layer:** Policy pages (`POLICY_PAGE`)
- **Checks:** `privacy policy body`
- **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:** AI judgement over the crawled website or policy page
- **Fix type:** Fix the privacy policy or SMS terms
- **Required by:** T-Mobile, CTIA, TCR
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/policy-page/pol-109/

## Why this rule exists

T-Mobile asks for this in almost these words, because a cart reminder is triggered by watching what someone did rather than by anything they asked for — so the policy has to say that cookies, a plugin or an account session are doing the watching. A retailer who switched an abandoned-cart flow on inside a platform has usually never seen the mechanism, let alone described it.

## How to fix it

Add a sentence naming the mechanism — website cookies, a store plugin, a logged-in session — and what triggers the message. Done when the policy explains how the business knows a cart was left.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
If you add items to your basket on acmecoffee.com and leave without checking out, a cookie on your browser lets us link that basket to your number so we can text you a reminder.
```

## Common mistakes

- The T&C has to reflect the cart programme as well (POL-110), and the opt-in disclosure has to name it (WEB-068). Fixing only the policy leaves two of the three.

## Notes

Conditional on cart-reminder traffic, which no applicability dimension expresses — there is no cart-reminder attribute. The criteria pass immediately when nothing indicates the programme sends them. Severity divergence: T-Mobile and TCR grade it BLOCKING, CTIA SCMH Sev-2 MEDIUM. Strictest kept.