{
  "id": "POL-171",
  "slug": "pol-171",
  "title": "The terms must describe the programme",
  "statement": "The SMS terms must carry a description of the programme — what the messages are about.",
  "rationale": "Every other element in the terms is a parameter of a programme the reader has to already understand, so without the description the frequency, the rates and the keywords are attached to nothing. It is the single element most consistently required across providers, and the easiest to leave out because the author knows what the programme is.",
  "layer": "POLICY_PAGE",
  "layerSlug": "policy-page",
  "object": "SMS terms body",
  "severity": "BLOCKING",
  "detectability": [
    "CRAWL"
  ],
  "failureClass": "TERMINAL_POLICY",
  "artifact": "sms_terms",
  "authorities": [
    "CTIA",
    "Telnyx",
    "Sinch",
    "AWS",
    "TCR",
    "Bandwidth",
    "Aerialink"
  ],
  "codes": [
    {
      "provider": "Twilio",
      "code": "30886",
      "remediable": true,
      "generation": "gen1"
    }
  ],
  "applicabilityText": "Applies to every 10DLC registration.",
  "universal": true,
  "remediation": "Open the terms with a sentence or two naming the programme and saying what it sends and to whom. Done when a stranger reading only the first paragraph knows what they would receive.",
  "example": "Acme Coffee Rewards is a text messaging programme for Acme Coffee customers. We send promotional offers, seasonal sale notifications and rewards balance updates.",
  "notes": "The research's own validator uses a floor of roughly fifteen words for the description, which is a useful sanity check rather than a published threshold.",
  "phase": "approval",
  "automated": true,
  "url": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/policy-page/pol-171/",
  "markdown": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/policy-page/pol-171.md",
  "registry": "https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/",
  "updated": "2026-07-25",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}