# POL-189 — The terms must distinguish transactional from promotional messages

> Where the programme sends both transactional and promotional messages, the terms must distinguish them and describe the separate consent.

- **Rule ID:** POL-189
- **Layer:** Policy pages (`POLICY_PAGE`)
- **Checks:** `SMS terms body`
- **Severity:** HIGH — Rejected by at least one carrier or provider, and a common cause of failure at the rest.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** AI judgement over the submitted form
- **Fix type:** Fix the privacy policy or SMS terms
- **Required by:** Twilio
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/policy-page/pol-189/

## Why this rule exists

The two categories carry different consent standards, and a subscriber who agreed to order updates has not agreed to weekly offers — bundling them is the defect Twilio codes at the campaign level. A document that lumps them together makes the bundling official, which is worse for the brand than the practice alone.

## How to fix it

Describe the two categories separately in the terms and say that promotional messages need their own opt-in. Done when a reader can tell which consent covers which messages.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
Order updates are sent to every customer who places an order. Promotional offers are sent only to customers who ticked the marketing box — you can receive one without the other.
```

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Twilio (gen1) | `30913` | yes |

## Notes

Applies only where both categories are sent; the criteria pass immediately for a single-category programme, since there is nothing to distinguish.