# POL-200 — The terms need an acceptance clause

> The terms of service must include an acceptance clause saying that using the service constitutes agreement.

- **Rule ID:** POL-200
- **Layer:** Policy pages (`POLICY_PAGE`)
- **Checks:** `terms of service body`
- **Severity:** MEDIUM — Usually survives review, but lowers your trust score or invites manual review.
- **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:** TCR
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/policy-page/pol-200/

## Why this rule exists

Without it the document is a statement of intent rather than an agreement, and nothing in it binds anybody — which matters the first time a business needs to rely on a term. It is also the clause whose absence most obviously marks a page as a stub somebody generated to fill a field.

## How to fix it

Open the document with the acceptance sentence. Done when the terms say what the reader is agreeing to and by doing what.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
By using acmecoffee.com or placing an order with us, you agree to these terms.
```

## Notes

The acceptance clause must not be used as the SMS consent mechanism — agreeing to terms is not agreeing to receive text messages, and treating it as such is a consent-surface defect rather than a drafting one.