Consent and Content Templates Registration

Consent Template a Standard message that is sent to end users of the enterprise for their consent to receive communications from respective enterprise.

Introduction

As per the provisions of TRAI’s TCCCPR 2018, all Principal Entities are required to declare and register the consents of their customers on the DLT portal of Telecom Service Provider (TSP).

“Consent” means any voluntary permission given by the customer to the sender to receive commercial communication related to a specific purpose, product, or service. Consent may be explicit or inferred.

“Explicit consent” means such consent as has been verified directly from the Recipient in a robust and verifiable manner and recorded by Consent Registrar as defined under these regulations.

“Inferred Consent” means any permission that can be reasonably inferred from the customer’s conduct or the Relationship between the Recipient and the Sender

Any commercial communication with inferred service/transactional content does not require consent, hence, no consent template required for such messages Consent Template is required only to obtain customer consent for sending messages that have otherwise been blocked by the customer by way of his/her DND Preference

Example of consent template: “By sending a text to this code I agree to receive automated marketing text messages from (company) to the mobile number I have provided. I understand that I m not required to provide my consent as a condition of purchasing any goods or services. Reply HELP for help. Reply STOP to cancel. Message and data rates may apply”

Does the Consent template apply to all messages? Do I need to get consent from my customers to send OTPs as well?

Consent template applies only to Service Explicit messages. This does not apply to Transactional or Service Implicit messages.

The consent template is a message that is sent to them asking them “consent” to send the messages regarding your service, much like an “opt-in” message. In case they are not interested, they will choose not to respond or respond with “no” post which you would not be able to add to your database for communication, and neither would you be allowed to send further messages to them for explicit content.

This would not apply to Transactional or Service Implicit, since these messages are sent to customers who have already registered for a service that you are providing, thereby giving you “consent” to send them transactional and update relates messages.

Difference between Consent and Content Templates

Title	Consent Template	Content Template
Definition	It is for receiving the customer's permission before sending promotional SMS	It is the message text that has to be submitted on the DLT platform
Routes	It is for Promotional and Service Explicit SMS routes	It is for every SMS sending route - Transactional, Service Implicit, Service Explicit, Promotional
Actual message text	Consent Template should not contain actual message text. It is just to take permission from customers	Content Template contains the actual text that will be delivered to the customer
Example Text	We would like to send messages regarding marketing offers from our website.	Dear user, {#var#} is OTP for your Login.
Mandatory	Consent Template is mandatory for Promotional and Service Explicit SMS routes	Content Template is mandatory for any SMS sending type.

List of dos and don'ts

Do’s for Consent Template	Don’ts for Consent Template
Choose a short name for a template that is relevant. This helps in choosing right	Not to use generic names for templates like “template1; etc..”.
consent template while creating content templates in promotional or service explicit categories.	Not to mention invalid or irrelevant names under the brand. This will be treated as an invalid template.
Brand name should be relevant to details mentioned in the scope of content	Not to enter actual message sent to the customer, no shot message like “consent; sms to customers; etc…”
Scope of content should be relevant to mentioned brand & intent of the consent to be mentioned.	No variable to be used in the scope of consent, as variable applicable to content templates only.
If an entity wants to provide opt-out information, that needs to be provided completely.	Multiple consents not required by an entity unless it is required by an enterprise, like example mentioned explaining brand name field.
Ex: “To opt-out, send SMS as STOP to 1234567890”	-

The consent template registration request can be rejected by the approver due to the following Reasons

1) The Consent template already exists

2) The format of the consent template is invalid

3) The template is too long

4) The Consent template includes objectionable word(s)

5) There are too many variables in the template

6) The content is misleading

7) The Content matches with another Entity’s template

8) Against SEBI policy

9) Look-alike with government programs/initiatives etc

Need More Help?

If you need any further Help During the DLT Content and consent Registration Process, you can reach out to our support team at [e-mail]