{"id":101413,"date":"2026-05-19T09:17:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/?post_type=faq&p=101413"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:57:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T10:57:46","slug":"summary-sms-regulation-by-country","status":"publish","type":"faq","link":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/faqs\/summary-sms-regulation-by-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Summary: SMS Regulation by Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Global Regulatory Guide for SMS Messaging<\/h2>\n

Sender ID registration requirements, local restrictions and criticality levels matrix.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Country \/ Region<\/th>\nAllowed Sender Type<\/th>\nPrior Registration<\/th>\nKey Restrictions and Local Notes<\/strong><\/th>\nCriticality<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
United States and Canada<\/strong><\/td>\nNumeric only (10DLC \/ Toll-Free \/ Short Code)<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nAlphanumeric sender IDs are prohibited. Brand registration in the 10DLC ecosystem or Toll-Free number verification is required. Strict filtering of public shortened URLs.<\/span><\/td>\nCritical<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spain<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nCNMC regulation. Mandatory registration of alphanumeric aliases, proving a legitimate link with the brand. Strict prohibition of generic terms.<\/span><\/td>\nHigh<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
France<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nGeneric senders are prohibited. Strict curfew for marketing SMS: prohibited from 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., on Sundays and public holidays.<\/span><\/td>\nHigh<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Finland<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nStrict registration with the Traficom authority to mitigate impersonation scams involving banks or government bodies.<\/span><\/td>\nHigh<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
United Kingdom<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nRecommended<\/span><\/td>\nStrong automatic operator filters against generic senders and suspicious links. A clear branded sender is required.<\/span><\/td>\nMedium<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Germany<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nNo<\/td>\nOpen market, but with very strict anti-spam control at text-content level by network operators.<\/span><\/td>\nLow<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brazil<\/strong><\/td>\nNumeric and alphanumeric<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nRequires a local legal entity or representation to register the Sender ID. Unregulated gambling or cryptocurrency content is prohibited.<\/span><\/td>\nHigh<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mexico<\/strong><\/td>\nNumeric. Some operators replace senders with short codes<\/span><\/td>\nNo<\/td>\nLocal operators often replace international or alphanumeric senders with random local numeric codes to prevent spam.<\/span><\/td>\nMedium<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Colombia<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nOptional<\/span><\/td>\nTime restriction for commercial SMS: only allowed from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Fraud keyword filtering applies.<\/span><\/td>\nMedium<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
India<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric, exactly 6 characters<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nExtremely strict DLT system. Requires registration of the company, headers and each exact text template. Users registered on the national DND \u2014 Do Not Disturb \u2014 list are blocked.<\/span><\/td>\nCritical<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Saudi Arabia and UAE<\/strong><\/td>\nApproved alphanumeric<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nZero tolerance for spam. Requires signed Letters of Authorisation (LOA), local business documents and manual approval from each network operator.<\/span><\/td>\nCritical<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
China<\/strong><\/td>\nApproved local numeric sender<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nDirect international traffic is prohibited unless routed through an approved government and local operator gateway. A fixed text \u201csignature\u201d must be added at the end of the message.<\/span><\/td>\nCritical<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Singapore<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric (SSIR Registry)<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nRegistration in the IMDA Full Registry is mandatory. Any message from an unregistered sender is automatically marked as \u201cLikely-SCAM\u201d.<\/span><\/td>\nCritical<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Australia<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nMandatory<\/td>\nACMA regulation. Mandatory registration of alphanumeric Sender IDs to prove legitimate brand ownership and prevent impersonation.<\/span><\/td>\nHigh<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South Africa<\/strong><\/td>\nAlphanumeric and numeric<\/span><\/td>\nNo<\/td>\nRegulated by the WASPA code of conduct. Strict prohibition on sending commercial messages at night or during weekends without prior explicit consent.<\/span><\/td>\nMedium<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"plain-container","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"class_list":["post-101413","faq","type-faq","status-publish","hentry","category-sms-requirements-and-regulation-by-country"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq\/101413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/faq"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq\/101413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101415,"href":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/faq\/101413\/revisions\/101415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viafirma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}