The one habit that keeps you compliant
The Do Not Call rules look intimidating from the outside and turn out to be one disciplined habit on the inside: scope the message, then either hold consent or hold a fresh register check. Get that reflex right and the rest is detail. This session builds the reflex with a checker you can drive yourself, so the decision logic lives in your hands, not in a PDF you will not reread.
Three registers, one duty 7 min live
A Singapore number (8 digits starting 3, 6, 8, or 9) can be added to any of three registers. Before you send a marketing message on a channel, you must confirm the number is not on that channel's register - unless you have consent. This flow is the whole session.
LiveThe three registers + what a "specified message" is3 min▶
The registry has three registers: No Voice Call, No Text Message, No Fax Message. An individual can opt into any or all. When you submit numbers to check, they are checked against all three at once.
- A "specified message" is the kind DNC governs: its purpose is to advertise, promote, or offer goods, services, land, or a business/investment opportunity (or to promote the supplier). In plain terms - marketing.
- Not everything is a specified message. Transactional and service messages (a receipt, a delivery notice, a recall), messages to another organisation for its business (B2B), emergencies, market research, and messages within an ongoing relationship are all excluded. Session b5 works through these; for now, know that "is this even a specified message?" is always the first question.
- Singapore numbers only: the DNC duty applies to Singapore telephone numbers - 8 digits beginning 3, 6, 8, or 9.
LiveThe 21-day rule - the detail that trips people3 min▶
Before sending, you must hold a confirmation that the number is not listed - and that confirmation is only valid for 21 days. Check on the 2nd, and it is good through the 23rd; after that you must re-check before sending again.
- Watch the stale figure. Some older PDPC material still says "30 days". That was the rule before 1 February 2021. The current period is 21 days - teach and use 21.
- Consent is the alternative, not an add-on. If you have clear, specific consent to market to that number, you do not need the register check at all - and consent lets you message even a listed number.
- Buying a "DNC-cleaned" list does not transfer the duty. If you send, cause to send, or authorise sending, the obligation to hold a valid check is yours.
Marina Retail's near-miss. Marina's team pulled a list they had checked six weeks earlier for a "quick reminder blast". Six weeks is well past 21 days - the check had lapsed, and several numbers had been added to the register in between. Re-checking first turned a potential breach into a routine send. The habit is not "check once" - it is "check within 21 days, every time".
Rule any scenario 8 min live
The decision logic is small enough to hold in your head, and the checker below proves it. Set the message purpose, channel, consent state, and register check, and it rules the scenario compliant or not - and names the provision. Start with the presets, then build your own campaign scenario.
Live★ Build-along: screen a campaign6 min▶
Click the presets in order. Watch "delivery receipt" come back out of scope (not a marketing message at all), "cold call, no check" fail on s.43, and "promo to a listed number, no consent" fail because the number is listed and you have no consent. Then change the dropdowns to match a real Marina Retail send and see the ruling.
The two rulings people find surprising: a rewards offer to a current cardholder by voice call is out of scope (the ongoing-relationship exclusion applies to voice too, under the current Act), and a checked-clear SMS with no sender ID still fails - on s.44, not s.43. Passing the register check is necessary, not sufficient.
Self-studyHow the check actually happens (dnc.gov.sg)4 min read▶
Operationally, the register check runs through the PDPC's DNC Registry portal at dnc.gov.sg. The flow an organisation follows:
Set up an organisation account on the DNC Registry portal (and optional sub-accounts for teams or campaigns).
Submit the Singapore numbers you intend to market to. The registry returns which are listed on which register.
Record the date and result. Your "not listed" confirmation is valid for 21 days - note the expiry against the campaign.
Send only to the numbers that came back clear (or to which you hold consent), within the 21-day window.
On consent withdrawal, you must stop marketing to that number and re-check the register before any further sends - the prescribed period to give effect to a withdrawal is also 21 days.
Break your own campaign ★ 10 min · the checker above
The fastest way to trust the rule is to find where a real send would fail it. Use the checker on your own scenarios.
Your real send. Set the checker to match a marketing message you actually send - channel, whether you have consent, whether you check the register. Note the ruling.
Find the s.44 trap. Take a compliant scenario and switch sender ID to "missing". Watch a lawful-basis-fine send fail anyway. When did you last audit that your sender ID is present and accurate?
Test an exclusion. Switch purpose to "ongoing relationship" or "transactional" and see it fall out of scope. Which of your sends are genuinely exempt, and which just feel like they should be?
Reflect. In one line: what is the single change that would move your riskiest real send from "not compliant" to "compliant"? That is this week's action.
Before session b2 ◐ 40 min total
- Run the checker on your three most common marketing sends and record the ruling + provision for each.
- Find out how your organisation checks the DNC register today - is there an account, who runs it, and is the 21-day window tracked?
- Pull one recent campaign and ask: could we prove, if the PDPC asked, that every number was either consented or checked-clear within 21 days?
- Read: the PDPC Advisory Guidelines on the Do Not Call Provisions, Parts I-III.
Official sources covered
Taught from the PDPC's own DNC guidance. This page covers ~80% of its working content on the check duty - deeper mechanics land in later sessions.
Three questions before you go 🎯 ◐ 90 seconds
1 · A "not listed" confirmation from the DNC Registry is valid for...
The current validity is 21 days. The "30 days" you may still see in older PDPC material is the pre-2021 rule - stale. Re-check within 21 days before every send.
2 · You have clear, specific consent to market to a number that IS on the register. You may...
Consent is an alternative lawful basis to the register check, and it overrides listing. That is why the checker treats "consent on file" as a pass even when the number is listed.
3 · Your number came back clear on the register, but the SMS has no sender identity. The send is...
Passing the register check is necessary but not sufficient. Every specified message must identify the sender and how to contact them (s.44) - a separate duty from the check.