The first question is always "is this even marketing?"
Before you check a register or worry about consent, ask one thing: is this a specified message at all? The Eighth Schedule to the PDPA lists the messages that are not specified messages - and if your send is one of them, the DNC duties simply do not apply. Getting this right saves real effort, but the exclusions are narrow and easy to over-claim, so we work them against cases, not definitions.
The Eighth-Schedule exclusions 7 min live
A specified message sits in the centre; around it are the categories of message that are carved out. If your send genuinely belongs to one of these, it is not a specified message and the DNC rules do not reach it. Here is the map, then the three you will use most.
LiveTransactional and service messages2 min▶
A message whose sole purpose is to facilitate, complete, or confirm a transaction the recipient already agreed to - or to deliver the goods or services, provide warranty/recall/safety information, or handle after-sales - is not a specified message.
- Receipts, order confirmations, delivery notices, appointment reminders for something the person actually bought or booked.
- Warranty, recall, and safety notices about a product they hold.
- Sole purpose is the test. The moment you bolt a promotion onto the receipt - "here is your receipt, and 20% off your next order" - the send is no longer sole-purpose transactional and the exclusion falls away.
LiveB2B - a message to an organisation2 min▶
A message sent to an organisation for any purpose of that receiving organisation - business to business - is excluded. The DNC rules protect individuals' numbers, not a company's line used for its own business.
- To the organisation, for its purposes. A supplier pitch to a purchasing department at a business number is B2B and out of scope.
- Watch the individual line. A number that is really an individual's personal mobile, marketed to for consumer offers, is not made B2B just because they happen to run a business.
LiveMarket research only2 min▶
A message whose sole purpose is to conduct market research or a survey is not a specified message. The catch is intent: a genuine survey is out of scope; a survey used as a wrapper for a sales pitch is not.
- Genuine research is fine. Asking customers what they think of a service, with no offer attached, is excluded.
- An incentive does not break it - but disguise does. Offering a small gift for completing a survey does not, by itself, turn it into marketing. But if the "survey" exists to steer people toward a purchase, it is marketing dressed as research, and the exclusion does not hold.
Watch it fall out of scope ★ 8 min live · the checker
The exclusions are easiest to trust when you watch them work. Set a scenario in the checker, then switch only the purpose and see the ruling flip from "specified message" to "out of scope" - the DNC duties switching off in front of you.
Live★ Build-along: test the exclusions6 min▶
Start from a plain promotional send and confirm it is in scope. Then change only the purpose - to transactional, to B2B, to ongoing relationship - and watch the ruling drop the message out of scope each time. The point is to feel how much rides on that one field.
The exclusion people over-claim is transactional: try a "receipt" scenario, then imagine bolting a promo onto it - the sole-purpose test is what the checker cannot see for you, and where real audits turn.
Self-studyThe other exclusions - emergency, personal, public agency4 min read▶
The three exclusions you will reach for least, but should still recognise:
- Emergency. A message sent to deal with a threat to life, health, or safety is not a specified message. This is narrow - a genuine emergency, not "urgent, act now" sales urgency dressed up as one.
- Personal or domestic. A message sent by an individual for their own personal or domestic purposes falls outside the DNC rules. This is the private-life carve-out, not a route for a business to reclassify its marketing as personal.
- Public agency (non-commercial). A non-commercial message from a public agency is excluded. A public body running a genuine commercial promotion does not automatically inherit this - the non-commercial character is what carries it.
For most Marina Retail sends these will not apply, but knowing they exist stops you from forcing a transactional or ongoing-relationship label onto a message that is really none of the above - in which case it is a specified message and the full DNC duties apply.
The ongoing-relationship exclusion 7 min live
This is the exclusion most worth getting right, because it is the one most often claimed wrongly. An ongoing relationship plus an on-topic message takes a send out of scope - across all channels, voice included. But both halves have to be real.
LiveWhat counts, and the correction on voice3 min▶
An ongoing relationship is a relationship on a continuing basis arising from the sender's business or activity - commercial or not. The factors are continuity, regularity, and frequency; a single one-off transaction is not enough. And the message must be on-topic to that relationship.
- What counts: a current cardholder, a policyholder, a subscriber, an active member. There is a live, continuing relationship - not a stranger and not a one-time buyer.
- On-topic is required. A rewards message to a current member about their membership is on-topic. Pivoting to an unrelated product line is not, and the exclusion drops.
- Correction - it applies to voice too. Under the current PDPA, the ongoing-relationship exclusion covers voice, text, and fax. The "text and fax only, not voice" version you may still see is the superseded pre-2019 framework - do not rely on it.
Marina Retail's rewards call. Marina wanted to call current rewards members about a members-only points event. Because these are active members (continuity, regularity, frequency) and the message is on-topic to the membership, it falls under the ongoing-relationship exclusion - and under the current Act that holds for the voice call, not just SMS. Had they called the same members to push an unrelated new insurance product, the message would no longer be on-topic and the exclusion would fall away.
Exempt or specified? ★ 10 min · the checker above
Sort six Marina Retail messages into exempt vs specified. For each one you call exempt, name which exclusion carries it - if you cannot name the exclusion, it is not exempt.
The six sends. (1) SMS receipt for an in-store purchase. (2) Voice call to current rewards members about a members points event. (3) SMS promo to a lapsed customer from two years ago. (4) Email to a supplier's purchasing team about bulk pricing. (5) A "quick survey" that ends by pushing a new product line. (6) Recall notice for a product a customer bought.
Sort them. Exempt or specified? For each exempt one, write the exclusion - transactional, B2B, market research, or ongoing relationship.
Check with the widget. Set the purpose in the checker to match each and confirm the ruling. Watch (1), (2), and (4) fall out of scope; watch (3) and (5) stay in.
The trap. Message (5) - a survey that steers toward a purchase - is marketing dressed as research; the exclusion does not hold. Message (3) - a lapsed customer - is not an ongoing relationship. Note why each fails.
Before session b6 ◐ 40 min total
- List every send your team currently treats as "not marketing" and, for each, name the Eighth-Schedule exclusion it relies on. Flag any you cannot name.
- Audit your transactional templates for bolt-on promotions - any receipt or confirmation with an offer attached has likely lost the sole-purpose exclusion.
- Map your ongoing-relationship claims: who genuinely qualifies (current members, subscribers) versus lapsed or one-off contacts, and check your messages to them stay on-topic.
- Read: the PDPA Eighth Schedule and the PDPC Advisory Guidelines on the DNC Provisions (exclusions).
Official sources covered
Taught from the PDPA text and the PDPC's own DNC guidance. This page covers the Eighth-Schedule exclusions and how they apply to real sends.
Three questions before you go 🎯 ◐ 90 seconds
1 · Under the current PDPA, the ongoing-relationship exclusion applies to...
Under the current Act the ongoing-relationship exclusion covers all channels, voice included. The "text/fax only, not voice" version is the superseded pre-2019 framework - do not rely on it.
2 · A message to an organisation for a purpose of that receiving organisation is...
The B2B exclusion covers a message sent to an organisation for any purpose of the receiving organisation. It is not a specified message, so the DNC duties do not apply.
3 · Marina sends a "customer survey" whose real aim is to steer people toward buying a new product. It is...
A genuine survey is exempt, and a gift for completing one does not by itself make it marketing - but a survey used to disguise a sales pitch is a specified message. Sole purpose is the test.