Enacted by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in March 2023, the “Digital Code” establishes a legal regulatory framework for direct-sales marketing A2P SMS, specifying mandatory obligations including consent prerequisites, unsubscribe mechanisms, and sender identification. It provides overarching legal constraints for local bulk SMS services.
Article 68 of the Code prohibits direct commercial solicitation via SMS without the prior explicit consent of the recipient. Silence or non-response from the user does not constitute consent, and the sender bears the burden of proving that user consent has been obtained. The provision provides for limited exceptions: where contact details are lawfully obtained during a transaction, messages promoting only similar products or services and accompanied by an unsubscribe channel may be sent to natural persons without prior consent; more lenient rules apply to non-personalized contact details of legal entities.
Article 72 sets out mandatory requirements: direct-sales SMS must include a valid free-of-charge unsubscribe channel and genuine contact information; it is strictly prohibited to forge or conceal the sender’s identity, or to tamper with the message origin routing. After a user submits an unsubscribe request, the service provider must promptly send a confirmation receipt and cease sending messages. The data protection authority is responsible for overseeing relevant practices and handling complaints. Transactional SMS such as OTPs and transaction alerts do not fall under the category of commercial direct sales and are not subject to the consent rules for marketing SMS. Entities conducting cross-border marketing SMS services targeting the DRC must strictly comply with the requirements of the Code, or corresponding administrative penalty procedures will be triggered.
