3.1 Ensure your sender IDs meet the valid use case rules

3.1 Ensure your sender IDs meet the valid use case rules

You can only register sender IDs which meet the criteria in 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 below. This means that you may not be able to use some or all your current sender IDs after 1 July 2026, when any unregistered sender IDs will be replaced with the word ‘Unverified’. 

Review your sender IDs to ensure they meet the criteria below before asking your telco to register them on your behalf.

3.1.1 Validation rules

Sender ID’s must:

• be 2 to 11 characters long
• include only characters 32–126 from the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) decimal codes. ASCII can be accessed free of charge at ascii-code.com
• not solely consist of ‘restricted’ words published on the ACMA’s website
• not consist only of numbers
• not contain a space or underscore at the beginning or end
• not contain the word ‘Unverified’
• not be offensive, deceptive, or misleading
• have a valid use case (e.g., it must match your registered business name, company name, trademark, or domain name – see next section for more information)

Please note: sender IDs are case-insensitive (e.g., 'ACMA' is the same as 'acma'). 

3.1.2 Valid use case

To be registered, a sender ID must be clearly linked to your organisation. This helps consumers recognise who the message is from and reduces the risk of confusion or impersonation. 

As an organisation with an Australian Business Number (ABN), your sender ID must match your organisation’s:

• registered business name in the Business Names Register, and the status of the business name must be “registered”
• company name in the Australian Business Register, and the status of the related ABN relating to the entity must be “active”
• trademark included in the Register of Trade Marks or an equivalent international register of trademarks, and the status of the trademark must be “registered”, or
• domain name for which your organisation is the “registrant” in the whois.auda.org.au database, and either:
  • the registered domain name is used for a legitimate website that can be accessed via the internet, or
  • the registered domain name is used for an active email account. 

You can register a sender ID that:

• is the same as your organisation’s name, or a shortened version (e.g., ’Australian Taxation Office‘→ ’ATO’)
• is an acronym, contraction, abbreviation or initialism of your name (e.g., ‘Australian Communications and Media Authority‘→ ’ACMA’)
• includes extra words that relate to your organisation’s function, location, or the purpose of the message (e.g., ‘ACMA Alerts’). 

If it doesn’t meet these criteria, the ACMA will not accept an application to register the sender ID.

There is an exception to the valid use case if:

• you are a government agency
• the sender ID relates to an emergency, or a matter of public health, safety or security, and
• you have provided satisfactory evidence to the telco of the reason why you want to use the non-matching sender ID.

ABN (Australian Business Number) 

Has the meaning given by section 41 of the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999.

ABN entity

An entity with an Australian Business Number (ABN) as listed on the Australian Business Register (ABR).

ABR (Australian Business Register) 

The register established under section 24 of the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999.

ACMA Assist

ACMA Assist is the online portal for the ACMA.

Customer

An entity that has a contractual arrangement with their telco relating to the sending of sender ID messages.

Entity

One of the following who uses or proposes to use sender ID messages:

1. an individual
2. a body corporate
3. a corporation sole
4. a body politic
5. a government entity (within the meaning of the A New Tax System (Australian Business Number) Act 1999)
6. a partnership
7. any other unincorporated association or body of persons
8. a trust
9. a superannuation fund (within the meaning of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993).

Entity associate 

An entity that is authorised to send messages using a sender ID that belongs to another entity (the sender ID owner). For example, you are an entity associate if you are:

• a research company that has been engaged by a bank to send messages for the bank, using its sender ID
• a sports club that is authorised to send messages, using a sender ID that is owned by a sports league
• an advertising or marketing agency engaged by a business to run advertising and promotional campaigns, using a sender ID owned by that business. 

If you are an entity associate for another entity, the application process consists of 2 parts.

The telco that you contact to apply must:

• submit an application for you to participate in the register
• submit an application to register the sender ID which belongs to the sender ID owner. This includes confirmation that the sender ID owner agrees to register the sender ID and gives you permission to use that sender ID.  

See Appendix A for more information.

Telecommunications provider (telco)

Any of the following:

• a carrier
• a carriage service provider
• an electronic messaging service provider.

This means any telco or message provider that sends SMS or MMS messages for you.