🇭🇰 SMS Destination Guide for Hong Kong

Compliance in Hong Kong

• Opt-in: Prior consent from the recipient is not required for commercial electronic messages, but senders must comply with the Unsolicited Electronic Message Ordinance, including providing accurate sender information, free unsubscribe facilities, honouring unsubscribe requests, cleansing distribution lists against the do-not-call registers, and avoiding misleading subjects and hidden calling line identification.
• Opt-out: An opt-out option must be provided to the recipient, and unsubscribe requests must be honoured.
• Restricted content: Adult content · Gambling · Spam
• Registration: The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) mandates that banking alphanumeric sender IDs must be registered, and other sectors are encouraged to register their sender IDs. The registration application form and contact details are available on the OFCA webpage at https://www.ofca.gov.hk/en/industry_focus/industry_focus/ssrs/index.html. A Letter of Authorization from the brand owner is required before sending with a registered sender ID. The registration requirement applies to alphanumeric sender IDs only, and 2-way long numbers do not need to be registered.
• A Do Not Contact (DNC) registry for emails and SMS has been enforced since 2008, and brands must check this database to ensure they do not send to any listed numbers unless they have received explicit consent.
• Recipients can stop receiving commercial electronic messages by using the sender's unsubscribe facility or by registering their telephone number on the relevant do-not-call register.
• Regulator guidelines on consent and opt-out are published at https://www.ofca.gov.hk/filemanager/ofca/en/content_761/tucac_paper2013-05.pdf and https://www.coms-auth.hk/filemanager/statement/en/upload/238/cop20131129.pdf.

These rules are what we generally check against, however they may not be up-to-date. We'll always keep you informed of what is needed for each destination throughout any registration process.