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This document outlines how to use the SmartConsent functionality within Secure Document Exchange (SDX).
This feature enables you to provide consent at a user level instead of on a package-by-package basis. This means that you can choose to consent one time and have this consent apply to all future packages you receive, unless you opt out.
Under U.S. Federal and state law, in certain regulated online delivery transactions, the sending party is required to obtain consent from the recipient to send documents electronically.
When given, this consent does not explicitly or implicitly indicate the recipient’s consent to the content of the online delivery transaction, and it doesn’t commit the recipient to any particular course of action. It expresses their consent to receive and possibly to digitally sign documents delivered electronically.
This consent must be obtained within a framework of certain conditions, specified by the regulations themselves. (For instance the recipient must be aware that they have the right to request printed copies, and that they can save a local copy for their own use, and that they may contact the sender if they have questions.)
In this document, the consent event described above, within the appropriate regulatory and legal framework and conditions, will be referred to as Consent.
SmartConsent is a workflow enhancement available within SDX that allows the sending party in a regulated electronic document delivery transaction to request global or persistent consent from a recipient at the user level. When given, this consent does not explicitly or implicitly indicate the recipient agrees with the content of the online delivery transaction, and includes the ability to create an audit trail and archive of the exact words of the consent disclosure that the recipient agreed to.
The terms and conditions displayed within the Consent Disclosure are written such that the recipient agrees to receive documents electronically until specifically and deliberately opting out of doing so.
Adoption of SmartConsent is optional, and no change is required. The existing package-level consent model is still supported.
The current SDX Consent model allows an SDX client the ability to attach a consent disclosure to an individual package. The terms and conditions language in the Consent disclosure, as well as the grant of Consent if given, pertains only to the individual package it is appended to.
In this Consent model, recipients of online documents are required to click “I Consent” on multiple packages. This Consent model is still appropriate for a single-delivery use case where it’s unlikely that the recipient will get multiple packages.
We developed SmartConsent because in a high-volume disclosure use case (most notably in home lending, and the TILA/RESPA regulations going into effect in August 2015) this repetitive Consent at the package level may frustrate recipients.
Regulation requires that the terms and conditions for this type of Consent make it clear to the recipient that their Consent persists for a duration greater than an individual package. So the Consent disclosure in SmartConsent is different from the package-level Consent disclosure currently used in SDX.
The SmartConsent disclosure event is tied not to an individual package, but to the initial user registration. This allows a sender to on board a recipient into the SDX portal, including the process of gathering their Consent, very early in their interaction, before any given package needs to be sent.
Initial Consent/Decline
For a client with SmartConsent enabled, when their users next log in to SDX, they will be presented with the SmartConsent disclosure page. Prior being allowed to proceed to their SDX Inbox, users are required to either Consent or Decline to receiving electronic documents. If the user chooses to Consent, they will be presented with their SDX Inbox. If they Decline, they will be presented with the SDX login page. The only time a user would be presented with the SmartConsent Consent page again is if the user chooses to Opt Out or the client's SmartConsent Consent text is changed. In the event the consent text has been changed, the user will be asked to Consent again when they next log in.
Note: When a user Declines, SDX packages eligible to expire will still expire at the designated expiry date/time; they will not automatically expire at the time the user chooses to Decline. Users may still log in and Consent any time before the package expires.
Opt Out
At any time users may choose to opt out of Consent. When they do so, they will be presented with the SDX login page. If a user wishes to get to their SDX Inbox again, they would log in, where they will be presented with the SmartConsent Consent page and they would need to Consent.
Changing SmartConsent Text
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services provides a standard disclosure template for SmartConsent, which we think (and warrant) includes all of the relevant language required to support this consent model within the appropriate legal framework.
But we understand that many of our clients have their own requirements for terms and conditions and disclosure language, so the SmartConsent disclosure template can be modified. Should a client elect to modify that terms and conditions disclosure, we cannot warrant their proprietary language, but we have built the SmartConsent enhancement in a way that allows them to track the actual language that was on the page when the recipient clicked “I Consent”.
Should a sender elect to alter the SmartConsent disclosure text, the next time a recipient logs into SDX, that recipient is presented with the latest SmartConsent disclosure page, and be asked to provide their Consent on the new terms and conditions before proceeding to their SDX inbox or packages.
SmartConsent is available only on SDX QuickSkin, please contact your sales rep for more info.
SmartConsent can be enabled regardless of which of the four integration models the client uses (Web UI, Capture, Onsite, or Web Services)
SmartConsent, as well as the SmartConsent disclosure text, are configurable at the client level. If a client chooses to use SmartConsent, it is no longer necessary or possible to use the current package level Consent model.
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