Durable Medium Assessment

How does your current document-delivery process stack up?

Choose one important customer communication and work through 10 practical questions based on the FCA's Durable Medium characteristics.

10 questions About 2 minutes No compliance verdict

This is a practical implementation review, not legal advice. It identifies areas worth checking against the rules that apply to your own communication.

01 Have you identified the rule that applies to this communication?

You know which FCA or other requirement governs the information, whether it must be provided in a Durable Medium, and whether any alternative website or paper conditions apply.

02 Is the information provided personally to the individual customer?

The process delivers customer-specific information to the intended recipient rather than merely publishing general information for them to find.

03 Can the customer reliably return to the information later?

The customer can retain or revisit what was supplied for a period appropriate to the purpose of the information.

04 Can the exact information originally supplied be reproduced unchanged?

If underlying information changes later, the customer can still retrieve the version they were originally given.

05 Are settled documents protected from silent alteration or deletion?

Corrections or replacements create a new record rather than silently changing or removing the customer's original settled copy.

06 Have you defined what happens when the customer relationship ends?

You have determined whether the customer still needs access after account closure and, if so, how that access continues.

07 Will historic access survive a portal replacement or system migration?

The process preserves historic documents, original versions and customer access when technology is changed, replaced or retired.

08 Can the customer recover access when they need the document later?

Password recovery, identity checks or other retrieval routes remain workable for as long as the information is meant to remain accessible.

09 Have you checked any paper, choice, consent or notification requirements?

You know whether paper must remain available, whether the customer must be informed of that right, and whether any channel choice or consent condition applies.

10 Can you evidence what was provided, to whom and when?

You can reconstruct the recipient, document or version, delivery time and delivery method if the process is later reviewed.

When all 10 are answered

See the areas worth reviewing

The result will identify questions to investigate. It will not label your process compliant or non-compliant.

What the questions are based on

The FCA's Durable Medium characteristics

The core definition focuses on information addressed personally to the recipient, accessible for future reference for an adequate period, and capable of unchanged reproduction.