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47 C.F.R. § 11.54   EAS operation during a National Level emergency.

Title 47 - Telecommunication

Title 47: Telecommunication
PART 11—EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM (EAS)
Subpart D—Emergency Operations

§ 11.54   EAS operation during a National Level emergency.

Link to an amendment published at 70 FR 71037, Nov. 25, 2005.

(a) The EAS Operating Handbook summarizes the procedures to be followed upon receipt of a National level EAN or EAT Message.

(b) Immediately upon receipt of an EAN message, broadcast stations and cable systems and wireless cable systems must:

(1) Monitor the two EAS sources assigned in the State or Local Area plan or FCC Mapbook for any further instructions.

(2) Discontinue normal programming and follow the transmission procedures in the appropriate section of the EAS Operating Handbook. Announcements may be made in the same language as the primary language of the station.

(i) Key EAS sources (National Primary (NP), Local Primary (LP), State Primary (SP), State Relay (SR) and Participating National (PN) sources) follow the transmission procedures and make the announcements in the National Level Instructions of the EAS Operating Handbook.

(ii) Non-participating National (NN) sources follow the transmission procedures and make the sign-off announcement in the EAS Operating Handbook's National Level Instructions section for NN sources. After the sign-off announcement, NN sources are required to remove their carriers from the air and monitor for the Emergency Action Termination message. NN sources using automatic interrupt under §11.51(k)(1), must transmit the header codes, Attention Signal, sign-off announcement and EOM code after receiving the appropriate EAS header codes for a national emergency.

(3) After completing the above transmission procedures, key EAS and Participating National sources must transmit a common emergency message until receipt of the Emergency Action Termination Message. Message priorities are specified in §11.44. If LP or SR sources of a Local Area cannot provide an emergency message feed, any source in the Local Area may elect to provide a message feed. This should be done in an organized manner as designated in State and Local Area EAS Plans.

(4) The Standby Script shall be used until emergency messages are available. The text of the Standby Script is in the EAS Operating Handbook's section for Participating sources.

(5) TV broadcast stations shall display an appropriate EAS slide and then transmit all EAS announcements visually and aurally as specified in §73.1250(h) of this chapter.

(6) Cable systems and wireless cable systems shall transmit all EAS announcements visually and aurally as specified in §11.51(g) and (h).

(7) Announcements may be made in the same language as the primary language of the station.

(8) Broadcast stations may transmit their call letters and cable systems and wireless cable systems may transmit the names of the communities they serve during an EAS activation. State and Local Area identifications must be given as provided in State and Local Area EAS plans.

(9) All broadcast stations and cable systems and wireless cable systems operating and identified with a particular EAS Local Area must transmit a common national emergency message until receipt of the Emergency Action Termination.

(10) Broadcast stations, except those holding an EAS Non-participating National Authorization letter, are exempt from complying with §§73.62 and 73.1560 of this chapter (operating power maintenance) while operating under this part.

(11) National Primary (NP) sources must operate under the procedures in the National Control Point Procedures.

(12) The time of receipt of the EAN and Emergency Action Termination messages shall be entered by broadcast stations in their logs (as specified in §§73.1820 and 73.1840 of this chapter), by cable systems in their records (as specified in §76.305 of this chapter), and by subject wireless cable systems in their records (as specified in §21.304 of this chapter).

(c) Upon receipt of an Emergency Action Termination Message, broadcast stations and cable systems and wireless cable systems must follow the termination procedures in the EAS Operating Handbook.

(d) Broadcast stations and cable systems and wireless cable systems originating emergency communications under this section shall be considered to have conferred rebroadcast authority, as required by Section 325(a) of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. 325(a), to other participating broadcast stations, cable systems and wireless cable systems.

(e) During a national level EAS emergency, broadcast stations may transmit in lieu of the EAS audio feed an audio feed of the President's voice message from an alternative source, such as a broadcast network audio feed.

[59 FR 67092, Dec. 28, 1994, as amended at 63 FR 29666, June 1, 1998; 63 FR 39035, July 21, 1998; 65 FR 21658, Apr. 24, 2000; 65 FR 53614, Sept. 5, 2000; 67 FR 18511, Apr. 16, 2002]