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47 C.F.R. § 11.55   EAS operation during a State or Local Area emergency.

Title 47 - Telecommunication

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

§ 11.55   EAS operation during a State or Local Area emergency.

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

(a) The EAS may be activated at the State and Local Area levels by broadcast stations, cable systems and wireless cable systems at their discretion for day-to-day emergency situations posing a threat to life and property. Examples of natural emergencies which may warrant activation are: tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, heavy snows, icing conditions, widespread fires, etc. Man-made emergencies may include: toxic gas leaks or liquid spills, widespread power failures, industrial explosions, and civil disorders.

(b) EAS operations must be conducted as specified in State and Local Area EAS Plans. The plans must list all authorized entities participating in the State or Local Area EAS.

(c) Immediately upon receipt of a State or Local Area EAS message, broadcast stations, cable systems and wireless cable systems participating in the State or Local Area EAS must do the following:

(1) State Relay (SR) sources monitor the State Relay Network or follow the State EAS plan for instructions from the State Primary (SP) source.

(2) Local Primary (LP) sources monitor the Local Area SR sources or follow the State EAS plan for instructions.

(3) Participating National (PN) and Non-participating National (NN) sources monitor the Local Area LP sources for instructions.

(4) Broadcast stations, cable systems and wireless cable systems participating in the State or Local Area EAS must discontinue normal programming and follow the procedures in the State and Local Area plans. Television stations must comply with §11.54(b)(5) and cable systems and wireless cable systems must comply with §11.54(b)(6). Broadcast stations providing foreign language programming shall comply with §11.54(b)(7).

(5) Upon completion of the State or Local Area EAS transmission procedures, resume normal programming until receipt of the cue from the SR or LP sources in your Local Area. At that time begin transmitting the common emergency message received from the above sources.

(6) Resume normal operations upon conclusion of the message.

(7) The times of the above EAS actions must be entered in the broadcast station, cable system or wireless cable system records as specified in §11.54(b)(12).

(8) Use of the EAS codes or Attention Signal automatically grants rebroadcast authority as specified in §11.54(d).

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