G/TBT/N/USA/2087  
15 January 2024  
(24-0303) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:   
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [2121]  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicate d if different from above:   
Please submit comments to: USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point, Email: usatbtep@nist.gov  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  ], 2.10.1 [  ], 5.6.2 [  ], 5.7.1 [  ], 3.2 [  ], 7.2 [  ], 
other  [X]: Through the requirements the Commission adopts in the Third Report and 
Order, the Commission intends to help the millions of people with access and functional 
needs, including people who primarily speak a language other than En glish or Spanish 
and those with disabilities, better understand and take protective actions in response to 
Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system messages; improve people's ability to 
understand and quickly take protective actions in response to WEAs that t hey receive; 
and provide alerting authorities with the information they need to plan for resilient 
communications during disasters and use WEA with confidence and foreknowledge.  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Wireless 
emergency alerts; Domestic safety (ICS code(s): 13.120); Alarm and warning systems 
(ICS code(s): 13.320)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Emerg ency Alert 
System; Wireless Emergency Alerts; (14 page(s), in English), (75 page(s), in English)  
6. Description of content:  Final rule - In this document, the Federal Communications 
Commission (Commission) adopts rules for commercial mobile service provid ers that have 
elected to participate in the Wireless Emergency Alert system (WEA) (Participating CMS 
Providers) to support WEA messages in the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the 
U.S. as well as English and American Sign Language. Participating CMS Pr oviders are to 
support this expanded multilingual alerting by enabling mobile devices to display message 
templates that will be pre -installed and stored on the mobile device. The Commission also 
directs its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to see k comment on various 
implementation details of the multilingual alerting requirements and future expansion to 
additional languages. In addition, to help personalize emergency alerts, the Commission 
requires participating wireless providers to support the i nclusion of maps in WEA 
messages that show the alert recipient's location relative to the geographic area where 
the emergency is occurring, and establishes a Commission -hosted database to provide 
the public with easy -to-access information on WEA availabili ty. Wireless providers will be 
required to supply information on whether they participate in WEA and, if so, the extent 
of WEA availability in their service area and on the mobile devices that they sell. Last, to G/TBT/N/USA/2087  
 
- 2 - 
 
  support more effective WEA performance and public awareness, the amended rules 
enable alerting authorities to send two local WEA tests per year that the public receives 
by default, provided that the alerting authority takes steps to ensure that the public is 
aware that the test is, in fact, only a test. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Protection of human health or safety  
8. Relevant documents:   
89 Federal Register (FR) 86824, 15 December 2024; Title 47 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) Part 10 : 
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2023-12-15/html/2023 -27236.htm  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2023-12-15/pdf/2023 -27236.pdf  
The full text of this document is available by downloading the text from the Commission's 
website at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC -23-88A1.pdf  
This final rule is identified by PS Docket Nos. 15 -94, 15 -91; FCC 23 -88. The Docket 
Folders are available on the FCC's website at  
https://www.fcc.gov/edocs/search -results?t=quick&dockets=15 -94 
https://www.fcc.g ov/edocs/search -results?t=quick&dockets=15 -91 
Comments and other official records accessible via the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing 
System (ECFS): https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/search -
filings/results?q=(proceedings.name:(%2215 -94%22))  
USA/122 7 and subsequent addenda and corrigendum  - Wireless Emergency Alerts; 
Emergency Alert System  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  15 December 2023  
Proposed date of entry into force:  15 December 2026  
10. Final date for comments:  Not Applicable  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2024/TBT/USA/24_00468_00_e.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2024/TBT/USA/24_00468_01_e.pdf