Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 159 / Friday, August 20, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 46783 

Dated: August 12, 2021 

A.M. Beach, 

Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the 

Port Sector Ohio Valley. 

[FR Doc. 2021–17892 Filed 8–19–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 10 and 11 

[PS Docket Nos. 15–94 and 15–91; FCC 21– 

77; FR ID 37637] 

Emergency Alert System, Wireless 

Emergency Alerts; National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal 

Communication Commission (the FCC 

or Commission), implements section 

9201 of the National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, 

improving the way the public receives 

emergency alerts from the nation’s 

Emergency Alert System (EAS) and 

Wireless Emergency Alerts System 

(WEA) on their mobile phones, 

televisions, and radios. The Commission 

adopts rules to ensure that more people 

receive relevant emergency alerts, to 

enable EAS and WEA participants to 

report false alerts when they occur, and 

to improve the way states plan for 

emergency alerts. 

DATES: Effective September 20, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christopher Fedeli, Attorney Advisor, 

Public Safety and Homeland Security 

Bureau at 202–418–1514 or 

Christopher.Fedeli@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Commission’s Report 

and Order (Order) and Further Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking, in PS Docket 

Nos. 15–94 and 15–91, FCC 21–77, 

adopted and released on June 17, 2021. 

The full text of this document is 

available at https://www.fcc.gov/ 

document/fcc-further-strengthensemergency-alerting-0. 

Synopsis 

In the Report and Order (Order), the 

Commission takes measures to enhance 

the efficacy of the EAS and WEA. The 

nation’s EAS and WEA ensure that the 

public is quickly informed about 

emergency alerts issued by federal, 

state, local, Tribal, and territorial 

governments and delivered over the 

radio, television, and mobile wireless 

devices. Specifically, and in 

consultation with the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA), the Commission implements 

Section 9201 of the William M. (Mac) 

Thornberry National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, 

Public Law 116–283, 134 Stat. 3388, 

§ 9201 (NDAA21), which requires the 

Commission to complete a rulemaking 

and adopt rules within 180 days to (a) 

ensure mobile devices cannot opt out of 

receiving WEA alerts from the FEMA 

Administrator; (b) establish a state EAS 

plan checklist for State Emergency 

Communications Committees (SECCs) 

and amend the requirements for SECCs, 

to ensure they meet, review, and update 

their EAS plans annually; (c) enable 

reporting by the FEMA Administrator 

and State, Tribal, or local governments 

of false EAS and WEA alerts; and (d) 

provide for repeating EAS alerts issued 

by the President, the FEMA 

Administrator, and any other entity 

determined appropriate by the 

Commission, in consultation with the 

FEMA Administrator. The Commission 

believes the rules it adopts today will 

improve the capabilities and efficacy of 

EAS and WEA as systems for 

distributing vital alert information to all 

Americans, and will do so in a costeffective manner. 

The Commission implements section 

9201(a) of the NDAA21 by adopting 

rules to ensure that mobile devices 

cannot opt-out of receiving WEA alerts 

from the FEMA Administrator. The 

Commission implements section 

9201(b) of the NDAA21 by adopting 

rules to (i) encourage chief executives of 

states and territories to form SECCs if 

none exist in their states, or if the state 

has an SECC, to review its composition 

and governance criteria; (ii) include as 

a required element in the State EAS 

Plan, a certification by the SECC 

Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson that 

the SECC met (in person, via 

teleconference, or via other methods of 

conducting virtual meetings) at least 

once in the twelve months prior to 

submitting the annual updated plan to 

review and update their State EAS 

Plan—and incorporate such certification 

into the Alert Reporting System (ARS); 

(iii) require that the Public Safety and 

Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) to 

approve or reject State EAS Plans 

submitted for approval within 60 days 

of receipt—for those instances in which 

the Bureau finds defects in a submitted 

plan requiring correction by the SECC, 

that State EAS Plan will be considered 

to be temporarily withdrawn, restarting 

the 60-day review and approval period 

anew upon resubmission of the 

corrected plan in ARS; (iv) require the 

Bureau to list the approval dates of State 

EAS Plans submitted on ARS on the 

Commission’s website, and in the event 

a final decision is made to deny a plan, 

directly notify the chief executive of the 

State to which the plan applies of that 

determination and the reasons for such 

denial within 30 days of such decision; 

and (v) adopt an EAS Plan Content 

Checklist composed of the plan content 

requirements set forth in § 11.21 of the 

Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 11.21, and 

direct the Bureau to post the checklist 

on the Commission’s website and 

incorporate it as an appendix in the 

ARS user manual. 

The Commission implements section 

9201(c) of the NDAA21 by adopting 

rules to enable the Administrator of 

FEMA and state, local, Tribal, and 

territorial governments to report false 

EAS and WEA alerts when they occur. 

The Commission implements section 

9201(d) of the NDAA21 by adopting a 

rule specifying how alert originators can 

repeat their alert transmissions. The 

rules the Commission adopts are 

intended to facilitate the further 

development of a robust and redundant 

system for distributing vital alert 

information to all Americans. 

Accessible Formats 

To request materials in accessible 

formats for people with disabilities 

(Braille, large print, electronic files, 

audio format), send an email to fcc504@

fcc.gov or call the Consumer & 

Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202– 

418–0530 (voice), 202–418–0432 (tty). 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

As required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 

(RFA), an Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (IRFA) was incorporated in the 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) 

in PS Docket Nos. 15–94 and 15–91, 86 

FR 16565 (Mar. 30, 2021). The 

Commission sought written public 

comment on the proposals in the NPRM, 

including comment on the IRFA. No 

comments were filed addressing the 

IRFA. This present Final Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) conforms to 

the RFA. 

A. Need for, and Objectives of, the Final 

Rules 

In the Order, the Commission adopts 

rules to improve the way the public 

receives emergency alerts on their 

mobile phones, televisions, and radios 

via WEA and EAS, in response to the 

William M. (Mac) Thornberry National 

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2021. WEA and EAS ensure that 

the public is quickly informed about 

emergency alerts issued by federal, 


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46784 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 159 / Friday, August 20, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

state, local, Tribal, and territorial 

governments and delivered over the 

radio, television, and mobile wireless 

devices. These announcements keep the 

public safe and informed and have 

increased in importance in the wake of 

the emergencies and disasters 

experienced by Americans in the past 

few years. Congress has determined that 

WEA and EAS rule changes are 

necessary to increase oversight over the 

distribution of state and local EAS alerts 

within states, increase the likelihood 

that the public will receive full alerts 

pertaining to national security, and 

increase false alert reporting capabilities 

to help ameliorate confusion or other 

harmful effects resulting from false 

alerts. Consistent with the congressional 

directives in the NDAA21, the 

Commission amends its WEA and EAS 

rules to ensure that more people receive 

relevant emergency alerts, to enable 

EAS and WEA participants to report 

false alerts when they occur, and to 

improve the way states plan for 

emergency alerts. 

Specifically, the Commission amends 

its rules to (i) replace WEA’s existing 

Presidential Alert class with a National 

Alert class that would ensure that WEAenabled mobile devices could not optout of receiving WEA alerts issued by 

the President (or the President’s 

authorized designee) or by the FEMA 

Administrator; (ii) require participating 

Commercial Mobile Service (CMS) 

providers that use WEA header displays 

that read ‘‘Presidential Alert’’ to change 

those alert headers to read ‘‘National 

Alert’’ or to remove such headers 

altogether; (iii) encourage chief 

executives of states to form SECCs if 

none exist in their states, or if they do, 

to review their composition and 

governance, update their State EAS 

plans annually, and certify that they 

have met (in person, via teleconference, 

or via other methods of conducting 

virtual meetings) at least once in the 

twelve months prior to submitting the 

annual updated plan to review and 

update the plan; (iv) incorporate certain 

processing actions concerning SECCs’ 

and the FCC’s administration of State 

EAS Plans; (v) enable false EAS and 

WEA alert reporting by the FEMA 

Administrator as well as state, local, 

Tribal, and territorial governments; and 

(vi) provide for repeating EAS alerts 

issued by the President, the 

Administrator of FEMA and any other 

entity determined appropriate under the 

circumstances by the Commission, in 

consultation with the Administrator of 

FEMA. 

The rules adopted in the Order are 

intended to increase participation by 

state, local, Tribal, and territorial 

governments in the administration of 

State EAS Plans, enhance 

administration of EAS alerting, hasten 

corrective action when any false alerts 

are issued, and better enable alert 

originators to repeat alerts. They will 

benefit the public by strengthening 

national, state, local, Tribal, and 

territorial alerting activities, minimizing 

confusion and disruption caused by 

false alerts, increasing the chances for 

the public to receive critical alert 

messages, and will facilitate the further 

development of a robust and redundant 

system for distributing vital alert 

information to all Americans. 

B. Summary of Significant Issues Raised 

by Public Comments in Response to the 

IRFA 

There were no comments filed that 

specifically addressed the proposed 

rules and policies presented in the 

IRFA. 

C. Response to Comments by the Chief 

Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 

Business Administration 

Pursuant to the Small Business Jobs 

Act of 2010, which amended the RFA, 

the Commission is required to respond 

to any comments filed by the Chief 

Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 

Business Administration (SBA), and to 

provide a detailed statement of any 

change made to the proposed rules as a 

result of those comments. 

The Chief Counsel did not file any 

comments in response to the proposed 

rules in this proceeding. 

D. Description and Estimate of the 

Number of Small Entities to Which the 

Rules Will Apply 

The RFA directs agencies to provide 

a description of and, where feasible, an 

estimate of, the number of small entities 

that may be affected by the rules, 

adopted herein. The RFA generally 

defines the term ‘‘small entity’’ as 

having the same meaning as the terms 

‘‘small business,’’ ‘‘small organization,’’ 

and ‘‘small governmental jurisdiction.’’ 

In addition, the term ‘‘small business’’ 

has the same meaning as the term 

‘‘small business concern’’ under the 

Small Business Act. A ‘‘small business 

concern’’ is one which: (1) Is 

independently owned and operated; (2) 

is not dominant in its field of operation; 

and (3) satisfies any additional criteria 

established by the SBA. 

Small Businesses, Small 

Organizations, and Small Governmental 

Jurisdictions. The Commission’s actions 

may, over time, affect small entities that 

are not easily categorized at present. 

The Commission therefore describes 

here, at the outset, three broad groups of 

small entities that could be directly 

affected herein. First, while there are 

industry specific size standards for 

small businesses that are used in the 

regulatory flexibility analysis, according 

to data from the SBA’s Office of 

Advocacy, in general a small business is 

an independent business having fewer 

than 500 employees. These types of 

small businesses represent 99.9% of all 

businesses in the United States which 

translates to 30.7 million businesses. 

Next, the type of small entity 

described as a ‘‘small organization’’ is 

generally ‘‘any not-for-profit enterprise 

which is independently owned and 

operated and is not dominant in its 

field.’’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

uses a revenue benchmark of $50,000 or 

less to delineate its annual electronic 

filing requirements for small exempt 

organizations. Nationwide, for tax year 

2018, there were approximately 571,709 

small exempt organizations in the U.S. 

reporting revenues of $50,000 or less 

according to the registration and tax 

data for exempt organizations available 

from the IRS. 

Finally, the small entity described as 

a ‘‘small governmental jurisdiction’’ is 

defined generally as ‘‘governments of 

cities, counties, towns, townships, 

villages, school districts, or special 

districts, with a population of less than 

fifty thousand.’’ U.S. Census Bureau 

data from the 2017 Census of 

Governments indicate that there were 

90,056 local governmental jurisdictions 

consisting of general purpose 

governments and special purpose 

governments in the United States. Of 

this number there were 36,931 General 

purpose governments (county, 

municipal and town or township) with 

populations of less than 50,000 and 

12,040 special purpose governments— 

independent school districts with 

enrollment of less than 50,000. 

Accordingly, based on the 2017 U.S. 

Census of Governments data, the 

Commission estimates that at least 

48,971 entities fall into the category of 

‘‘small governmental jurisdictions.’’ 

Radio Stations. This Economic 

Census category comprises 

establishments primarily engaged in 

broadcasting aural programs by radio to 

the public. Programming may originate 

in their own studio, from an affiliated 

network, or from external sources.’’ The 

SBA has established a small business 

size standard for this category as firms 

having $41.5 million or less in annual 

receipts. Economic Census data for 2012 

show that 2,849 radio station firms 

operated during that year. Of that 

number, 2,806 firms operated with 

annual receipts of less than $25 million 

per year, 17 with annual receipts 


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between $25 million and $49,999,999 

million and 26 with annual receipts of 

$50 million or more. Therefore, based 

on the SBA’s size standard the majority 

of such entities are small entities. 

In addition to the U.S. Census 

Bureau’s data, based on Commission 

data the Commission estimates that 

there are 4,560 licensed AM radio 

stations, 6,704 commercial FM radio 

stations and 8,339 FM translator and 

booster stations. The Commission has 

also determined that there are 4,196 

noncommercial educational (NCE) FM 

radio stations. The Commission 

however does not compile and does not 

otherwise have access to information on 

the revenue of NCE stations that would 

permit it to determine how many such 

stations would qualify as small entities 

under the SBA size standard. 

The Commission also notes that in 

assessing whether a business entity 

qualifies as small under the above 

definition, business control affiliations 

must be included. The Commission’s 

estimate therefore likely overstates the 

number of small entities that might be 

affected by its action, because the 

revenue figure on which it is based does 

not include or aggregate revenues from 

affiliated companies. In addition, to be 

determined a ‘‘small business,’’ an 

entity may not be dominant in its field 

of operation. The Commission further 

notes that it is difficult at times to assess 

these criteria in the context of media 

entities, and the estimate of small 

businesses to which these rules may 

apply does not exclude any radio station 

from the definition of a small business 

on these bases, thus the Commission’s 

estimate of small businesses may 

therefore be over-inclusive. Also, as 

noted above, an additional element of 

the definition of ‘‘small business’’ is that 

the entity must be independently owned 

and operated. The Commission notes 

that it is difficult at times to assess these 

criteria in the context of media entities 

and the estimates of small businesses to 

which they apply may be over-inclusive 

to this extent. 

FM Translator Stations and LowPower FM Stations. FM translators and 

Low Power FM Stations are classified in 

the category of Radio Stations and are 

assigned the same NAICS Code as 

licensees of radio stations. This U.S. 

industry, Radio Stations, comprises 

establishments primarily engaged in 

broadcasting aural programs by radio to 

the public. Programming may originate 

in their own studio, from an affiliated 

network, or from external sources. The 

SBA has established a small business 

size standard which consists of all radio 

stations whose annual receipts are $38.5 

million dollars or less. U.S. Census 

Bureau data for 2012 indicate that 2,849 

radio station firms operated during that 

year. Of that number, 2,806 operated 

with annual receipts of less than $25 

million per year, 17 with annual 

receipts between $25 million and 

$49,999,999 million and 26 with annual 

receipts of $50 million or more. 

Therefore, based on the SBA’s size 

standard the Commission concludes 

that the majority of FM Translator 

Stations and Low Power FM Stations are 

small. 

The Commission notes again, 

however, that in assessing whether a 

business concern qualifies as ‘‘small’’ 

under the above definition, business 

(control) affiliations must be included. 

Because the Commission does not 

include or aggregate revenues from 

affiliated companies in determining 

whether an entity meets the applicable 

revenue threshold, its estimate of the 

number of small radio broadcast stations 

affected is likely overstated. In addition, 

as noted above, one element of the 

definition of ‘‘small business’’ is that an 

entity would not be dominant in its 

field of operation. The Commission is 

unable at this time to define or quantify 

the criteria that would establish whether 

a specific radio broadcast station is 

dominant in its field of operation. 

Accordingly, the Commission’s estimate 

of small radio stations potentially 

affected by the rule revisions discussed 

in the NPRM includes those that could 

be dominant in their field of operation. 

For this reason, such estimate likely is 

over-inclusive. 

Television Broadcasting. This 

Economic Census category ‘‘comprises 

establishments primarily engaged in 

broadcasting images together with 

sound.’’ These establishments operate 

television broadcast studios and 

facilities for the programming and 

transmission of programs to the public. 

These establishments also produce or 

transmit visual programming to 

affiliated broadcast television stations, 

which in turn broadcast the programs to 

the public on a predetermined schedule. 

Programming may originate in their own 

studio, from an affiliated network, or 

from external sources. The SBA has 

created the following small business 

size standard for such businesses: Those 

having $41.5 million or less in annual 

receipts. The 2012 Economic Census 

reports that 751 firms in this category 

operated in that year. Of that number, 

656 had annual receipts of $25,000,000 

or less, and 25 had annual receipts 

between $25,000,000 and $49,999,999. 

Based on this data the Commission 

therefore estimates that the majority of 

commercial television broadcasters are 

small entities under the applicable SBA 

size standard. 

The Commission has estimated the 

number of licensed commercial 

television stations to be 1,368. 

According to Commission staff review 

of the BIA Kelsey Inc. Media Access Pro 

Television Database (BIA) on November 

16, 2017, 1,258 stations (or about 91 

percent) had revenues of $38.5 million 

or less, and therefore these licensees 

qualified as small entities under the 

SBA definition. In addition, the 

Commission has estimated the number 

of licensed noncommercial educational 

television stations to be 390. 

Notwithstanding, the Commission does 

not compile and otherwise does not 

have access to information on the 

revenue of NCE stations that would 

permit it to determine how many such 

stations would qualify as small entities. 

There are also 2,246 low power 

television stations, including Class A 

stations (LPTV), and 3,543 TV translator 

stations. Given the nature of these 

services, the Commission will presume 

that all of these entities qualify as small 

entities under the above SBA small 

business size standard. 

The Commission notes, however, that 

in assessing whether a business concern 

qualifies as ‘‘small’’ under the above 

definition, business (control) affiliations 

must be included. The Commission’s 

estimate, therefore, likely overstates the 

number of small entities that might be 

affected by its action, because the 

revenue figure on which it is based does 

not include or aggregate revenues from 

affiliated companies. In addition, 

another element of the definition of 

‘‘small business’’ requires that an entity 

not be dominant in its field of operation. 

The Commission is unable at this time 

to define or quantify the criteria that 

would establish whether a specific 

television broadcast station is dominant 

in its field of operation. Accordingly, 

the estimate of small businesses to 

which rules may apply does not exclude 

any television station from the 

definition of a small business on this 

basis and is therefore possibly overinclusive. Also, as noted above, an 

additional element of the definition of 

‘‘small business’’ is that the entity must 

be independently owned and operated. 

The Commission notes that it is difficult 

at times to assess these criteria in the 

context of media entities and its 

estimates of small businesses to which 

they apply may be over-inclusive to this 

extent. 

Cable and Other Subscription 

Programming. The U.S. Census Bureau 

defines this industry as establishments 

primarily engaged in operating studios 

and facilities for the broadcasting of 


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programs on a subscription or fee basis. 

The broadcast programming is typically 

narrowcast in nature (e.g., limited 

format, such as news, sports, education, 

or youth-oriented). These 

establishments produce programming in 

their own facilities or acquire 

programming from external sources. The 

programming material is usually 

delivered to a third party, such as cable 

systems or direct-to-home satellite 

systems, for transmission to viewers. 

The SBA size standard for this industry 

establishes as small, any company in 

this category which receives annual 

receipts of $41.5 million or less. 

According to 2012 U.S. Census Bureau 

data, 367 firms operated for the entire 

year. Of that number, 319 operated with 

annual receipts of less than $25 million 

a year and 48 firms operated with 

annual receipts of $25 million or more. 

Based on this data, the Commission 

estimates that the majority of firms 

operating in this industry are small. 

Cable System Operators (Rate 

Regulation Standard). The Commission 

has developed its own small business 

size standards for the purpose of cable 

rate regulation. Under the Commission’s 

rules, a ‘‘small cable company’’ is one 

serving 400,000 or fewer subscribers 

nationwide. Industry data indicate that 

there are 4,600 active cable systems in 

the United States. Of this total, all but 

five cable operators nationwide are 

small under the 400,000-subscriber size 

standard. In addition, under the 

Commission’s rate regulation rules, a 

‘‘small system’’ is a cable system serving 

15,000 or fewer subscribers. 

Commission records show 4,600 cable 

systems nationwide. Of this total, 3,900 

cable systems have fewer than 15,000 

subscribers, and 700 systems have 

15,000 or more subscribers, based on the 

same records. Thus, under this standard 

as well, the Commission estimates that 

most cable systems are small entities. 

Cable System Operators (Telecom Act 

Standard). The Communications Act of 

1934, as amended, also contains a size 

standard for small cable system 

operators, which is ‘‘a cable operator 

that, directly or through an affiliate, 

serves in the aggregate fewer than one 

percent of all subscribers in the United 

States and is not affiliated with any 

entity or entities whose gross annual 

revenues in the aggregate exceed 

$250,000,000.’’ As of 2019, there were 

approximately 48,646,056 basic cable 

video subscribers in the United States. 

Accordingly, an operator serving fewer 

than 524,037 subscribers shall be 

deemed a small operator if its annual 

revenues, when combined with the total 

annual revenues of all its affiliates, do 

not exceed $250 million in the 

aggregate. Based on available data, the 

Commission finds that all but nine 

incumbent cable operators are small 

entities under this size standard. The 

Commission notes that it neither 

requests nor collects information on 

whether cable system operators are 

affiliated with entities whose gross 

annual revenues exceed $250 million. 

Although it seems certain that some of 

these cable system operators are 

affiliated with entities whose gross 

annual revenues exceed $250 million, 

the Commission is unable at this time to 

estimate with greater precision the 

number of cable system operators that 

would qualify as small cable operators 

under the definition in the 

Communications Act. 

Satellite Telecommunications. This 

category comprises firms ‘‘primarily 

engaged in providing 

telecommunications services to other 

establishments in the 

telecommunications and broadcasting 

industries by forwarding and receiving 

communications signals via a system of 

satellites or reselling satellite 

telecommunications.’’ Satellite 

telecommunications service providers 

include satellite and earth station 

operators. The category has a small 

business size standard of $35 million or 

less in average annual receipts, under 

SBA rules. For this category, U.S. 

Census Bureau data for 2012 show that 

there was a total of 333 firms that 

operated for the entire year. Of this 

total, 299 firms had annual receipts of 

less than $25 million. Consequently, the 

Commission estimates that the majority 

of satellite telecommunications 

providers are small entities. 

All Other Telecommunications. The 

‘‘All Other Telecommunications’’ 

category is comprised of establishments 

that are primarily engaged in providing 

specialized telecommunications 

services, such as satellite tracking, 

communications telemetry, and radar 

station operation. This industry also 

includes establishments primarily 

engaged in providing satellite terminal 

stations and associated facilities 

connected with one or more terrestrial 

systems and capable of transmitting 

telecommunications to, and receiving 

telecommunications from, satellite 

systems. Establishments providing 

internet services or voice over internet 

protocol (VoIP) services via clientsupplied telecommunications 

connections are also included in this 

industry. The SBA has developed a 

small business size standard for ‘‘All 

Other Telecommunications,’’ which 

consists of all such firms with gross 

annual receipts of $32.5 million or less. 

For this category, U.S. Census data for 

2012 show that there were 1,442 firms 

that operated for the entire year. Of 

these firms, a total of 1,400 had gross 

annual receipts of less than $25 million. 

Thus, the Commission estimates that the 

majority of ‘‘All Other 

Telecommunications’’ firms potentially 

affected by the Commission’s action can 

be considered small. 

Broadband Radio Service and 

Educational Broadband Service. 

Broadband Radio Service systems, 

previously referred to as Multipoint 

Distribution Service (MDS) and 

Multichannel Multipoint Distribution 

Service (MMDS) systems, and ‘‘wireless 

cable,’’ transmit video programming to 

subscribers and provide two-way high 

speed data operations using the 

microwave frequencies of the 

Broadband Radio Service (BRS) and 

Educational Broadband Service (EBS) 

(previously referred to as the 

Instructional Television Fixed Service 

(ITFS)). 

BRS—In connection with the 1996 

BRS auction, the Commission 

established a small business size 

standard as an entity that had annual 

average gross revenues of no more than 

$40 million in the previous three 

calendar years. The BRS auctions 

resulted in 67 successful bidders 

obtaining licensing opportunities for 

493 Basic Trading Areas (BTAs). Of the 

67 auction winners, 61 met the 

definition of a small business. BRS also 

includes licensees of stations authorized 

prior to the auction. At this time, the 

Commission estimates that of the 61 

small business BRS auction winners, 48 

remain small business licensees. In 

addition to the 48 small businesses that 

hold BTA authorizations, there are 

approximately 86 incumbent BRS 

licensees that are considered small 

entities (18 incumbent BRS licensees do 

not meet the small business size 

standard). After adding the number of 

small business auction licensees to the 

number of incumbent licensees not 

already counted, there are currently 

approximately 133 BRS licensees that 

are defined as small businesses under 

either the SBA or the Commission’s 

rules. 

In 2009, the Commission conducted 

Auction 86, the sale of 78 licenses in the 

BRS areas. The Commission offered 

three levels of bidding credits: (i) A 

bidder with attributed average annual 

gross revenues that exceed $15 million 

and do not exceed $40 million for the 

preceding three years (small business) 

received a 15 percent discount on its 

winning bid; (ii) a bidder with 

attributed average annual gross revenues 

that exceed $3 million and do not 

exceed $15 million for the preceding 


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three years (very small business) 

received a 25 percent discount on its 

winning bid; and (iii) a bidder with 

attributed average annual gross revenues 

that do not exceed $3 million for the 

preceding three years (entrepreneur) 

received a 35 percent discount on its 

winning bid. Auction 86 concluded in 

2009 with the sale of 61 licenses. Of the 

ten winning bidders, two bidders that 

claimed small business status won 4 

licenses; one bidder that claimed very 

small business status won three 

licenses; and two bidders that claimed 

entrepreneur status won six licenses. 

EBS—Educational Broadband Service 

has been included within the broad 

economic census category and SBA size 

standard for Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers since 2007. Wired 

Telecommunications Carriers are 

comprised of establishments primarily 

engaged in operating and/or providing 

access to transmission facilities and 

infrastructure that they own and/or 

lease for the transmission of voice, data, 

text, sound, and video using wired 

telecommunications networks. 

Transmission facilities may be based on 

a single technology or a combination of 

technologies.’’ The SBA’s small 

business size standard for this category 

is all such firms having 1,500 or fewer 

employees. U.S. Census Bureau data for 

2012 show that there were 3,117 firms 

that operated that year. Of this total, 

3,083 operated with fewer than 1,000 

employees. Thus, under this size 

standard, the majority of firms in this 

industry can be considered small. In 

addition to Census data, the 

Commission’s Universal Licensing 

System indicates that as of October 

2014, there are 2,206 active EBS 

licenses. The Commission estimates that 

of these 2,206 licenses, the majority are 

held by non-profit educational 

institutions and school districts, which 

are by statute defined as small 

businesses. 

Direct Broadcast Satellite (‘‘DBS’’) 

Service. DBS service is a nationally 

distributed subscription service that 

delivers video and audio programming 

via satellite to a small parabolic ‘‘dish’’ 

antenna at the subscriber’s location. 

DBS is included in the category of 

‘‘Wired Telecommunications Carriers.’’ 

The Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers industry comprises 

establishments primarily engaged in 

operating and/or providing access to 

transmission facilities and infrastructure 

that they own and/or lease for the 

transmission of voice, data, text, sound, 

and video using wired 

telecommunications networks. 

Transmission facilities may be based on 

a single technology or combination of 

technologies. Establishments in this 

industry use the wired 

telecommunications network facilities 

that they operate to provide a variety of 

services, such as wired telephony 

services, including VoIP services, wired 

(cable) audio and video programming 

distribution; and wired broadband 

internet services. By exception, 

establishments providing satellite 

television distribution services using 

facilities and infrastructure that they 

operate are included in this industry. 

The SBA size standard considers a 

wireline business is small if it has fewer 

than 1,500 employees. U.S. Census 

Bureau data for 2012 indicates that 

3,117 wireline companies were 

operational during that year. Of that 

number, 3,083 operated with fewer than 

1,000 employees. Based on that data, the 

Commission concludes that the majority 

of wireline firms are small under the 

applicable SBA standard. Currently, 

however, only two entities provide DBS 

service, which requires a great deal of 

capital for operation: DIRECTV (owned 

by AT&T) and DISH Network. DIRECTV 

and DISH Network each report annual 

revenues that are in excess of the 

threshold for a small business. 

Accordingly, the Commission must 

conclude that internally developed FCC 

data are persuasive that, in general, DBS 

service is provided only by large firms. 

Wireless Telecommunications 

Carriers (except Satellite). This industry 

comprises establishments engaged in 

operating and maintaining switching 

and transmission facilities to provide 

communications via the airwaves. 

Establishments in this industry have 

spectrum licenses and provide services 

using that spectrum, such as cellular 

services, paging services, wireless 

internet access, and wireless video 

services. The appropriate size standard 

under SBA rules is that such a business 

is small if it has 1,500 or fewer 

employees. For this industry, U.S. 

Census Bureau data for 2012 show that 

there were 967 firms that operated for 

the entire year. Of this total, 955 firms 

had employment of 999 or fewer 

employees, and 12 firms had 

employment of 1,000 employees or 

more. Thus, under this category and the 

associated size standard, the 

Commission estimates that the majority 

of wireless telecommunications carriers 

(except satellite) are small entities. 

AWS Services (1710–1755 MHz and 

2110–2155 MHz bands (AWS–1); 1915– 

1920 MHz, 1995–2000 MHz, 2020–2025 

MHz and 2175–2180 MHz bands (AWS– 

2); 2155–2175 MHz band (AWS–3)). For 

the AWS–1 bands, the Commission has 

defined a ‘‘small business’’ as an entity 

with average annual gross revenues for 

the preceding three years not exceeding 

$40 million, and a ‘‘very small 

business’’ as an entity with average 

annual gross revenues for the preceding 

three years not exceeding $15 million. 

For AWS–2 and AWS–3, although the 

Commission does not know for certain 

which entities are likely to apply for 

these frequencies, it notes that the 

AWS–1 bands are comparable to those 

used for cellular service and personal 

communications service. The 

Commission has not yet adopted size 

standards for the AWS–2 or AWS–3 

bands but proposes to treat both AWS– 

2 and AWS–3 similarly to broadband 

PCS service and AWS–1 service due to 

the comparable capital requirements 

and other factors, such as issues 

involved in relocating incumbents and 

developing markets, technologies, and 

services. 

Narrowband Personal 

Communications Services. Two 

auctions of narrowband personal 

communications services (PCS) licenses 

have been conducted. To ensure 

meaningful participation of small 

business entities in future auctions, the 

Commission has adopted a two-tiered 

small business size standard in the 

Narrowband PCS Second Report and 

Order. Through these auctions, the 

Commission has awarded a total of 41 

licenses, out of which 11 were obtained 

by small businesses. A ‘‘small business’’ 

is an entity that, together with affiliates 

and controlling interests, has average 

gross revenues for the three preceding 

years of not more than $40 million. A 

‘‘very small business’’ is an entity that, 

together with affiliates and controlling 

interests, has average gross revenues for 

the three preceding years of not more 

than $15 million. The SBA has 

approved these small business size 

standards. 

Broadband Personal Communications 

Service. The broadband personal 

communications service (PCS) spectrum 

is divided into six frequency blocks 

designated A through F, and the 

Commission has held auctions for each 

block. The Commission initially defined 

a ‘‘small business’’ for C- and F-Block 

licenses as an entity that has average 

gross revenues of $40 million or less in 

the three previous calendar years. For 

F-Block licenses, an additional small 

business size standard for ‘‘very small 

business’’ was added and is defined as 

an entity that, together with its affiliates, 

has average gross revenues of not more 

than $15 million for the preceding three 

calendar years. These standards 

defining ‘‘small entity’’, in the context 

of broadband PCS auctions, have been 

approved by the SBA. No small 

businesses within the SBA-approved 


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small business size standards bid 

successfully for licenses in Blocks A 

and B. There were 90 winning bidders 

that claimed small business status in the 

first two C-Block auctions. A total of 93 

bidders that claimed small business 

status won approximately 40 percent of 

the 1,479 licenses in the first auction for 

the D-, E-, and F-Blocks. On April 15, 

1999, the Commission completed the 

reauction of 347 C-, D-, E-, and F-Block 

licenses in Auction No. 22. Of the 57 

winning bidders in that auction, 48 

claimed small business status and won 

277 licenses. 

On January 26, 2001, the Commission 

completed the auction of 422 C- and 

F-Block Broadband PCS licenses in 

Auction No. 35. Of the 35 winning 

bidders in that auction, 29 claimed 

small business status. Subsequent 

events concerning Auction No. 35, 

including judicial and agency 

determinations, resulted in a total of 163 

C- and F-Block licenses being available 

for grant. On February 15, 2005, the 

Commission completed an auction of 

242 C-, D-, E-, and F-Block licenses in 

Auction No. 58. Of the 24 winning 

bidders in that auction, 16 claimed 

small business status and won 156 

licenses. On May 21, 2007, the 

Commission completed an auction of 33 

licenses in the A-, C-, and F-Blocks in 

Auction No. 71. Of the 12 winning 

bidders in that auction, five claimed 

small business status and won 18 

licenses. On August 20, 2008, the 

Commission completed the auction of 

20 C-, D-, E-, and F-Block Broadband 

PCS licenses in Auction No. 78. Of the 

eight winning bidders for Broadband 

PCS licenses in that auction, six claimed 

small business status and won 14 

licenses. 

Wireless Communications Services. 

This service can be used for fixed, 

mobile, radiolocation, and digital audio 

broadcasting satellite uses. The 

Commission defined ‘‘small business’’ 

for the wireless communications 

services (WCS) auction as an entity with 

average gross revenues of $40 million 

for each of the three preceding years, 

and a ‘‘very small business’’ as an entity 

with average gross revenues of $15 

million for each of the three preceding 

years. The SBA has approved these 

small business size standards. In the 

Commission’s auction for geographic 

area licenses in the WCS there were 

seven winning bidders that qualified as 

‘‘very small business’’ entities, and one 

that qualified as a ‘‘small business’’ 

entity. 

Radio and Television Broadcasting 

and Wireless Communications 

Equipment Manufacturing. This 

industry comprises establishments 

primarily engaged in manufacturing 

radio and television broadcast and 

wireless communications equipment. 

Examples of products made by these 

establishments are: Transmitting and 

receiving antennas, cable television 

equipment, GPS equipment, pagers, 

cellular phones, mobile 

communications equipment, and radio 

and television studio and broadcasting 

equipment. The SBA has established a 

small business size standard for this 

industry of 1,250 employees or less. 

U.S. Census Bureau data for 2012 shows 

that 841 establishments operated in this 

industry in that year. Of that number, 

828 establishments operated with fewer 

than 1,000 employees, 7 establishments 

operated with between 1,000 and 2,499 

employees, and 6 establishments 

operated with 2,500 or more employees. 

Based on this data, the Commission 

concludes that a majority of 

manufacturers in this industry are 

small. 

E. Description of Projected Reporting, 

Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance 

Requirements for Small Entities 

The Order imposes additional 

reporting, recordkeeping and/or other 

compliance obligations on certain small, 

as well as other, entities that process 

WEA alerts and manufacture mobile 

devices that receive such alerts, and 

could impose additional reporting, 

recordkeeping and/or other compliance 

obligations on small, as well as other 

entities that administer State EAS Plans, 

process and transmit EAS alerts, and 

manufacture equipment designed to 

process EAS alerts. While the 

Commission is not in a position to 

determine whether small entities will 

have to hire professionals to comply 

with its decisions and cannot quantify 

the cost of compliance for small entities, 

as discussed in the Order, the 

approaches it has taken to implement 

the requirements of NDAA21 have 

minimal or de minimis cost 

implications for impacted entities. 

In the Order, the Commission adds a 

national alert category to WEA that 

WEA-enabled mobile device users 

cannot opt-out of receiving. The 

national alert category changes the name 

of the current Presidential Alerts 

category to National Alerts and includes 

alerts from both the President and the 

FEMA Administrator. Participating CMS 

providers that use WEA header displays 

and settings menus that currently 

display ‘‘Presidential Alert’’ will have to 

change the display to read ‘‘National 

Alert’’ or discontinue their voluntary 

use of WEA header displays. 

The Order also requires that each 

updated State EAS Plan submitted 

annually to the Commission for 

approval include a certification by the 

SECC Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson 

that the SECC has met (in person, via 

teleconference, or via other methods of 

conducting virtual meetings) at least 

once in the twelve months prior to 

submitting the annual updated plan to 

review and update their State EAS Plan. 

The certification requirement will be 

included in the rules governing State 

EAS Plans and will be incorporated into 

the Alert Reporting System (ARS). The 

certification requirement can be met via 

an on-screen ARS click-box, rather than 

requiring SECCs to complete extra 

paperwork to generate a certification 

document to attach in ARS. 

To address the NDAA21’s 

requirements for reporting by 

government entities on false EAS or 

WAS alerts, the Order revises the 

Commission’s WEA and EAS rules to 

provide for voluntary reporting by the 

FEMA Administrator, State, local, 

Tribal, or territorial governments using 

an email reporting system. The rules 

provide guidance on the types of false 

alerts that are suitable to report— 

discouraging reporting alerts where the 

incorrect information is de-minimis. 

The Commission also provides guidance 

on the types of information in a report 

that it would find helpful, such as the 

time and date of the reported alert 

event, the geographic location where the 

alerts were received, the message the 

alert conveyed, how they became aware 

of the alert, over what medium the alert 

was transmitted (e.g., broadcast or 

cable), whether it was an EAS or WEA 

event, and who originated the alert (if 

known). 

To satisfy the alert repetition 

requirements in the NDAA21 the Order 

modifies the EAS rules to add a new 

section, 11.44 ‘‘Alert Repetition,’’ 

specifying that an alert originator may 

‘‘repeat’’ an alert by releasing the alert 

anew—i.e., re-originating the alert—at 

least one minute subsequent to the time 

the message was initially released by the 

originator, as reflected in the repeat 

alert’s JJJHHMM header code to meet its 

alert repetition obligation. 

F. Steps Taken To Minimize the 

Significant Economic Impact on Small 

Entities, and Significant Alternatives 

Considered 

The RFA requires an agency to 

describe any significant, specifically 

small business alternatives that it has 

considered in reaching its approach, 

which may include the following four 

alternatives (among others): ‘‘(1) the 

establishment of differing compliance or 

reporting requirements or timetables 

that take into account the resources 


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available to small entities; (2) the 

clarification, consolidation, or 

simplification of compliance or 

reporting requirements under the rule 

for such small entities; (3) the use of 

performance, rather than design, 

standards; and (4) and exemption from 

coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, 

for such small entities.’’ 

The actions taken by the Commission 

in the Order were considered to be the 

least costly and minimally burdensome 

for small and other entities impacted by 

the rules. As such, the Commission does 

not expect the adopted requirements to 

have a significant economic impact on 

small entities. Below the Commission 

discusses actions it took in the Order to 

minimize any significant economic 

impact on small entities and some 

alternatives that were considered. 

The rules adopted creating a WEA 

National Alert class which adds the 

FEMA Administrator as an authorized 

originator of these alerts in addition to 

the President of the United States, does 

not create any costs for small entities. 

Renaming the existing Presidential Alert 

class to National Alerts and allowing for 

use of the existing WEA handling code 

and other infrastructure already in place 

for Presidential Alert was the least 

costly way possible to implement the 

NDAA21 requirement to ensure that 

subscribers may not opt out of receiving 

FEMA Administrator alerts. This change 

requires few, if any, technical changes 

to be made to participating CMS 

provider networks or the mobile devices 

of their subscribers. With respect to the 

amendment requiring participating CMS 

provider handset display updates to 

discontinue the display of ‘‘Presidential 

Alert,’’ the Commission provides 

participating CMS providers flexibility 

in the approach they use to ensure 

compliance, allowing the requirement to 

be satisfied by any approach that 

ensures that ‘‘Presidential Alert’’ is not 

displayed on a user’s mobile device, 

either by changing the displayed header 

or not displaying the header at all. The 

Commission notes that no commenting 

party disputed its estimate that these 

costs would be minimal to the industry. 

The Commission also reduces the 

burden on participating CMS providers 

by exempting from the requirement any 

network infrastructure that is 

technically incapable of meeting this 

requirement, such as legacy devices or 

networks that cannot be updated to 

support this functionality. 

With respect to the amendments 

involving SECCs and State EAS Plan 

provisions, the Commission declined to 

adopt recommendations for SECC 

membership and/or a model governance 

structure for SECCs. There are SECCs 

currently operating in all 50 states and 

all, but 2 territories and each state and 

territory is different with unique needs 

that no single framework may fit. 

Regarding the requirement for 

certification by the SECC Chairperson or 

Vice-Chairperson that the SECC has met 

(in person, via teleconference, or via 

other methods of conducting virtual 

meetings) at least once in the twelve 

months prior to submitting the annual 

updated plan to review and update their 

State EAS Plan, the Commission does 

not believe the costs to the SECC 

members will be more than de minimis. 

The Commission allows for virtual 

meetings, which lessens the cost and 

burden of meeting in person. Further, as 

mentioned in the previous section, the 

Commission allows the meeting 

certification to be effectuated by 

clicking a button on the ARS online 

menu, which is significantly less 

burdensome for small entities than 

having to make some other showing, 

such as a paper filing. 

The amendments the Commission 

adopted to create a system for false alert 

reporting by government entities 

minimize any impact of compliance for 

small entities and others by virtue of the 

reporting system being a voluntary 

reporting process. For government 

entities that choose to report false alerts, 

they can do so by simply sending the 

relevant information to the Commission 

via email to the FCC Operations Center. 

As mentioned above, the Commission 

declined to require a list of elements 

that must be reported, which could 

make the process unduly burdensome 

and deter government entities from 

filing false alert reports. The 

Commission also declined to adopt a 

definition of what constitutes a false 

alert which could be too limited and 

burdensome for reporting government 

entities. Instead, the Commission offers 

guidance on the type of information 

about false alerts that would be 

meaningful to the Commission, and note 

that the voluntary reporting process 

adopted in the Order does not alter the 

meaning of false alerts that has been 

applied in other parts of the 

Commission rules, including § 11.45(a) 

and (b). 

With respect to the process for 

enabling Alert Originators to repeat EAS 

alerts for national security, the 

requirement to repeat EAS messages can 

be addressed under the Commission’s 

existing rules. The Commission 

therefore kept the current EAS rules 

governing alert (re)transmission intact 

and added a new § 11.44 that clarifies 

how alert originators can repeat their 

alert transmissions. The Commission’s 

decision to clarify how alert originators 

can repeat (or re-originate) EAS alerts 

does not impose any additional costs, as 

such repetition has been a function 

available to alert originators from the 

inception of the EAS. 

Finally, the Commission notes two 

additional actions it took that minimizes 

the significant economic impact of the 

Order on small entities. The 

Commission declined to adopt a new 

national security-related originator code 

or event code in light of the record, 

which suggests that adding new codes 

will introduce costs to EAS Participants 

that are difficult to justify given the 

complexity and costs associated with 

their adoption. The Commission also 

declined to adopt a requirement for 

implementation of automated repetition 

of alerts by EAS Participants’ EAS 

devices. To do so would result in 

substantial burdens that are 

unnecessary, and the potential 

disruption and costs associated with 

implementing automated repeating in 

EAS devices is likely to be significant 

and could yield unintended 

consequences detrimental to EAS 

operations. 

Paperwork Reduction Act Analysis 

This document contains modified 

information collection requirements 

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104–13. It 

will be submitted to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review under section 3507(d) of the 

PRA. OMB, the general public, and 

other Federal agencies will be invited to 

comment on the new or modified 

information collection requirements 

contained in this proceeding. In 

addition, the Commission notes that 

pursuant to the Small Business 

Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public 

Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(4), 

it previously sought specific comment 

on how the Commission might further 

reduce the information collection 

burden for small business concerns with 

fewer than 25 employees. 

Congressional Review Act 

The Commission has determined, and 

the Administrator of the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget, 

concurs, that this rule is non-major 

under the Congressional Review Act, 5 

U.S.C. 804(2). The Commission will 

send a copy of this Report and Order to 

Congress and the Government 

Accountability Office pursuant to 5 

U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A). 

Ordering Clauses 

Accordingly, it is ordered, pursuant to 

sections 1, 2, 4(i), 4(o), 301, 303(r), 


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303(v), 307, 309, 335, 403, 624(g), 706, 

and 713 of the Communications Act of 

1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 

154(i), 154(o), 301, 303(r), 303(v), 307, 

309, 335, 403, 544(g), and 606, as well 

as by sections 602(a), (b), (c), (f), 603, 

604 and 606 of the WARN Act, 47 

U.S.C. 1202(a), (b), (c), (f), 1203, 1204 

and 1206, Section 202 of the TwentyFirst Century Communications and 

Video Accessibility Act of 2010, as 

amended, 47 U.S.C. 613, and the 

National Defense Authorization Act for 

Fiscal Year 2021, Public Law 116–283, 

134 Stat. 3388, section 9201, 47 U.S.C. 

1201, 1206, that this Report and Order 

and Further Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking in PS Docket Nos. 15–94 

and 15–91 is hereby adopted. 

It is further ordered that the rule 

amendments adopted herein will 

become effective September 20, 2021. 

The new or revised portions of §§ of 

10.11(b), 10.520(d)(2), 11.21, 11.21(a), 

11.45(c), and 11.21(a)(8) contain new or 

modified information collection 

requirements that require OMB review 

under the PRA. The Commission directs 

the Public Safety and Homeland 

Security Bureau (Bureau) to announce 

the compliance dates for these rules 

after OMB has reviewed and approved 

those information collections in a 

document published in the Federal 

Register, delegates authority to the 

Bureau to cause the July 31, 2022 

deadline in § 10.11(b) to be revised 

accordingly as necessary if more time is 

needed to secure OMB’s review, and 

delegates authority to the Bureau to 

revise §§ 10.11(c), 10.520(d)(3), 11.21(g), 

and 11.45(d) once OMB review has been 

obtained. The compliance dates that the 

Bureau announces for the new or 

revised portions of § 11.21(a) at 

Appendix A shall supply sufficient time 

to comply with the § 11.21 rule 

revisions adopted in Emergency Alert 

System, Report and Order, PS Docket 

Nos. 15–94 and 15–91, (83 FR 37750, 

Aug. 2, 2018). 

It is further ordered that the 

Commission’s Consumer and 

Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference 

Information Center, shall send a copy of 

this Report and Order, including the 

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, to 

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration. 

List of Subjects 

47 CFR Part 10 

Communications common carriers, 

Radio. 

47 CFR Part 11 

Radio, Television. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary. 

Final Rules 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Federal Communications 

Commission amends 47 CFR parts 10 

and 11 as follows: 

PART 10—WIRELESS EMERGENCY 

ALERTS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 10 is 

revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i) and (o), 

201, 303(r), 403, and 606, 1202(a), (b), (c), (f), 

1203, 1204, and 1206.] 

■ 2. Section 10.11 is amended by 

designating the current text as 

paragraph (a) and by adding paragraphs 

(b) and (c) to read as follows: 

§ 10.11 WEA implementation timeline. 

* * * * * 

(b) If a Participating CMS Provider’s 

network infrastructure would generate 

and display WEA headers with the text 

‘‘Presidential Alert’’ to subscribers upon 

receipt of a National Alert, or include 

the text ‘‘Presidential Alert’’ in a mobile 

device’s settings menus, then by July 31, 

2022, that Participating CMS Provider’s 

network infrastructure shall either 

generate and display WEA headers and 

menus with the text ‘‘National Alert,’’ or 

no longer display those headers and 

menu text to the subscriber. Network 

infrastructure that is technically 

incapable of meeting this requirement, 

such as situations in which legacy 

devices or networks cannot be updated 

to support header display changes, are 

exempt from this requirement. 

(c) Compliance date(s)—paragraph (b) 

of this section contains an informationcollection and recordkeeping 

requirement. Compliance with 

paragraph (b) will not be required until 

after approval by the Office of 

Management and Budget. The 

Commission will publish a document in 

the Federal Register announcing 

compliance date(s) with this paragraph 

and revising this paragraph accordingly. 

■ 3. Section 10.320 is amended by 

revising paragraph (e)(3) to read as 

follows: 

§ 10.320 Provider alert gateway 

requirements. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

(3) Prioritization. The CMS provider 

gateway must process an Alert Message 

on a first in-first out basis except for 

National Alerts, which must be 

processed before all non-National 

Alerts. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. Section 10.400 is amended by 

revising paragraph (a) to read as follows: 

§ 10.400 Classification. 

* * * * * 

(a) National Alert. A National Alert is 

an alert issued by the President of the 

United States or the President’s 

authorized designee, or by the 

Administrator of FEMA. National Alerts 

may be either nationwide or regional in 

distribution. 

* * * * * 

■ 5. Section 10.410 is revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 10.410 Prioritization. 

A Participating CMS Provider is 

required to transmit National Alerts 

upon receipt. National Alerts preempt 

all other Alert Messages. A Participating 

CMS Provider is required to transmit 

Imminent Threat Alerts, AMBER Alerts 

and Public Safety Messages on a first infirst out (FIFO) basis. 

■ 6. Section 10.420 is revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 10.420 Message elements. 

A WEA Alert Message processed by a 

Participating CMS Provider shall 

include five mandatory CAP elements— 

Event Type; Area Affected; 

Recommended Action; Expiration Time 

(with time zone); and Sending Agency. 

This requirement does not apply to 

National Alerts. 

■ 7. Section 10.500 is amended by 

revising paragraph (f) to read as follows: 

§ 10.500 General requirements. 

* * * * * 

(f) Presentation of alert content to the 

device, consistent with subscriber optout selections. National Alerts must 

always be presented. 

* * * * * 

■ 8. Section 10.520 is amended by 

redesignating paragraph (d) as 

paragraph (d)(1) and by adding 

paragraphs (d)(2) and (3) to read as 

follows: 

§ 10.520 Common audio attention signal. 

* * * * * 

(d)(1) * * * 

(2) If the Administrator of the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA) or a State, local, Tribal, or 

territorial government entity becomes 

aware of transmission of a WEA false 

alert to the public, they are encouraged 

to send an email to the Commission at 

the FCC Ops Center at FCCOPS@fcc.gov, 

informing the Commission of the event 


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and of any details that they may have 

concerning the event. 

(3) Compliance date(s)—paragraph 

(d)(2) of this section contains an 

information-collection and 

recordkeeping requirement. Compliance 

with paragraph (d)(2) will not be 

required until after approval by the 

Office of Management and Budget. The 

Commission will publish a document in 

the Federal Register announcing 

compliance date(s) with this paragraph 

and revising this paragraph accordingly. 

* * * * * 

PART 11—EMERGENCY ALERT 

SYSTEM (EAS) 

■ 9. The authority citation for part 11 is 

revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154 (i) and (o), 

303(r), 544(g), 606, 1201, 1206]. 

■ 10. Section 11.21 is amended by 

revising the introductory text and 

paragraph (a) introductory text and 

adding paragraphs (a)(8) and (g) to read 

as follows: 

§ 11.21 State and Local Area plans and 

FCC Mapbook. 

EAS plans contain guidelines which 

must be followed by EAS Participants’ 

personnel, emergency officials, and 

National Weather Service (NWS) 

personnel to activate the EAS. The plans 

include the EAS header codes and 

messages that will be transmitted by key 

EAS sources (NP, LP, SP and SR). State 

and local plans contain unique methods 

of EAS message distribution such as the 

use of the Radio Broadcast Data System 

(RBDS). The plans also include 

information on actions taken by EAS 

Participants, in coordination with state 

and local governments, to ensure timely 

access to EAS alert content by nonEnglish speaking populations. The plans 

must be reviewed and approved by the 

Chief, Public Safety and Homeland 

Security Bureau (Bureau), prior to 

implementation to ensure that they are 

consistent with national plans, FCC 

regulations, and EAS operation. The 

plans are administered by State 

Emergency Communications 

Committees (SECC). The Commission 

encourages the chief executive of each 

State to establish an SECC if their State 

does not have an SECC, and if the State 

has an SECC, to review the composition 

and governance of the SECC. The 

Bureau will review and approve plans, 

including annual updated plans, within 

60 days of receipt, provided that no 

defects are found requiring the plan to 

be returned to the SECC for correction 

and resubmission. If a plan submitted 

for approval is found defective, the 

SECC will be notified of the required 

corrections, and the corrected plan may 

be resubmitted for approval, thus 

starting the 60-day review and approval 

period anew. The approval dates of 

State EAS Plans will be listed on the 

Commission’s website. 

(a) State EAS Plans contain guidelines 

that must be followed by EAS 

Participants’ personnel, emergency 

officials, and National Weather Service 

(NWS) personnel to activate the EAS. 

The Plans include information on 

actions taken by EAS Participants, in 

coordination with state and local 

governments, to ensure timely access to 

EAS alert content by non-English 

speaking populations. State EAS Plans 

must be updated on an annual basis. 

State EAS Plans must include the 

following elements: 

* * * * * 

(8) Certification by the SECC 

Chairperson or Vice-Chairperson that 

the SECC met (in person, via 

teleconference, or via other methods of 

conducting virtual meetings) at least 

once in the twelve months prior to 

submitting the annual updated plan to 

review and update the plan. 

* * * * * 

(g) Compliance date(s)—the 

introductory text and paragraphs (a) 

introductory text and (a)(8) of this 

section contain information-collection 

and recordkeeping requirements 

adopted in the Report and Order and 

Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 

Amendment of the Commission’s Rules 

Regarding the Emergency Alert System; 

Wireless Emergency Alerts, PS Docket 

Nos. 15–91 and 15–94, FCC 21–77 (June 

17, 2021). Compliance with the 

introductory text and paragraphs (a) 

introductory text and (a)(8) will not be 

required until after approval by the 

Office of Management and Budget. The 

Commission will publish a document in 

the Federal Register announcing 

compliance date(s) with those 

paragraphs and revising those 

paragraphs accordingly. 

* * * * * 

■ 11. Section 11.44 is added to read as 

follows: 

§ 11.44 Alert Repetition. 

An alert originator may ‘‘repeat’’ an 

alert by releasing the alert anew—i.e., 

re-originating the alert—at least one 

minute subsequent to the time the 

message was initially released by the 

originator, as reflected in the repeat 

alert’s JJJHHMM header code. Because 

alerts take time to activate across the 

EAS alert distribution chain, alert 

originators should consider an interval 

between the original and re-originated 

alert that is long enough to account for 

this process. If the re-originated alert is 

intended to reflect a valid time period 

consistent with the original, the valid 

time period code (the +TTTT header 

code identified in § 11.31(c)) set for the 

re-originated alert should be adjusted to 

account for the elapsed time between 

the original and re-originated alerts. 

Alert originators should be aware that 

repeating alerts routinely may cause 

alert fatigue among the public. 

■ 12. Section 11.45 is amended by 

revising paragraph (b) and adding 

paragraphs (c) and (d) to read as follows: 

§ 11.45 Prohibition of false or deceptive 

EAS transmissions. 

* * * * * 

(b) No later than twenty-four (24) 

hours of an EAS Participant’s discovery 

(i.e., actual knowledge) that it has 

transmitted or otherwise sent a false 

alert to the public, the EAS Participant 

shall send an email to the Commission 

at the FCC Ops Center at FCCOPS@

fcc.gov, informing the Commission of 

the event and of any details that the 

EAS Participant may have concerning 

the event. 

(c) If the Administrator of the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency or a 

State, local, Tribal, or territorial 

government entity becomes aware of 

transmission of an EAS false alert to the 

public, they are encouraged to send an 

email to the Commission at the FCC Ops 

Center at FCCOPS@fcc.gov, informing 

the Commission of the event and of any 

details that they may have concerning 

the event. 

(d) Compliance date(s)—paragraph (c) 

of this section contains an informationcollection and recordkeeping 

requirement. Compliance with 

paragraph (c) will not be required until 

after approval by the Office of 

Management and Budget. The 

Commission will publish a document in 

the Federal Register announcing 

compliance date(s) for this paragraph 

and revising this paragraph accordingly. 

[FR Doc. 2021–15175 Filed 8–19–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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