§  11.61   Tests of EAS procedures.

   (a) EAS Participants shall conduct tests at regular intervals, as
   specified in paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this section. Additional
   tests may be performed anytime. EAS activations and special tests may
   be performed in lieu of required tests as specified in paragraph (a)(4)
   of this section.

   (1) Required Monthly Tests of the EAS header codes, Attention Signal,
   Test Script and EOM code.

   (i) Tests in odd numbered months shall occur between 8:30 a.m. and
   local sunset. Tests in even numbered months shall occur between local
   sunset and 8:30 a.m. They will originate from Local or State Primary
   sources. The time and script content will be developed by State
   Emergency Communications Committees in cooperation with affected EAS
   Participants. Script content may be in the primary language of the EAS
   Participant. These monthly tests must be transmitted within 60 minutes
   of receipt by EAS Participants in an EAS Local Area or State. Analog
   and digital class D non-commercial educational FM, analog and digital
   LPFM stations, and analog and digital LPTV stations are required to
   transmit only the test script.

   (ii) Effective May 31, 2007, DBS providers must comply with this
   section by monitoring a state or local primary source to participate in
   testing. Tests should be performed on 10% of all channels monthly
   (excluding local-into-local channels for which the monthly transmission
   tests are passed through by the DBS provider), with channels tested
   varying from month to month, so that over the course of a given year,
   100% of all channels are tested.

   (iii) SDARS providers must comply with this section by monitoring a
   state or local primary source to participate in testing. Tests should
   be performed on 10% of all channels monthly, with channels tested
   varying from month to month, so that over the course of a given year,
   100% of all channels are tested.

   (2) Required Weekly Tests:

   (i) EAS Header Codes and EOM Codes:

   (A) Analog and digital AM, FM, and TV broadcast stations must conduct
   tests of the EAS header and EOM codes at least once a week at random
   days and times. Effective December 31, 2006, DAB stations must conduct
   these tests on all audio streams. Effective December 31, 2006, DTV
   stations must conduct these tests on all program streams.

   (B) Analog cable systems and digital cable systems with 5,000 or more
   subscribers per headend and wireless cable systems with 5,000 or more
   subscribers must conduct tests of the EAS Header and EOM Codes at least
   once a week at random days and times on all programmed channels.

   (C) Analog cable systems and digital cable systems serving fewer than
   5,000 subscribers per headend and wireless cable systems with fewer
   than 5,000 subscribers must conduct tests of the EAS Header and EOM
   Codes at least once a week at random days and times on at least one
   programmed channel.

   (ii) DBS providers, SDARS providers, analog and digital class D
   non-commercial educational FM stations, analog and digital LPFM
   stations, and analog and digital LPTV stations are not required to
   transmit this test but must log receipt, as specified in § 11.35(a) and
   11.54(a)(3).

   (iii) The EAS weekly test is not required during the week that a
   monthly test is conducted.

   (iv) EAS Participants are not required to transmit a video message when
   transmitting the required weekly test.

   (3) National tests. (i) All EAS Participants shall participate in
   national tests as scheduled by the Commission in consultation with the
   Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Such tests will consist of
   the delivery by FEMA to PEP/NP stations of a coded EAS message,
   including EAS header codes, Attention Signal, Test Script, and EOM
   code. All other EAS Participants will then be required to relay that
   EAS message. The coded message shall utilize EAS test codes as
   designated by the Commission's rules.

   (ii) A national test shall replace the required weekly and monthly
   tests for all EAS Participants, as set forth in paragraphs (a)(1) and
   (a)(2) of this section, in the week and month in which it occurs.

   (iii) Notice shall be provided to EAS Participants by the Commission at
   least two months prior to the conduct of any such national test.

   (iv) Test results as required by the Commission shall be logged by all
   EAS Participants into the EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) as
   determined by the Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security
   Bureau, subject to the following requirements.

   (A) EAS Participants shall provide the identifying information required
   by the ETRS initially no later than sixty days after the publication in
   the Federal Register of a notice announcing the approval by the Office
   of Management and Budget of the modified information collection
   requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and an effective
   date of the rule amendment, or within sixty days of the launch of the
   ETRS, whichever is later, and shall renew this identifying information
   on a yearly basis or as required by any revision of the EAS
   Participant's State EAS Plan filed pursuant to § 11.21.

   (B) “Day of test” data shall be filed in the ETRS within 24 hours of
   any nationwide test or as otherwise required by the Public Safety and
   Homeland Security Bureau.

   (C) Detailed post-test data shall be filed in the ETRS within forty
   five (45) days following any nationwide test.

   (4) EAS activations and special tests. The EAS may be activated for
   emergencies or special tests at the State or Local Area level by an EAS
   Participant instead of the monthly or weekly tests required by this
   section. To substitute for a monthly test, activation must include
   transmission of the EAS header codes, Attention Signal, emergency
   message and EOM code and comply with the visual message requirements in
   § 11.51. To substitute for the weekly test of the EAS header codes and
   EOM codes in paragraph (a)(2)(i) of this section, activation must
   include transmission of the EAS header and EOM codes. Analog and
   digital television broadcast stations, analog cable systems, digital
   cable systems, wireless cable systems, and DBS providers shall comply
   with the aural and visual message requirements in § 11.51. Special EAS
   tests at the State and Local Area levels may be conducted on daily
   basis following procedures in State and Local Area EAS plans.

   (5) Live Code Tests. EAS Participants may participate in no more than
   two (2) “Live Code” EAS Tests per calendar year that are conducted to
   exercise the EAS and raise public awareness for it, provided that the
   entity conducting the test:

   (i) Notifies the public before the test that live event codes will be
   used, but that no emergency is, in fact, occurring;

   (ii) To the extent technically feasible, states in the test message
   that the event is only a test;

   (iii) Coordinates the test among EAS Participants and with state and
   local emergency authorities, the relevant SECC (or SECCs, if the test
   could affect multiple states), and first responder organizations, such
   as PSAPs, police, and fire agencies); and,

   (iv) Consistent with § 11.51, provides in widely accessible formats the
   notification to the public required by this subsection that the test is
   only a test, and is not a warning about an actual emergency.

   (b) Entries shall be made in EAS Participant records, as specified in
   § 11.35(a) and 11.54(a)(3).

   [ 70 FR 71038 , Nov. 25, 2005, as amended at  76 FR 12604 , Mar. 8, 2011;
    77 FR 16707 , Mar. 22, 2012;  80 FR 37177 , June 30, 2015;  83 FR 39621 ,
   Aug. 10, 2018;  85 FR 30634 , May 20, 2020]

   

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