In a pair of Public Notices, the FCC provided guidance on Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) obligations. In the first Notice, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) reminded wireless carriers participating in the WEA program that they are required to transmit and properly display WEA messages containing Spanish-language characters, including accent marks and proper punctuation. Substituting Spanish-language characters with English-language equivalents, or removing Spanish-language punctuation included by an alert originator violates Sections 10.480 and 10.500(e) of the FCC’s rules.
In a separate Public Notice, the Commission established June 12, 2028, as the compliance deadline for certain multilingual WEA template implementation rules adopted in the WEA Third Report and Order. The effective dates for some of these rules were delayed pending the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) information collection approval. OMB has now approved the information collection and certain non-substantive changes to the implementation rules.
