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

    (a) The EAS may be activated at the State or Local Area levels by 
broadcast stations and 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, 
participating broadcast stations and cable systems 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 and 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 Sec. 11.54(b)(7). Broadcast stations providing foreign 
language programming shall comply with Sec. 11.54(b)(8).
    (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.

[[Page 600]]

    (6) Resume normal operations upon conclusion of the message.
    (7) The times of the above EAS actions must be entered in the 
broadcast station or cable system records as specified in 
Sec. 11.54(b)(15), FCC Form 201 may be used to report EAS activations.
    (8) Use of the EAS codes or Attention Signal automatically grants 
rebroadcast authority as specified in Sec. 11.54(d).

                            Subpart E--Tests