The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) has announced that new rules for the testing of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) will take effect on July 17, 2024. Under the rules, Commercial Mobile Service providers that choose to offer the WEA service (Participating CMS Providers) may not take part in more than two WEA tests per county (or county equivalent) per calendar year that the public receives by default. Additionally, Participating CMS Providers must take certain measures to ensure that test alerts are understood by both the public and relevant authorities to be a test. Such measures include conducting public outreach prior to the test, providing a widely accessible public notification that the event is not a real emergency, and coordinating the test with the relevant emergency authorities.
The regulations were adopted in 2023 as part of a set intended to increase the accessibility of WEA alerts.
