More than six months ago we reported on some tweaks of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) that the FCC had adopted after analyzing the results of its 2011 national EAS test. While most of the changes kicked in last July, two revised sections of the rules – Sections 11.21(a) and 11.61(a)(3)(iv) – did not. That’s because those two involve information collections that had to be run past the Office of Management and Budget (thanks, of course, to the hilariously named Paperwork Reduction Act).
But now, according to a notice in the Federal Register, OMB has signed off on the two sections, as a result of which both will be effective as of December 31, 2015. Happy New Year!
(Note: The announcement of the effective date of these two rules will in turn mean that EAS participants will eventually have to provide certain identifying information required by the EAS Test Reporting System. But we expect that the FCC will separately provide more detail about that requirement, in which case we’ll pass the word along to our readers. Check back here for updates.)