The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to implement multilingual Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) for participating commercial mobile service providers. These providers must support customizable multilingual templates for the most common and time-sensitive alerts in English, the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the U.S., and American Sign Language (ASL), with ASL templates signed by a Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI). Amendments to 47 CFR 10.480 and 47 CFR 10.500(e), announced in December 2023, will take effect on June 5, 2028, while other amendments to the same sections are delayed indefinitely.
USA – Wireless Emergency Alerts and the Emergency Alert System
