Federal Communications Commission	DA 26-86



DA 26-86
Released:  January 26, 2026

PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU REMINDS WIRELESS PROVIDERS TO TRANSMIT AND PROPERLY DISPLAY WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS WITH SPANISH-LANGUAGE CHARACTERS

PS Docket Nos. 15-91 and 15-94

By this Public Notice, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) reminds wireless providers that participate in Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) of their obligation to transmit and properly display WEA messages that contain Spanish-language characters, including accent marks and proper punctuation. Spanish-language characters include the letters “Ñ,” “ñ,” “Á,” “á,” “É,” “é,” “Í,” “í,” “Ó,” “ó,” “Ú,” and “ú,” and the following punctuation: “¿” (inverted question mark) and “¡” (inverted exclamation point).
  Replacing Spanish-language characters with their nearest equivalent English-language characters or deleting Spanish-language punctuation included by an alert originator violates the Commission’s rules.  Section 10.480 of the Commission’s rules requires participating wireless providers to “transmit WEA Alert Messages that are issued in the Spanish language or that contain Spanish-language characters.” 47 CFR § 10.480; Wireless Emergency Alerts, Amendments to Part 11 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert System, PS Docket Nos. 15-91 and 15-94, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 31 FCC Rcd 11112, 11140, para. 40 (2016) (Report and Order). 
  Section 10.500(e) requires WEA-capable mobile devices to extract alert message content in the subscriber’s preferred language. 47 CFR § 10.500(e); Report and Order, 31 FCC Rcd at 11139, para. 38.  The voluntary nature of WEA under the WARN Act notwithstanding, pursuant to Section 10.210(a)(1) of the Commission’s rules, each wireless provider that participates in WEA has agreed to do so “in a manner consistent with the technical standards, protocols, procedures, and other technical requirements implemented by the Commission.” 47 CFR § 10.210(a)(1); Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act, Title VI of the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006, 120 Stat. 1884, § 602, codified at 47 USC § 1201 (2006) (WARN Act).
  Together, these sections work to ensure that “Spanish-language alerts will be processed and displayed properly.” Report and Order, 31 FCC Rcd at 11140, para. 40.
  Moreover, purporting to convey Spanish-language alerts that are not actually written in the Spanish language is contrary to the public interest.  Doing so makes Spanish-language alert messages more difficult to understand for the audiences they are intended to help, may cause harm by delaying or preventing protective actions, and may discourage alerting authorities from sending Spanish-language alerts in the future.  
The Bureau reminds alerting authorities that multilingual templates (including templates in Spanish) for the most common and most time-sensitive emergencies are available on the Commission’s website. Required Multilingual Wireless Emergency Alert Templates (PSHSB Jan. 8, 2025), https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/FillableAlertTemplates-WEA-MultilingualOrder.pdf.  
   
For more information, contact James Wiley (James.Wiley@fcc.gov), Deputy Chief, Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. 
- FCC -


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