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                                                       DA-02-2312
                                               September 19, 2002

        NOTICE REGARDING FCC CERTIFICATION OF EAS DECODER

Low Power FM Stations Must Install Certified EAS Decoders Within 
One Year of Publication of this Public Notice in Federal Register 
  Cable Systems Serving Fewer Than 5,000 Subscribers May Comply 
    with October 1, 2002 Deadline to Install EAS Equipment by 
                Installing Certified EAS Decoder

     In a Report  and Order  released on February  26, 2002,  the 
Federal Communications Commission granted low power FM stations a 
temporary blanket waiver of the  requirement in the EAS rules  to 
install FCC-certified decoders.1   The Commission based grant  of 
the waiver on  the fact that,  at that time,  there were no  FCC-
certified  EAS   decoders   on  the   market.    The   Commission 
concurrently amended  the  EAS  rules  to  exempt  low  power  FM 
stations from  installing FCC-certified  EAS decoders  until  one 
year after the  Commission published  in the  Federal Register  a 
Public Notice indicating that at  least one EAS decoder has  been 
certified.2  Finally, the Commission  also amended the EAS  rules 
in the Report  and Order  to permit cable  systems serving  fewer 
than 5,000 subscribers to use an FCC-certified decoder, if such a 
device became  available  by  October  1, 2002,  in  lieu  of  an 
encoder/decoder unit.   

     On July 23, 2002, the Commission staff granted an  equipment 
authorization for  an Emergency  Alert System  (``EAS'')  decoder 
unit to equipment manufacturer TFT, Inc.
         
     Accordingly, within one year  of publication of this  Public 
Notice in the  Federal Register,  low power FM  stations will  be 
required to install certified  EAS decoders.  In addition,  cable 
systems that serve fewer than  5,000 subscribers may comply  with 
the Commission's requirement to install EAS equipment by  October 
1, 2002, by installing a certified EAS decoder, rather than  both 
an encoder and a decoder.3

     For further information contact John Winston at 202-418-7450 
or Bonnie Gay at (202) 418-1228.
     
     By  the  Chief,  Technical   and  Public  Safety   Division, 
Enforcement Bureau.


                              -FCC-

_________________________

1 Amendment of Part 11 of the Commission's Rules Regarding the 
Emergency Alert System, (Report and Order), EB Docket No. 01-66, 
17 FCC Rcd 4055 (2002) (``Report and Order''). 

2 See 47 C.F.R. §11.11. 

3 Report and Order, 17 FCC Rcd at 4082.