Criteria.
47 C.F.R. § 213.6
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) Flash, Flash Emergency. (1) This is the highest order of precedence and shall be strictly limited to Federal and Foreign Government agencies.
(2) Flash, or Flash Emergency telephone calls or messages shall be handled in the order received and ahead of all calls or messages except as indicated for international messages in ITU Regulations. When necessary to obtain a circuit for a Flash, or Flash Emergency call any call in progress of a lesser precedence will be interrupted, if feasible. Any message of a lesser precedence in the process of transmission will be halted, if feasible, to clear the channel for the Flash or Flash Emergency transmission. Flash or Flash Emergency precedence shall be reserved for calls and messages having an immediate bearing on:
(i) Command and control of military forces essential to defense and retaliation.
(ii) Critical intelligence essential to national survival.
(iii) Conduct of diplomatic negotiations critical to the arresting or limiting of hostilities.
(iv) Dissemination of critical civil alert information essential to national survival.
(v) Continuity of Federal governmental functions essential to national survival.
(vi) Fulfillment of critical U.S. internal security functions essential to national survival.
(vii) Catastrophic events of national or international significance, such as Presidential Action Notices essential to national survival during attack or preattack conditions.
(b) Immediate, Immediate Emergency, Urgent. Immediate, Immediate Emergency, or Urgent telephone calls or messages shall be handled as fast as possible and ahead of all other calls or messages except those having a higher precedence. Any message or call of a lower precedence in the process of transmission will be halted, if feasible, to clear the channel for this transmission. It will be reserved generally for calls or messages pertaining to:
(1) Situations which gravely affect the security of national and allied forces.
(2) Reconstitution of forces in a postattack period.
(3) Intelligence essential to national security.
(4) Conduct of diplomatic negotiations to reduce or limit the threat of war.
(5) Implementation of Federal Government actions essential to national survival.
(6) Situations which gravely affect the internal security of the United States.
(7) Civil defense actions concerning direction of our population and its survival.
(8) Disasters or events of extensive seriousness having an immediate and detrimental effect on the welfare of the population.
(9) Vital information having an immediate effect on aircraft, spacecraft, or missile operations.
(c) Priority, Priority Emergency, Urgent. Priority, Priority Emergency, or Urgent messages and calls shall take precedence over messages or calls designated Routine, or in the case of common carriers, over all nonprecedence traffic. Priority, Priority Emergency, or Urgent precedence is generally reserved for calls or messages which require expeditious action. Examples are calls or messages pertaining to:
(1) Information on locations where attack is impending or where fire or air support will soon be placed.
(2) Air-ground integrated operations.
(3) Important intelligence.
(4) Important diplomatic information.
(5) Important information concerning the launch, operation, or recovery of spacecraft or missiles.
(6) Movement of naval, air, and ground forces.
(7) Coordination between governmental agencies concerning the performance of emergency preparedness functions.
(8) Major civil aircraft accidents.
(9) Maintaining the public health, safety, and the welfare of our population.
(10) Critical logistic functions, provisions of critical public utility services, and administrative military support functions.
(11) Distributing essential food and supplies critical to health.
(12) Accomplishing tasks necessary to insure critical damage control functions.
(13) Preparations for adequate hospitalization.
(14) Continuity of critical Government functions.
(15) Arranging minimum transportation for accomplishing the aforesaid functions.
(16) Continuing or reestablishing our more important financial, economic, health, and safety activities. Producing, procuring, and distributing food materials and supplies which are considered necessary to the immediate support of a war effort, the national defense, or for expediting the means of meeting the effects of natural disasters.
(17) Prompt delivery of information by press representatives to news media organizations and newspapers covering news of national or widespread disasters.
(d) Routine; no domestic equivalent. Routine precedence designation applies to those normal day-to-day communications which require rapid transmission by telephone or message, but do not require urgent or preferential handling.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-47.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026