§  211.4   Policy.

   During the continuance of a war in which the United States is engaged
   and when the provisions of this part are invoked, all communications
   common carriers shall comply with the following principles insofar as
   possible:

   (a) Whenever necessary to maintain or restore a service having a
   designated priority, services having lower priority, lower subpriority,
   or no priority, will be interrupted in the reverse order of priority
   starting with nonpriority services.

   (b) When services are interrupted to restore priority services,
   carriers will endeavor if feasible to notify users of the reason for
   the preemption.

   (c) When public correspondence circuits are needed to satisfy
   requirements for priority services, idle circuits will be selected
   first. A minimum number of public correspondence circuits shall at all
   times be kept available so as to provide for the transmission of
   precedence-type messages and calls.

   (d) Communications common carriers will not interrupt conversations
   having priority classification except insofar as necessary to restore
   services of higher priority.

   (e) It is recognized that as a practical matter in providing for the
   maintenance or restoration of a priority service or services operating
   within a multiple circuit-type facility (such as a carrier band, cable,
   or multiplex system), lower priority, lower subpriority, or nonpriority
   services on paralleled channels within a band or system may be restored
   concurrently with higher priority services. Such reactivation shall
   not, however, interfere with the expedited restoration of other
   priority services.

   (f) The Executive Agent is authorized to instruct the carriers on the
   percentage of government-switched network intermachine trunks to be
   restored to provide capacity for priority access line traffic.

   (g) The carriers are authorized to honor NCS-certified priorities from
   other authorized carriers for leased facilities.

   (h) The carriers are authorized to honor restoration priorities
   certified by the Executive Agent.

   (i) To ensure the effectiveness of the system of restoration priorities
   established by this part it is essential that rigorous standards be
   applied. Users are requested and directed to examine their private line
   service requirements in light of the criteria specified in this part
   and with regard to the availability of alternate communications
   facilities such as public correspondence message services, and
   Government-owned emergency communications systems.