Sec. 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

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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.