Message precedence is an indicator attached to a message indicating its level of urgency, and used in the exchange of radiograms in radiotelegraph and radiotelephony procedures. Email header fields can also provide a precedence flag.

Early telegraphic procedures

In the early days of telegraphy and radiotelegraphy, individual countries, and sometimes individual states, sometimes set their own regulations. For example, in the period around 1909, California required that "messages must, if practicable, be transmitted immediately on and in order of receipt; if not practicable, then in the following order:"

International regulation

Later in the development of telegraphy and radiotelegraphy, message precedence was nominally set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Various ITU Regulations provide for the following priorities: The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, has included the following priorities: The current U.S. Title 47 specifies these precedence designators for radiograms:

CCEB military precedence

The Combined Communications Electronics Board (CCEB), a five-nation joint military communications-electronics organization (consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States), uses the following message precedence designators, in descending order of importance:

Amateur radio message precedence

The American Amateur radio community uses EMERGENCY, PRIORITY, WELFARE and ROUTINE precedence levels for ARRL Radiograms sent through National Traffic System nets.