FMCSA requests input on possible changes to ELD regulations

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is asking industry stakeholders for input on “ways to improve the clarity of current regulations on the use of electronic logging devices and address certain concerns about the technical specifications.”

FMCSA’s mandate on the use of ELDs to record commercial motor vehicle hours of service went into effect in December 2017. In April 2018, inspectors were allowed to begin placing drivers out of service for operating without ELDs, which are used in place of manual paper logs to track HOS.

In an advance notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Sept. 16 Federal Register, FMCSA requests comment on five specific areas:

• Applicability to pre-2000 engines (the mandate exempts trucks with pre-2000 engines)
• Addressing ELD malfunctions
• The process for removing ELD products from FMCSA’s list of certified devices
• Technical specifications
• ELD certification

“FMCSA believes that the lessons learned by agency staff, state enforcement personnel, ELD providers, and industry over the last few years can be used to streamline and improve the clarity of the regulatory text and ELD technical specifications and resolve questions that have arisen,” the agency says. “In addition, technical specifications could be updated to address concerns raised by affected parties and improve the functionality of ELDs.”

The deadline to comment is Nov. 15.