Attachment D: Final Rule titled "Unified Registration System" (78 FR 52608)

Vol. 78

Friday,

No. 164

August 23, 2013

Part II

Department of Transportation

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Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
49 CFR Parts 360, 365, 366, et al.
Unified Registration System; Final Rule

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52608

Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
49 CFR Parts 360, 365, 366, 368, 385,
387, 390 and 392
[Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349]
RIN 2126–AA22

Unified Registration System
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:

The FMCSA amends its
regulations to require interstate motor
carriers, freight forwarders, brokers,
intermodal equipment providers (IEPs),
hazardous materials safety permit
(HMSP) applicants, and cargo tank
facilities under FMCSA jurisdiction to
submit required registration and
biennial update information to the
Agency via a new electronic on-line
Unified Registration System (URS).
FMCSA establishes fees for the
registration system, discloses the
cumulative information to be collected
in the URS, and provides a centralized
cross-reference to existing safety and
commercial regulations necessary for
compliance with the registration
requirements. The final rule implements
statutory provisions in the ICC
Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA) and
the Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A
Legacy for Users, 2005 (SAFETEA–LU).
The URS will streamline the registration
process and serve as a clearinghouse
and depository of information on, and
identification of, motor carriers, brokers,
freight forwarders, IEPs, HMSP
applicants, and cargo tank facilities
required to register with FMCSA.
DATES: Effective Dates: The final rule is
effective October 23, 2015, except for
§ 390.19 (amendatory instruction
number 55) and § 392.9b (amendatory
instruction 61), which are effective
November 1, 2013, and except for
§ 366.2 (amendatory instruction 19),
which is effective April 25, 2016.
Compliance Dates: The compliance
date for this final rule is October 23,
2015, except that the compliance date
for §§ 390.19 and 392.9b is November 1,
2013, and the compliance date for
§ 366.2 is April 25, 2016.
Petitions for reconsideration must be
received by September 23, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Petitions for reconsideration
must be submitted to: Administrator,
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration, 1200 New Jersey

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SUMMARY:

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Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590–
0001.
All background documents,
comments, and materials related to this
rule may be viewed in docket number
FMCSA–1997–2349 using either of the
following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov.
• Docket Management Facility (M–
30), U.S. Department of Transportation,
West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12–140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC 20590–0001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Wesley Ray, IT Specialist, IT
Development Division, (202) 366–3876,
or by email at Wesley.Ray@dot.gov.
Business hours are from 8:00 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Preamble Table of Contents
I. Public Participation
A. Viewing Comments and Documents
B. Privacy Act
II. Acronyms and Abbreviations
III. Executive Summary
A. Purpose of the URS
B. Summary of Major Provisions
1. Entities Included in the URS
2. The Application Process
3. Updating URS Information
4. Identification Solely by USDOT Number
5. User Fees
6. Evidence of Financial Responsibility
7. Process Agent Designations
8. Transfers of Operating Authority
9. Impacts on State Registration Systems
10. Compliance Dates
C. Benefits and Costs
IV. Background
A. Legal Authority
B. Regulatory History
V. Discussion of Comments
A. Summary of Comments
B. Overly Complex Application Form
C. Insufficient Technical Information
D. Applicability
1. Cargo Tank Program
2. Certain Intrastate HM Carriers
3. Hazardous Materials Safety Permit
Applicants
4. Mexico-Domiciled Carriers
5. Non-Motor Carrier Leasing Companies
6. School Bus Operations
E. Mandatory Electronic Filing
F. Biennial Update
G. Administrative Filings
1. Timeframe for Filing Changes to Name,
Address
2. Financial Responsibility for Certain FTA
Grantees
3. Financial Responsibility for Private HM
Carriers
4. Blanket Agents
H. Potential URS Impacts on Existing
Systems and Programs
1. Impacts on PRISM Program
2. Impacts on UCR Agreement
I. Transfers of Operating Authority and
Concerns about Reincarnated Carriers

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J. Reinstatement of Operating Authority
K. Unauthorized Re-Brokering of Freight
L. Americans with Disabilities Act
Compliance
M. Other Suggested Revisions to MCSA–1
Form and Instructions
VI. Section-by-Section Analysis
A. Part 360, Fees for Motor Carrier
Registration and Insurance
B. Part 365, Rules Governing Applications
for Operating Authority
C. Part 366, Designation of Process Agent
D. Part 368, Application for a Certificate of
Registration to Operate in Municipalities
in the United States on the United
States-Mexico International Border or
within the Commercial Zones of Such
Municipalities
E. Part 385, Safety Fitness Procedures
F. Part 387, Minimum Levels of Financial
Responsibility for Motor Carriers
G. Part 390, Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Regulations, General
H. Part 392, Driving of Commercial Motor
Vehicles
VII. Regulatory Evaluation of the URS Final
Rule: Summary of Calculation of Benefits
and Costs
VIII. Rulemaking Analyses and Notices
A. Executive Order 12866 and Executive
Order 13563
B. Regulatory Flexibility Act
C. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
D. National Environmental Policy Act
E. Paperwork Reduction Act
F. Executive Order 12630 (Taking of
Private Property)
G. Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice
Reform)
H. Executive Order 13045 (Protection of
Children)
I. Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)
J. Executive Order 12372
(Intergovernmental Review)
K. Executive Order 13211 (Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use)
L. Privacy Impact Analysis

I. Public Participation
A. Viewing Comments and Documents
To view comments, as well as
documents identified in this preamble
as available in the docket, go to http://
www.regulations.gov and click on the
‘‘Read Comments’’ box in the upper
right hand side of the screen. Then, in
the ‘‘Keyword’’ box, insert ‘‘FMCSA–
1997–2349’’ and click ‘‘Search.’’ Next,
click ‘‘Open Docket Folder’’ in the
‘‘Actions’’ column. Finally, in the
‘‘Title’’ column, click on the document
you would like to review. If you do not
have access to the Internet, you may
view the docket online by visiting the
Docket Management Facility in Room
W12–140 on the ground floor of the
DOT West Building, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590,
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.

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B. Privacy Act
All comments received are posted
without change to http://
www.regulations.gov. Anyone is able to
search the electronic form for all
comments received into any of our
dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the
comment, if submitted on behalf of an
association, business, labor union, or
other organization). You may review
DOT’s complete Privacy Act Statement
in the Federal Register published on
January 17, 2008 (73 FR 3316), or you
may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/
2008/pdf/E8-785.pdf.

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II. Acronyms and Abbreviations
ADA Americans with Disabilities Act
ANPRM Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking
APA Administrative Procedure Act
ATA American Trucking Associations
BASIC Behavioral Analysis Safety
Improvement Category
BI&PD Bodily Injury and Property Damage
CDL Commercial Driver’s License
CFR Code of Federal Regulations
CMV Commercial Motor Vehicle
CR Compliance Review
CSA Compliance Safety Accountability
CVIEW Commercial Vehicle Information
Exchange Window
DBA Doing Business As
DOJ U.S. Department of Justice
eFOTM Electronic Field Operations
Training Manual
EPT Example Private Trucking
FF Freight Forwarder
FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
FMCSRs Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Regulations
FR Federal Register
FTA Federal Transit Administration
GVWR Gross Vehicle Weight Rating
HHG Household Goods
HM Hazardous Materials
HMSP Hazardous Materials Safety Permit
ICC Interstate Commerce Commission
ICCTA ICC Termination Act of 1995
IEP Intermodal Equipment Provider
IRP International Registration Plan
IT Information Technology
LLP Limited Liability Partnership
MAP–21 Moving Ahead for Progress in the
21st Century Act
MC Motor Carrier
MCMIS Motor Carrier Management
Information System
MCSA–1 Application for USDOT
Registration/Operating Authority
MoDOT Missouri Department of
Transportation
NADA–ATDD National Automobile Dealers
Association—American Truck Dealers
Division
NAFTA North American Free Trade
Agreement
NIST National Institute of Standards and
Technology
NPRM Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
NPTC National Private Truck Council

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NSTA National School Transportation
Association
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
NTTC National Tank Truck Carriers
OOIDA Owner-Operator Independent
Drivers Association
OTRB Act Over-the-Road Bus
Transportation Accessibility Act of 2007
PHMSA Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
PU Power Unit
PRISM Performance and Registration
Information Systems Management
SAFETEA–LU Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A
Legacy for Users
SBA Small Business Administration
SNPRM Supplemental Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking
SSRS Single State Registration System
TIA Transportation Intermediaries
Association
UCR Unified Carrier Registration
URS Unified Registration System
U.S.C. United States Code
USDOT U.S. Department of Transportation
VMT Vehicle Miles Traveled

III. Executive Summary
A. Purpose of the URS
This final rule establishes the Unified
Registration System (URS) required by
the ICC Termination Act of 1995 1
(ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable,
Flexible, and Efficient Transportation
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
(SAFETEA–LU).2 In the ICCTA,
Congress enacted 49 U.S.C. 13908,
which directed the Secretary of
Transportation (Secretary) to issue
regulations to replace certain existing
registration and information systems
with a single, online, Federal system.3
SAFETEA–LU modified the
requirements for a unified registration
system contained in the ICCTA. The
details of these requirements are
discussed in section IV.A below (Legal
Authority).
The implementation of the URS final
rule will consolidate the following
registration and information systems: (1)
The U.S. Department of Transportation
(USDOT) identification number system;
(2) the 49 U.S.C. chapter 139
commercial registration system; (3) the
49 U.S.C. 13906 financial responsibility
information system; and (4) the service
of process agent designation system (49
U.S.C. 503 and 13304).
The URS will improve the registration
process for motor carriers, property
brokers, freight forwarders, IEPs, HMSP
1 Public Law 104–88, 109 Stat. 803 (Dec. 29,
1995).
2 Public Law 109–59, 119 Stat. 1144 (Aug. 10,
2005).
3 The Secretary of Transportation has delegated to
the Administrator of the FMCSA this authority to
carry out functions relating to registration
requirements. See 49 CFR 1.87(a)(5).

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52609

applicants and cargo tank facilities
required to register with FMCSA, and
streamline the existing Federal
registration processes to ensure the
Agency can more efficiently track these
entities. The URS also will increase
public accessibility to data about
interstate motor carriers, property
brokers, freight forwarders, IEPs, HMSP
applicants, and cargo tank facilities.
The Moving Ahead for Progress in the
21st Century Act (MAP–21) was enacted
on July 6, 2012.4 This legislation
includes several provisions that are
relevant to the implementation of the
URS. However, many of these statutory
provisions will require notice-andcomment rulemakings because they are
not self-executing and provide
discretion in establishing the details for
the implementing regulations. Rather
than delay issuance of this final rule,
and to ensure an appropriate
opportunity for public participation in
the regulatory changes necessitated by
MAP–21, the Agency will initiate a
separate rulemaking proceeding(s) to
address the necessary regulatory
changes. The Agency notes that in some
instances, these changes to the planned
implementation of the URS program
will not require rulemaking but may be
addressed during the implementation
phase of the URS. The enactment of
MAP–21 also necessitates minor
changes in the MCSA–1 Form and
Instructions presented in the
supplemental notice of proposed
rulemaking (SNPRM). These changes do
not require notice-and-comment
rulemaking,5 and FMCSA incorporates
some of those changes in today’s final
rule.
B. Summary of Major Provisions
1. Entities Included in the URS
The URS final rule applies to every
entity under FMCSA’s commercial and/
or safety jurisdiction, except for Mexicodomiciled motor carriers seeking
authority to operate beyond the border
commercial zones (Mexico-domiciled
4 Public Law 112–141, 126 Stat. 405 (July 6,
2012).
5 Under section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative
Procedure Act [5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B)] (APA), notice
and comment rulemaking is not required when the
Agency for good cause finds that notice and public
procedure are impracticable, unnecessary, or
contrary to the public interest. The changes made
in response to MAP–21 were limited to modifying
the MCSA–1 Form and Instructions to incorporate
new statutory language regarding affiliations with
other regulated entities. The SNPRM had proposed
different, but similar language; thus the
modification was clearly within the scope of the
issues that were subject to notice and comment in
the SNPRM. For this reason, the agency believes
that, consistent with the APA, providing further
opportunity for further public comment on these
limited changes is unnecessary.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations

long-haul carriers). SAFETEA–LU
amended 49 U.S.C. 13908(b) to require
the URS to ‘‘serve as a clearinghouse
and depository of information on, and
identification of, all foreign and
domestic motor carriers, motor private

carriers, brokers, freight forwarders, and
others required to register with [DOT].’’
FMCSA is excluding Mexico-domiciled
long-haul carriers at this time because
the U.S.-Mexico border is not open to
such carriers, other than the participants

in the current cross-border long-haul
trucking pilot program.6 Table 1
describes in detail the different type of
entities that must register under the
URS established in today’s final rule.

TABLE 1—ENTITIES REQUIRED TO REGISTER UNDER THE UNIFIED REGISTRATION SYSTEM
Entity

Description

1. For hire (exempt and non-exempt) or private motor
carrier:
a. For-hire motor carrier .......................................
i. Exempt .......................................................
ii. Non-exempt ...............................................
b. Private motor carrier .........................................
2. Broker ......................................................................
3. Freight forwarder .....................................................

4. Intermodal equipment provider ................................
5. Hazardous Materials Safety Permit applicant .........
6. Cargo tank facility ....................................................

The entities covered by the URS will
be required to register with FMCSA and
update registration information
provided on the new Form MCSA–1
periodically as required. Entities that
already have a USDOT Number do not
need to file the Form MCSA–1 until
they need to update registration
information. FMCSA is requiring that
regulated entities fill out and update
their registration information
electronically using a web-based, online
version of Form MCSA–1. The Agency
believes mandatory electronic filing will
result in substantial cost savings to both
applicants and FMCSA. The Agency is
developing the online Form MCSA–1
application process to guide the
applicant to only the MCSA–1

information pertinent to its operations,
and to skip any irrelevant sections. The
application process will mimic the
interactive, interview format of popular
tax preparation software, rather than a
static fillable format. Applicants will
only be asked questions applicable to
their specific operations.
Under the URS application process, a
new applicant will be issued an inactive
USDOT Number. The inactive USDOT
Number will be activated by the Agency
only after the Agency has determined
that the applicant is willing and able to
comply with applicable regulatory
requirements and the applicant has
satisfied applicable administrative filing
requirements, such as evidence of
financial responsibility, if applicable,
and a process agent designation (49 CFR
390.201(c)(2)).7 If a carrier also is

seeking operating authority registration
(non-exempt for-hire carriers only), the
USDOT Number will remain inactive
until all protests filed under 49 CFR part
365 have been resolved and the
applicant has satisfied all applicable
administrative filing requirements. An
applicant with an inactive USDOT
Number is prohibited from operating in
interstate commerce by 49 CFR 392.9b.

6 See Pilot Program on the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Long-Haul Trucking
Provisions, 76 FR 40420 (July 8, 2011); see also
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/intl-programs/trucking/
trucking-program.aspx (last accessed July 31, 2012).
7 The term ‘‘evidence of financial responsibility’’
refers to the forms filed with FMCSA by insurance
companies, surety companies, or financial

institutions, in accordance with 49 CFR part 387.
FMCSA considers the filing of such forms to be
evidence that motor carriers and freight forwarders
have the necessary insurance coverage, and brokers
have the necessary surety bonds or trust fund
agreements, in the minimum amounts prescribed by
law. Unlike insurance policies, which may cover
numerous claims cumulatively exceeding the dollar
limits of the policy, broker bonds or trust fund

agreements may be depleted if the cumulative
amounts of claims filed against the broker for nonperformance of its legal obligations exceed the
maximum amount of the bond or trust fund
agreement. In accordance with sec. 32918(a) of
MAP–21, the Agency will immediately suspend the
registration of a broker or freight forwarder with a
depleted or partially depleted bond.

2. The Application Process

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A person engaged in the transportation of goods or passengers for compensation.
A person engaged in transportation exempt from commercial regulation under 49 U.S.C.
chapter 135. Exempt motor carriers that operate commercial motor vehicles as defined
in 49 U.S.C. 31101 are subject to the safety regulations set forth in 49 CFR chapter III.
A person engaged in transportation subject to commercial regulation under 49 U.S.C.
chapter 139, regardless of whether such transportation is subject to the safety regulations.
A person who provides transportation of property or passengers, by commercial motor
vehicle, and is not a for-hire motor carrier.
A person who, for compensation, arranges, or offers to arrange, the transportation of
property in interstate commerce by a non-exempt for-hire motor carrier.
A person holding itself out to the general public (other than as an express, pipeline, rail,
sleeping car, motor, or water carrier) to provide transportation of property for compensation in interstate commerce, and in the ordinary course of its business: (1) Performs or provides for assembling or consolidating of break-bulk, and distributing of
shipments; (2) assumes responsibility for transportation from place of receipt to destination; and (3) uses for any part of the transportation a for-hire motor carrier subject
to FMCSA commercial jurisdiction.
A person who interchanges intermodal equipment with a motor carrier pursuant to a written interchange agreement or has a contractual responsibility for the maintenance of
the intermodal equipment.
A motor carrier that is approved to transport in interstate or intrastate commerce any of
the hazardous materials, in the quantity indicated for each, listed under 49 CFR
385.403.
A cargo tank and cargo tank motor vehicle manufacturer, assembler, repairer, inspector,
tester, or design-certifying engineer that is subject to registration requirements under
49 CFR 107.502 and 49 U.S.C. 5108.

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3. Updating URS Information
This final rule requires all regulated
entities to update registration
information every 24 months. When
there are changes to an entity’s legal
name, form of business, or address,
registration information must be
updated sooner. An entity also may
update its record with FMCSA at any
time within this 24-month period to

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provide changes to other information.
However, such changes will not relieve
an entity of complying with the biennial
update requirement. Beginning on
November 1, 2013 (the compliance date
of the revised biennial update
provision), the Agency will issue a
warning letter 30 days in advance of a
biennial update deadline to notify the
entity that its USDOT Number will be
deactivated if it fails to comply with the
biennial update requirement.
This final rule also requires all
entities to notify FMCSA of any changes
to legal name, form of business, or
address within 30 days of the
precipitating change (new 49 CFR
390.201(d)(4)). This requirement will
ensure the continuing relevance and
viability of the USDOT Number as a
unique identifier and repository for
safety data associated with a particular
entity. In particular, this requirement
will allow FMCSA to monitor in a
timely manner informational changes
affecting all entities holding USDOT
Numbers.
4. Identification Solely by USDOT
Number
FMCSA will use the USDOT Number
as its sole unique identifier for motor
carriers, brokers, and freight forwarders
subject to its regulations. The old
registration systems administered by
FMCSA used four identification
numbers: The USDOT Number, which
most motor carriers subject to FMCSA
jurisdiction are required to obtain; the
Motor Carrier (MC) Number, which was
assigned to non-exempt for-hire motor
carriers and brokers; the FF Number,
which is assigned to freight
forwarders; 8 and the MX Number,
which is assigned to Mexico-domiciled
carriers operating within the U.S.-

Mexico international border commercial
zones.9 The URS will discontinue
issuance of MC, MX, and FF Numbers
to those entities who register with
FMCSA. However, today’s rule will not
require motor carriers to remove the
obsolete numbers from their vehicles,
and those numbers may be used for
other purposes such as advertising or
marketing. But the Agency encourages
carriers to omit these obsolete numbers
from new or repainted vehicles.
5. User Fees
FMCSA is revising user fees for URS
registration, insurance filings, and other
services as detailed in Table 2 below.
The Agency will charge a $300
registration fee for all entities filing new
registration applications. Currently,
only non-exempt for-hire motor carriers,
property brokers, and freight forwarders
must pay a one-time registration fee to
FMCSA of $300. SAFETEA–LU
provided that the fee for new applicants
must as nearly as possible cover the
costs of processing the registration, but
shall not exceed $300. The recently
enacted MAP–21, however, removed
this $300 cap on the initial registration
fee. FMCSA determined that the amount
needed to cover the costs associated
with processing the registration filings
based on projections of annual new
applicants and Agency processing costs
substantially exceeded what could be
collected through charging $300 per
applicant. Consequently, the October
26, 2011 URS supplemental notice of
proposed rulemaking 10 (SNPRM)
proposed to charge the statutory
maximum established by SAFETEA–LU
for this final rule.
Although MAP–21 eliminated the
$300 limit, the final rule retains the
$300 fee proposed in the SNPRM

52611

because the Agency has not developed
preliminary estimates on appropriate
fees to cover the full costs of operating
its URS program, or issued for public
comment a proposal concerning such
fees. The Agency has opted to initiate,
at a later date, a separate rulemaking
proceeding to solicit public comment on
this issue, rather than delay issuance of
this final rule.
FMCSA is reducing the fee currently
charged for reinstating operating
authority registration after such
authority has been revoked from $80 to
$10. The Agency is eliminating the
existing $10 process agent designation
filing fee in keeping with provisions in
SAFETEA–LU.11 The current $10 fee for
filings related to financial responsibility
remains unchanged. The fees charged
under URS will enable the Agency to
recoup the costs associated with
processing registration applications and
administrative filings to the extent
permitted by law. FMCSA retains the
existing fees for self-insurance pending
resolution of changes in these fees in a
separate rulemaking.
The Agency codifies its existing
practice of waiving filing fees for
Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
grantees. FMCSA also exempts any
agency of the Federal government or a
State or local government from paying
filing fees or user fees to access or
retrieve URS data for its own use.
Generally, the Agency will charge for
clerical, administrative, and information
technology (IT) services involved in
locating, copying, and certifying
records. However, FMCSA will exempt
any registered entity from paying fees to
access or retrieve its own data.
Additional fees are explained in the
table below:

TABLE 2—URS USER FEES AS ESTABLISHED UNDER 49 CFR 360.3(f)
Type of Proceeding

Fee

Part I: Registration
(1) .............................................

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(2) .............................................

(3) .............................................
(4) .............................................
(5) .............................................
(6) .............................................
(7) .............................................
(8) .............................................
Part II: Insurance

8 See
9 See

An application for USDOT registration pursuant to 49 CFR part 390,
subpart C.
An application for motor carrier temporary authority to provide emergency relief in response to a national emergency or natural disaster following an emergency declaration under § 390.23 of this
subchapter.
Biennial update of registration ...............................................................
Request for change of name, address, or form of business ................
Request for cancellation of registration .................................................
Request for registration reinstatement ..................................................
Designation of process agent ................................................................
Notification of transfer of operating authority ........................................

49 U.S.C. 13903.
49 U.S.C. 13902(c).

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10 Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,
Unified Registration System, 76 FR 66506 (Oct. 26,
2011).

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$300.
$100.

$0.
$0.
$0.
$10.
$0.
$0.

11 SAFETEA–LU, § 4304, codified at 49 U.S.C.
13908(d)(2).

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TABLE 2—URS USER FEES AS ESTABLISHED UNDER 49 CFR 360.3(f)—Continued

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Type of Proceeding

Fee

(9) .............................................

A service fee for insurer, surety, or self-insurer accepted certificate of
insurance, surety bond, and other instrument submitted in lieu of a
broker surety bond.

(10) ...........................................

(i) An application for original qualification as self-insurer for bodily injury and property damage insurance (BI&PD).
(ii) An application for original qualification as self-insurer for cargo insurance.

6. Evidence of Financial Responsibility
This final rule requires all for-hire
motor carriers and private motor carriers
that transport hazardous materials (HM)
in interstate commerce, as well as
property brokers and freight forwarders,
to electronically file evidence of
financial responsibility to receive
USDOT registration. Existing
regulations require only non-exempt forhire motor carriers, property brokers,
and household goods freight forwarders
performing transfer, collection, and
delivery services, to file evidence of
financial responsibility with the
Agency, and they allow hard copy
submissions. SAFETEA–LU section
4303(b) amended 49 U.S.C. 13906 to
require ‘‘all persons, other than a motor
private carrier, registered with the
Secretary to provide transportation or
service as a motor carrier’’ to file
evidence of financial responsibility with
the Agency. Section 13906 also requires
all property brokers and all freight
forwarders performing transfer,
collection, and delivery services to file
evidence of financial responsibility with
the Agency. FMCSA interprets these
statutory requirements to mandate
financial responsibility filings by all forhire motor carriers, freight forwarders,
and property brokers.
The Agency also requires certain
private motor carriers transporting HM
in interstate commerce to file evidence
of financial responsibility with the
Agency. These carriers are already
required by statute and regulations to
obtain and maintain Bodily Injury and
Property Damage (BI&PD) insurance;
this final rule requires the filing of
evidence of such insurance with
FMCSA. The Agency will be addressing
the financial responsibility
requirements for private non-hazardous
material carriers separately from the
URS final rule.
The Agency is requiring filings of
evidence of financial responsibility for
new applicants to be completed within
90 days of the date that an application
is submitted (49 CFR 390.205(a)), or
within 90 days of the date that the
notice of application is published in the

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FMCSA Register, if a carrier is also
seeking operating authority registration
(49 CFR 365.109). The Agency is not
providing a grace period for financial
responsibility filing by existing exempt
for-hire motor carriers or private motor
carriers hauling HM. Such carriers must
file by the compliance date of the final
rule.
FMCSA is requiring insurers, surety
companies, and financial institutions to
convert to a web-based format when
electronically filing evidence of
financial responsibility (49 CFR
387.323). FMCSA currently accepts
insurance filings in three formats: paper
filings, electronic (ASCII) filings, and
web-based filings. Web-based filings
will promote efficiencies for FMCSA,
insurers, sureties, financial institutions,
and the public.
7. Process Agent Designations
FMCSA requires all for-hire and
private motor carriers, brokers, and
freight forwarders to designate process
agents via electronic submission as a
precondition for receiving USDOT
registration and/or operating authority
registration, when applicable (49 CFR
366.1). Current regulations require only
entities that must register under 49
U.S.C. chapter 139 to designate a
process agent (i.e., non-exempt for-hire
motor carriers, property brokers, and
freight forwarders), and the regulations
permit hard copy submissions. Private
motor carriers are already mandated by
49 U.S.C. 503 to designate process
agents, although FMCSA has not until
now promulgated a rule requiring them
to do so. Although there is no statutory
requirement that exempt for-hire
carriers file process agent designations,
the Secretary is authorized under 49
U.S.C. 31133(a)(8) to prescribe
recordkeeping and reporting
requirements for motor carriers and
other entities subject to the Agency’s
safety oversight. Thus, FMCSA will
extend the process agent designation
requirement to include such carriers, as
well as private carriers, to enhance the
public’s ability to serve legal process on
responsible individuals when seeking

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$10 per accepted certificate, surety bond or other instrument
submitted in lieu of a broker surety bond.
$4,200.
$420.

compensation for losses resulting from a
crash involving a commercial motor
vehicle (CMV) operated by any motor
carrier, regardless of the carrier’s
regulatory status.
The final rule also makes revisions to
the Agency’s designation of process
agent regulations to provide greater
certainty that process agent designations
are accurate and that process agents are
able to receive and serve on their client
principals notices in court or
administrative proceedings against
regulated entities. Current regulations
permit a carrier to fulfill its process
agent designation requirements by
listing an association or corporation that
has filed with FMCSA a list of process
agents for each State (blanket agent). To
help ensure that such designations are
up to date, new § 366.6(b) requires that
changes to designations be reported to
FMCSA within 30 days of the change.
In response to public comments, the
Agency has added, in § 366.6(c), a new
requirement that a motor carrier, broker,
or freight forwarder report changes in
name, address, or contact information to
its process agents and/or the company
making a blanket designation on its
behalf within 30 days of the change.
Finally, the Agency has added
§ 366.6(d) to require process agents and
blanket agents who file process agent
designations on behalf of motor carriers,
brokers, and freight forwarders to report
termination of their contracts to provide
process agent services for designated
entities within 30 days of termination.
The Agency is requiring that new
filings of designation of process agents
be completed within 90 days of the date
that an application is submitted, or
within 90 days of the date that the
notice of the application is published in
the FMCSA Register if a carrier is also
seeking operating authority registration
under 49 CFR 365.109. An applicant is
prohibited from operating until these
filings are made and its USDOT Number
has been activated. Existing private and
exempt for-hire motor carriers will have
a 180-day grace period (starting from the
final rule compliance date) to file
process agent designations. (49 CFR

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
366.2(b)). The grace period is necessary
to accommodate the anticipated high
volume of new filings under the URS.
8. Transfers of Operating Authority
FMCSA amends its regulations to
require notification of transfers of
operating authority registration. This
final rule revises subpart D of title 49
CFR part 365, Transfers of Operating
Authority, to reflect the Agency’s
current statutory authority over transfers
of operating authority. Although
FMCSA proposed to repeal this subpart,
the Agency has since determined that it
is in the public interest to require nonexempt for-hire motor carriers, property
brokers, and freight forwarders that
register under chapter 139 to notify
FMCSA when these entities merge,
transfer, or lease their operating rights.
The Agency no longer accepts or
reviews requests for transfers of
operating authority. FMCSA believes,
however, that it is necessary to require
the reporting aspects of the regulations
governing these transactions. These
reporting requirements will enable the
Agency to identify the parties
responsible for the business operations
of a for-hire motor carrier, broker, or
freight forwarder.
9. Impacts on State Registration Systems

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This final rule allows motor carriers
registering their vehicles in States that
participate in the Performance and
Registration Information System
Management (PRISM) Program to satisfy
the USDOT registration and biennial
update requirements by electronically
filing the required information with the
State 12 according to its policies and
procedures, provided the State has
integrated the USDOT registration/
update capability into its vehicle
registration program (49 CFR 390.203).
If State procedures do not allow a motor
carrier to file the Form MCSA–1 or to
submit updates within the required 24month window, the motor carrier will
need to complete such filing directly
with FMCSA. The Agency plans to work
collaboratively with PRISM States to
implement IT specifications to ensure a
seamless transition to the URS.
12 As used in this context, State refers to the
agency in a PRISM Program State responsible for
CMV registration (for example, a Department of
Motor Vehicles, Motor Vehicle Administration,
State Driver Licensing Agency, or Taxation and
Revenue Authority).

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10. Compliance Dates
The compliance date for the majority
of this final rule is 26 months from the
date of publication in the Federal
Register. We have set this date to ensure
sufficient time to develop URS. The
Agency determined that enforcement of
the biennial update requirement
through the imposition of civil penalties
is so important that the compliance date
for this requirement (49 CFR
390.19(b)(4)) will occur as soon as
possible (November 1, 2013). Motor
carriers and intermodal equipment
providers are already required to update
their registration information every 24
months under § 390.19. The Agency
believes it is very important for
regulated entities to update their
registration information biennially.
Timely updates are critical to FMCSA’s
compliance and enforcement program
because they increase the likelihood
that the Agency will be able to
accurately identify, locate, and contact
regulated entities to carry out its
mission. The Agency, therefore, is
implementing the regulatory provision
stating that anyone failing to comply
with the biennial update requirement is
subject to civil penalties beginning
November 1, 2013 rather than waiting
an additional 24 months to implement
this significant enforcement tool. For
similar reasons, FMCSA is
implementing the new enforcement
provision that states the penalties for
operating a CMV providing
transportation in interstate commerce
without a USDOT Registration and an
active USDOT Number (§ 392.9b).
C. Benefits and Costs 13
FMCSA classified the costs and
benefits calculated in the regulatory
evaluation as either changes in fees,
resource costs,14 or benefits. Changes in
fees are neutral and will not result in a
net gain (benefit) or loss (cost) from a
societal perspective. For example, if
FMCSA were to eliminate a fee
previously paid by motor carriers, that
group would receive a benefit. However,
the benefit would be offset by an equal
cost to the Agency in the form of lost
revenues. Unlike changes in fees,
changes in resource costs and benefits
do result in either a cost or a benefit to
society. The Agency estimated the costs
and benefits associated with
13 Calculations presented in this section may be
subject to rounding errors.
14 Resource costs are expenditures of capital or
labor incurred by the industry or Agency.

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52613

implementing the following major URS
provisions:
• A new requirement for private and
exempt for-hire motor carriers, cargo
tank facilities, and intermodal
equipment providers (IEPs) to pay
FMCSA registration fees; 15
• A new requirement for private
carriers and exempt for-hire motor
carriers to acquire the services of
process agents and file proof of
designations with FMCSA;
• A new requirement for private HM
and exempt for-hire motor carriers to
file proof of liability insurance with
FMCSA—these entities are already
subject to the financial responsibility
requirements of 49 CFR part 387;
• A reduction of the current
reinstatement fee for non-exempt forhire motor carriers, brokers, and freight
forwarders and new reinstatement fees
for exempt for-hire and private HM
carriers;
• Elimination of FMCSA review and
approval of operating authority
registration transfers, including the $300
fee, while still requiring notification of
transfers of operating authority;
• Elimination of filing fees for name
changes;
• Introduction of new Form MCSA–1
filing requirements; and
• Mandatory electronic filing of Form
MCSA–1.
Table 3 presents the total benefits of
the URS rule for each provision. For the
industry, total benefits amount to $1.4
million and fee savings amount to $7.3
million over the 10-year analysis period
(2014–2023). For the Agency, total
benefits during this period amount to
$27.4 million and an additional $65.3
million in fees received.
This rule will improve the ability of
FMCSA safety investigators to locate
small and medium-sized private and
exempt for-hire motor carriers for
enforcement action because
investigators will be able to work with
the newly-designated process agents to
locate hard-to-find motor carriers. The
Agency believes that a more efficient
Compliance, Safety, Accountability
(CSA) Program due to the URS Rule will
lead to increased safety benefits.
However, to present a conservative
estimate of the benefits of the URS rule,
we only estimate the benefit of time
saved by the Agency due to a more
efficient CSA Program.
15 Throughout the Regulatory Evaluation, cargo
tank facilities and IEPs are referred to as ‘‘other
entities.’’

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
TABLE 3—TOTAL BENEFITS OF URS RULE
[10-year present value]
Benefits

Fees received/saved

URS Rule provision
Industry

Agency

Industry

Agency

Mandatory Electronic Filing .............................................................................
Eliminating Transfer/Name Change Requirements .........................................
New Applicant Fee ..........................................................................................
Insurance Filing ...............................................................................................
Process Agent Filing ........................................................................................
Cancellations and Reinstatements ..................................................................
New MCSA–1 Application Form ......................................................................

$0
0
0
0
0
0
1,354,631

$20,922,981
0
0
0
3,130,736
0
3,391,089

$0
2,522,258
0
0
0
4,808,126
0

$0
0
63,583,722
1,691,808
0
0
0

Total Benefits ............................................................................................

1,354,631

27,444,807

7,330,384

65,275,530

Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Table 4 presents the total costs
associated with the URS final rule. The
URS final rule will result in an
anticipated resource cost to industry of
$26.4 million and a resource cost to

FMCSA of approximately $135,000 over
the 10-year analysis period (2014–
2023).16 The total societal cost of the
URS final rule is thus approximately
$26.5 million ($26,380,935+$135,158).

The industry also will pay additional
fees of $65.3 million, and the Agency
will experience an average decrease in
fee revenues of $7.3 million over the 10year analysis period.

TABLE 4—TOTAL COSTS OF URS RULE
[10-year present value]
Resource costs

Fees paid/lost

URS Rule provision
Industry

Agency

Industry

Agency

Mandatory Electronic Filing .............................................................................
Eliminating Transfer/Name Change Requirements .........................................
New Applicant Fee ..........................................................................................
Insurance Filing ...............................................................................................
Process Agent Filing ........................................................................................
Cancellations and Reinstatements ..................................................................
New MCSA–1 Application Form ......................................................................

$538,894
38,236
0
676,723
25,067,012
60,070
0

$0
0
0
0
0
135,158
0

$0
0
63,583,722
1,691,808
0
0
0

$0
2,522,258
0
0
0
4,808,126
0

Total Costs ...............................................................................................

26,380,935

135,158

65,275,530

7,330,384

Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding.

FMCSA calculated the net societal
benefits of the URS final rule by
subtracting the total (industry and
Agency) 10-year costs from the total 10year benefits for each provision. The
cost to industry associated with fee
changes is offset by an equal gain to
FMCSA due to increased revenues from

fees. Table 5 presents the net benefits of
the proposed rule. Total societal net
benefits of the URS final rule are
estimated to be $2.3 million, negative
$25.0 million for the industry (which is
less than $50 per entity) and positive
$27.3 million for FMCSA. The industry
will pay $57.9 million more in fees

(total fees paid and fees saved). This
increase in fees to the industry is offset
by a total $57.9 million increase in fees
received by FMCSA (representing a net
of fees lost and fees received). FMCSA
believes the fees and costs of the URS
rule will not lead to a reduction in
industry competitiveness.

TABLE 5—NET BENEFITS OF URS RULE
[10-year present value]
Net benefits

Net fees

URS Rule provision

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES2

Industry
Mandatory Electronic Filing .............................................................................
Eliminating Transfer/Name Change Requirements .........................................
New Applicant Fee ..........................................................................................
Insurance Filing ...............................................................................................
Process Agent Filing ........................................................................................
Cancellations and Reinstatements ..................................................................
New MCSA–1 Application Form ......................................................................
Net Benefits .....................................................................................................

¥$538,891
¥38,236
0
¥676,723
¥25,067,012
¥60,070
1,354,631
¥25,026,304

Agency
$20,922,981
0
0
0
3,130,736
¥135,158
3,391,089
27,309,648

16 The resource cost to FMCSA for building the
IT system is not included in the economic analysis.

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Industry
$0
2,522,258
¥63,583,722
¥1,691,808
0
4,808,126
0
¥57,945,146

Agency
$0
¥2,522,258
63,583,722
1,691,808
0
¥4,808,126
0
57,945,146

52615

Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
TABLE 5—NET BENEFITS OF URS RULE—Continued
[10-year present value]
Net benefits

Net fees

URS Rule provision
Industry
Societal Net Benefits ................................................................................

Agency

2,283,344

Industry

Agency
0

Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding.

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IV. Background
A. Legal Authority
FMCSA promulgates the Unified
Registration System final rule in
response to sec. 103 of the ICC
Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA) [Pub.
L. 104–88, 109 Stat. 803, 888, Dec. 29,
1995] and subtitle C of title IV of the
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for
Users (SAFETEA–LU) [Pub. L. 109–59,
119 Stat. 1144, 1761, Aug. 10, 2005].
This rulemaking action is also
consistent with the requirements of 31
U.S.C. 9701 and 49 U.S.C. 13301,
31133(a)(8), 31134, and 31136(a).
Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 13908, which
was enacted into law by section 103 of
the ICCTA, Congress directed the
Secretary in cooperation with the States,
and after notice and opportunity for
public comment, to issue regulations to
replace four existing information
systems with a single, on-line, Federal
system. These Agency systems were: (1)
The USDOT identification number
system; (2) the since-repealed Single
State Registration System (SSRS) under
49 U.S.C. 14504; (3) the registration
system contained in 49 U.S.C. chapter
139; and (4) the financial responsibility
information system under 49 U.S.C.
13906.
Congress also directed the Secretary,
in developing this rulemaking, to
consider whether to integrate the
requirements of 49 U.S.C. 13304
regarding service of process in court
proceedings into the new system.
Congress intended for the new system to
serve as a clearinghouse and depository
of information on, and identification of,
all foreign and domestic motor carriers,
brokers, and freight forwarders, and
other entities required to register with
the Department as well as information
on safety fitness and compliance with
minimum levels of financial
responsibility.
The language of 49 U.S.C. 13908(c), as
enacted by the ICCTA, also authorized
the Secretary to ‘‘establish, under
section 9701 of title 31 [of the U.S.
Code], a fee system for registration and
filing evidence of financial
responsibility under the new system
under subsection (a). Fees collected

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under the fee system shall cover the
costs of operating and upgrading the
registration system, including all
personnel costs associated with the
system.’’
Pursuant to the Unified Carrier
Registration Act of 2005, subtitle C of
title IV of SAFETEA–LU, Congress
modified some of the elements of the
unified registration system required by
the ICCTA. In particular, SAFETEA–LU
changed the scope of the Secretary’s
responsibility to develop a registration
system to replace the SSRS. It also
modified the requirement that fees
collected under the new system cover
the costs of operating and upgrading the
registration system and placed
limitations on certain fees that the
Agency could charge. Section 4304 of
SAFETEA–LU reiterated the
congressional requirement for a single,
on-line, Federal system to replace the
four individual systems identified under
49 U.S.C. 13908 and also mandated
inclusion of the service of process agent
systems under 49 U.S.C. 503 and 13304.
SAFETEA–LU refers to the Federal
online replacement system as the
Unified Carrier Registration System. The
Agency considers the URS announced
in both the May 2005 notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPRM) and the October
2011 SNPRM to be the Unified Carrier
Registration System.17
Notwithstanding the reference to 49
U.S.C. 14504 in section 4304 of
SAFETEA–LU, section 4305(a) of
SAFETEA–LU repealed 49 U.S.C.
14504, which governed the SSRS,
effective January 1, 2007. The legislative
history indicates that the purpose of the
UCR Plan and Agreement is both ‘‘to
replace the existing outdated system
[SSRS]’’ for registration of interstate
motor carrier entities with the States
and to ‘‘ensure that States don’t lose
current revenues derived from SSRS’’
17 Under section 4305 of SAFETEA–LU (which
enacted 49 U.S.C. 14504a), Congress replaced the
SSRS with the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR)
Agreement. Registration and payment of fees under
the UCR Agreement are not the responsibility of
FMCSA; the SSRS was, and the UCR Plan and
Agreement is, administered by the participating
States. However, as provided by 49 U.S.C. 13908(b),
information about the compliance of entities subject
to the UCR Agreement will be available through the
URS when that system has been developed.

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(S. Rep. 109–120, at 2 (2005)).18 Today’s
final rule incorporates the requirements
imposed by SAFETEA–LU.
Title 31 U.S.C. 9701 (the so-called
‘‘User Fee Statute’’) establishes general
authority for agencies to ‘‘charge for a
service or thing of value provided by the
Agency.’’ Accordingly, FMCSA is
authorized to charge fees under URS
that will enable the Agency to recoup
costs associated with processing
registration applications and
administrative filings. Prior to the
enactment of the Moving Ahead for
Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–
21),19 49 U.S.C. 13908(d) required
establishment of registration fees that, as
nearly as possible, cover the costs of
processing the registration, provided the
fees do not exceed $300. MAP–21
removed the $300 fee cap.
Section 206 of the Motor Carrier
Safety Act of 1984 [Pub. L. 98–554, title
II, 98 Stat. 2832, October 30, 1985, 49
U.S.C. App. 2505, recodified at 49
U.S.C. 31136] requires the Secretary to
prescribe regulations on commercial
motor vehicle safety. The regulations
shall prescribe minimum safety
standards for CMVs. At a minimum, the
regulations shall ensure that: (1) CMVs
are maintained, equipped, loaded, and
operated safely; (2) the responsibilities
imposed on operators of CMVs do not
impair their ability to operate the
vehicles safely; (3) the physical
condition of operators of CMVs is
adequate to enable them to operate the
vehicles safely; and (4) the operation of
CMVs does not have a deleterious effect
on the physical condition of the
operators (49 U.S.C. 31136(a)). Section
32911 of MAP–21 added a new
subsection (5) to sec. 31136(a), requiring
FMCSA regulations to ensure that an
operator of a CMV is not coerced by a
motor carrier, shipper, receiver, or
transportation intermediary to operate a
CMV in violation of a regulation
promulgated under section 31136 or 49
U.S.C. chapters 51 or 313.
Today’s final rule streamlines the
existing registration process and ensure
18 The Senate bill’s provisions were enacted
‘‘with modifications.’’ H. Conf. Rep. No. 109–203,
at 1020 (2005).
19 Public Law 112–141, 126 Stat. 405. MAP–21
was signed into law on July 6, 2012.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations

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that FMCSA can more efficiently track
motor carriers, freight forwarders,
brokers, intermodal equipment
providers and cargo tank facilities to
maximize safety. It implements the
mandate under 49 U.S.C. 31136(a)(1)
that FMCSA’s regulations ensure that
CMVs are maintained and operated
safely. Because the rule applies almost
entirely to motor carriers and imposes
no operational responsibilities on
drivers, FMCSA believes that coercion
of drivers to violate the rule, in
contravention of section 31136(a)(5),
will not occur. This regulation will not
impair a driver’s ability to operate
vehicles safely (49 U.S.C. 31136(a)(2)),
and will not impact the physical
condition of drivers (49 U.S.C.
31136(a)(3) and (4)).
Legal authority for requiring
notification to the Agency of transfers of
operating authority registration (and for
requiring exempt for-hire motor carriers
to file process agent designations) can
be found at 49 U.S.C. 13301 and 31133.
Under 49 U.S.C. 13301(b), the Secretary
has broad authority to obtain from
persons information regarding carriers
and brokers the Secretary decides is
necessary to carry out the Agency’s
commercial regulatory responsibilities,
as enumerated in title 49, subtitle IV,
part B. The term ‘‘carriers’’ includes
freight forwarders (49 U.S.C. 13102(3)).
In addition, 49 U.S.C. 31133(a)(8)
authorizes the Secretary to prescribe
recordkeeping and reporting
requirements for motor carriers and
other entities subject to the Agency’s
safety oversight.
B. Regulatory History
The Federal Highway Administration
(FMCSA’s predecessor agency) issued
an advance notice of proposed
rulemaking (ANPRM) announcing plans
to develop a single, online, Federal
information system in August 1996.20
The ANPRM solicited specific detailed
information from the public about each
of the systems to be replaced by the
URS, the conceptual design of the URS,
uses and users of the information to be
collected, and potential costs.
On May 19, 2005, FMCSA published
an NPRM describing a proposal to
merge all of the prescribed information
systems except the SSRS into a unified,
online Federal system.21 The Agency
subsequently revised the May 2005
proposal in an October 26, 2011 SNPRM
to incorporate new congressionally
mandated provisions in SAFETEA–LU,
20 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,
Motor Carrier Replacement Information/
Registration System, 61 FR 43816 (Aug. 26, 1996).
21 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Unified
Registration System, 70 FR 28990 (May 19, 2005).

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and modified certain proposals in
response to comments to the NPRM.22
The SNPRM also included changes
necessitated by final rules published
subsequent to publication of the NPRM
that directly impacted the URS. In the
SNPRM, the Agency substantially
altered the regulatory drafting approach
proposed in the NPRM by creating a
straightforward requirement for all
entities to register and biennially update
registration information under the new
URS and by compiling a centralized
cross-reference to existing safety and
commercial regulations necessary for
compliance with the registration
requirements. The Agency abandoned
previous efforts to reorganize all
registration and new entrant
requirements under a single part under
title 49, Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) chapter III.
MAP–21 affects a number of rules that
FMCSA is currently working on,
including this one. Because MAP–21
was enacted several months after the
close of the comment period for the
SNPRM, the public has not had an
opportunity to comment on provisions
of the Act that may have an impact on
the URS. Rather than delay issuance of
this final rule, and to ensure an
appropriate opportunity for public
participation in the changes
necessitated by MAP–21, the Agency
will initiate a separate rulemaking
proceeding(s) to address most of the
needed changes. In some cases, these
changes will not require rulemaking and
will be addressed during the
implementation phase of the URS. In
other cases, minor or technical changes
that involve little exercise of Agency
discretion in the MCSA–1 Form and
Instructions, which would not require
notice and comment rulemaking, have
been made to conform with MAP–21.23
22 Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,
Unified Registration System, 76 FR 66506 (Oct. 26,
2011).
23 Under section 553(b)(3)(B) of the
Administrative Procedure Act [5 U.S.C.
553(b)(3)(B)] (APA), notice and comment
rulemaking is not required when the Agency for
good cause finds that notice and public procedure
are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the
public interest. The changes made in response to
MAP–21 were limited to modifying the MCSA–1
Form and Instructions to incorporate new statutory
language regarding affiliations with other regulated
entities. The SNPRM had proposed different, but
similar language; thus the modification was clearly
within the scope of the issues that were subject to
notice and comment in the SNPRM. For this reason,
the agency believes that, consistent with the APA,
providing further opportunity for further public
comment on these limited changes is unnecessary.

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V. Discussion of Comments
A. Summary of Comments
FMCSA received comments to the
URS SNPRM from nine respondents:
American Trucking Associations
(ATA),24 Greyhound, Inc.
(Greyhound),25 the Missouri
Department of Transportation
(MoDOT),26 the National Automobile
Dealers Association—American Truck
Dealers Division (NADA–ATDD),27 the
National Private Truck Council
(NPTC),28 the National School
Transportation Association (NSTA),29
the National Tank Truck Carriers
(NTTC),30 the Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association
(OOIDA),31 and the Transportation
Intermediaries Association (TIA).32
These entities consist of industry trade
groups, a State government, and a motor
carrier.
Respondents generally supported the
concept of a unified registration system
as described in the SNPRM, but some
expressed concerns about potential
negative impacts on Federal/State
partnership initiatives such as the UCR
Agreement, the PRISM Program, the
CSA Program, and the New Entrant
Safety Assurance Program. There were
also comments about the proposed Form
MCSA–1 being too lengthy and overly
complicated to use. OOIDA, ATA, and
MoDOT proposed extensive corrections,
revisions, and enhancements to the
proposed form and instructions. NTTC
commented that it wished to be
associated with ATA’s comments.
B. Overly Complex Application Form
NPTC, ATA, and NADA–ATDD
commented that the proposed MCSA–1
Form and its Instructions were overly
complex. NPTC commented that the
proposed MCSA–1 Form was too long
and complicated for applicants to use
without professional assistance. NADA–
ATTD commented that the proposed
form was unnecessarily long and overly
complex for FMCSA to expect accurate
compliance. Similarly, ATA commented
that the proposed Form MCSA–1 was
too lengthy, awkward, and complicated
to encourage, or even permit,
compliance by entities that would have
to use it. However, these commenters
did express support for an online
application process.
24 Docket

No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0184.
No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0182.
26 Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0186.
27 Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0188.
28 Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0187.
29 Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0185.
30 Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0189.
31 Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0190.
32 Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0183.
25 Docket

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
Specifically, ATA commented that
while it supported the requirement to
file the MCSA–1 Form online, the
proposed MCSA–1 was not well-suited
for online filing because a longer form
requires different treatment online. If
the MCSA–1 Form could not be
simplified, this commenter
recommended that the form be split into
a number of separate forms, along either
functional lines or according to the type
of entity required to report. NADA–
ATTD strongly urged FMCSA to
consider revisions to the MCSA–1 to
make it more applicable to small,
private motor carriers. This commenter
recommended that the Agency issue
another SNPRM outlining these changes
before implementation of the URS.
NADA–ATTD commented that FMCSA
had not explained sufficiently why the
substantial additions to this form were
necessary, especially for small motor
carriers.
FMCSA Response. The Agency
included the proposed Form MCSA–1
and Instructions in the SNPRM to
illustrate the new unified application
form around which the URS will be
built, to disclose the complete list of
registration information that the Agency
will collect from the public and record
in the URS, and to announce that the
Agency will no longer require the
individual forms associated with safety
and commercial registration today. The
paper Form MCSA–1 and Instructions
included in the SNPRM was necessary
to provide notice of and seek comment
on the information FMCSA was
proposing to collect and the Agency’s
explanation of those data fields. Form
MCSA–1 is not intended to be
completed in hardcopy but as an online,
interactive application.
When the URS program is fully
implemented, the electronic version of
the Form MCSA–1 will be considerably
less complex and lengthy than the paper
version because URS will guide the
applicant to only those portions of the
MCSA–1 Form pertinent to the
particular applicant’s operations, thus
skipping all irrelevant sections that do
not apply. The application process will
mimic the interactive, interview format
of popular tax preparation software, and
will use software similar to that used by
the U.S. Department of Education in the
Free Application for Student Aid
(FAFSA), in contrast with a static PDF
fillable form. Applicants will be asked
only those questions applicable to their
specific operations. An applicant’s
answers to the initial MCSA–1
questions, including operation
classification (Section A, question 15)
and reason for filing (pre-Section A),
will determine which sections of the

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MCSA–1 Form that entity will be
subsequently prompted to fill. As
suggested in ATA’s comments, an
applicant will not need to view the
sections of the MCSA–1 Form that were
not applicable to that entity. The
Agency’s goal is to eliminate as much of
the guesswork as possible from the
electronic registration process and to
receive accurate information. As
explained throughout this final rule,
FMCSA received and has adopted many
helpful suggestions for corrections,
improvements, and clarifications to the
MCSA–1 Form and Instructions. The
updated MCSA–1 Form and Instructions
are available in the docket FMCSA–
1997–2349 for the public to view.
The online, interactive application
process will particularly assist small
carriers by requiring applicants to view
only the portions of the MCSA–1 Form
that are relevant to them, based on their
answers to the first few questions. Thus,
the electronic filing process will save a
small carrier the needless effort of
reading through portions of a form or
instructions that they need not submit.
Questions will display on the left side
of the screen and a pop-up screen will
appear on the right with instructions, as
well as examples of acceptable
responses.
To explain how the system will work,
we will walk through a mock
registration scenario for a private nonHM property motor carrier we will call
‘‘Example Private Trucking’’ (EPT).
Since EPT is applying to operate as a
private carrier, the regulations for
obtaining operating authority
registration under 49 CFR part 365, or
filing evidence of financial
responsibility under 49 CFR part 387,
would not apply. To obtain a USDOT
registration, EPT will be prompted to
complete only 5 of the 16 sections on
Form MCSA–1: Section A (Business
Description); Section B (Operation
Classification); Section M (Compliance
Certifications); Section N (Applicant’s
Oath); and Section P (Filing Fee). The
online URS would also prompt EPT to
designate a process agent. After EPT
completes the registration information
and process agent designation, FMCSA
would immediately issue an active
USDOT Number and flag the motor
carrier for participation in the New
Entrant Safety Assurance Program. The
biennial update will require EPT to
submit even less information than the
initial registration process.
C. Insufficient Technical Information
ATA expressed concern about the
lack of technical details regarding the
planned URS design in the SNPRM.
ATA stated that because the URS is a

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data-processing system, the technical
details of its design are of critical
importance to its eventual effectiveness
in accomplishing its stated purpose and
functions.
In particular, ATA expressed concern
about the lack of details regarding the
proposal that motor carriers could fulfill
their biennial registration update
obligations by filing with their base
States under the PRISM Program. ATA
stated that this procedure would be
difficult to coordinate, and commented
that the SNPRM disclosed so little detail
with respect to these plans that it could
not assess their feasibility, or their
chances for success. Therefore, this
commenter recommended that FMCSA
provide a clearer description of what is
intended in connection with PRISM
State registration in an additional
SNPRM. ATA commented that the
public interest in this key element of the
registration function was too great for
the matter to be handled by
amendments to the PRISM procedures.
FMCSA Response. With regards to
system specifications, FMCSA is unable
to provide these details at this time
because the Agency is completing the
regulatory aspects of the URS project in
advance of the completion of the IT
system requirements development. The
Agency has published several final rules
with associated IT requirements that
must be scheduled to coincide with
imminent regulatory compliance dates
earlier than the URS compliance date.
Meanwhile, each year the Agency
delays finalization of the URS rule
increases the possibility that new
requirements and corresponding system
changes could be imposed. The Agency
opted to complete the URS rulemaking
project separately from the associated IT
development project to provide
adequate notice of the new registration
requirement, and set a compliance date
that builds in sufficient lead time for
regulatory compliance and system
development. The Agency plans to work
collaboratively with PRISM States to
implement IT specifications to ensure a
seamless transition to the URS.
D. Applicability
1. Cargo Tank Program
ATA recommended that FMCSA’s
cargo tank registration program be
excluded from the URS, or at least not
included in Form MCSA–1. To support
its recommendation, ATA asserted that
the cargo tank program’s exclusion
would help to prune the MCSA–1 Form
to a more manageable size. ATA further
stated that the cargo tank program is not

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per se a transportation program,33 and
can reasonably be handled in another
manner.
FMCSA Response. The Agency
believes all FMCSA-regulated entities
must be subject to the URS registration
requirement because section 4304 of
SAFETEA–LU amended 49 U.S.C.
13908(b) to require the Federal on-line
replacement system to:
‘‘serve as a clearinghouse and depository of
information on, and identification of, all
foreign and domestic motor carriers, motor
private carriers, brokers, freight forwarders,
and others required to register with the U.S.
Department of Transportation, including
information with respect to a carrier’s safety
rating, compliance with required levels of
financial responsibility, and compliance with
the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 14504a.’’
(Emphasis added).

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As explained in the SNPRM, FMCSA
interprets this statutory provision as
authorizing the inclusion of all entities
regulated by FMCSA in the URS.34
Although the cargo tank registration
program is not a motor carrier program,
FMCSA believes that merging the Cargo
Tank Registration Process with the URS
will best further the congressional intent
to create a unified system of information
and registration, as expressed in the
SAFETEA–LU provision quoted above.
Moreover, Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) regulations at 49 CFR part
107, subpart F govern the registration
procedures for persons who are engaged
in the manufacture, assembly,
inspection and testing, certification, or
repair of a cargo tank or a cargo tank
motor vehicle manufactured in
accordance with a DOT specification
under subchapter C of 49 CFR chapter
III or under terms of a special permit
issued under 49 CFR part 107.35 Under
§ 107.502(d), PHMSA requires cargo
tank facilities to complete their
registration requirements with FMCSA.
As previously mentioned, the electronic
Form MCSA–1 will be designed so only
cargo tank facility applicants would
encounter the questions that apply
exclusively to cargo tank registration.
See section V.M for a discussion of
FMCSA’s rationale not to collect
additional cargo tank information on the
Form MCSA–1.
33 In its comments to the NPRM, ATA stated that
the cargo tank registration program is not a motor
carrier program because it applies only to persons
engaged in the manufacture, assembly, inspection
and testing, certification, or repair of a cargo tank.
Docket No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0168.
34 See 76 FR 66506, 66512–66513.
35 See 49 CFR part 107, subpart F, Registration of
Cargo Tank and Cargo Tank Motor Vehicle
Manufacturers, Assemblers, Repairers, Inspectors,
Testers, and Design Certifying Engineers.

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2. Certain Intrastate HM Carriers
NTTC recommended that FMCSA
require all transporters of bulk HM in
tank vehicles to register with the
Agency using Form MCSA–1, including
intrastate-only carriers. This commenter
stated ‘‘that while it believed all
intrastate [HM] carriers should be
required to register with FMCSA,’’ it
was limiting its request ‘‘to those
carriers who transport [hazardous]
materials in bulk in tank vehicles.’’
NTTC expressed concern that under the
CSA Program, HM carriers will only be
measured against other interstate
carriers or intrastate carriers from States
that require them to get a USDOT
Number. NTTC asserted that because
only 31 States require intrastate HM
carriers to obtain a USDOT Number, the
Safety Measurement System HM
Behavioral Analysis Safety
Improvement Category (BASIC) may not
truly measure HM carriers against their
peers since it will not have information
on all HM carriers.
NTTC encouraged the DOT to
incorporate into its registration process
a requirement whereby intrastate tank
truck carriers of HM register with
FMCSA. NTTC commented that if this
rule is not the appropriate vehicle to
require registration of intrastate tank
truck carriers of HM with FMCSA, then
it requested that the Department
consider its comment submission to be
a petition for rulemaking. NTTC
commented that a ‘‘OneDOT’’ approach
in the near term would be to require that
any HM tank truck carrier applying to
register with PHMSA must first be
registered with FMCSA. This
commenter stated that the PHMSA
transporter registration program does
not exclude intrastate carriers.
FMCSA Response. Generally, the
Agency does not have authority to
regulate motor carriers that operate
exclusively in intrastate commerce
because the statutes on which most of
FMCSA’s commercial regulations and
safety regulations are based apply
primarily to transportation in interstate
commerce.36 The only Federal safety
regulations applicable to motor carriers
that operate exclusively in intrastate
commerce are the commercial driver’s
license (CDL) requirement for drivers
operating commercial motor vehicles
(CMVs) as defined in 49 CFR 383.5;
controlled substances and alcohol
36 See 49 U.S.C. 31132(1) (defining ‘‘commercial
motor vehicle’’ for purposes of safety regulation as
‘‘a self-propelled or towed vehicle used on the
highways in interstate commerce to transport
passengers or property . . .’’) (emphasis added); 49
U.S.C. 13501 (giving FMCSA general jurisdiction
over transportation in interstate and foreign
commerce for purposes of commercial regulation).

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testing for all persons required to
possess a CDL; minimum levels of
financial responsibility for intrastate
transportation of certain quantities of
HM; applicable portions of the HM
regulations in 49 CFR parts 100–180;
and the requirement to obtain a
Hazardous Materials Safety Permit
(HMSP). As a result, the Agency will not
accommodate this request at this time.
The Agency, however, will accept
NTTC’s filing as a petition for
rulemaking, and will handle the issue at
a later date.
3. Hazardous Materials Safety Permit
Applicants
The SNPRM table entitled ‘‘Entities
Required to Register under the Unified
Registration System’’ explained that an
HMSP applicant was a ‘‘motor carrier
that transports in interstate or intrastate
commerce any of the HM, in the
quantity indicated for each, listed under
49 CFR 385.403.’’ 37 NTTC
recommended that FMCSA change this
SNPRM table so that the entry that
described HMSP applicants would read
as follows: ‘‘A motor carrier that
transports in interstate or intrastate
commerce any of the HM, in the
quantity indicated for each, listed under
49 CFR 172.101.’’
FMCSA Response. FMCSA
intentionally referenced the list of HM
and quantities in 49 CFR 385.403,
because the HMSP is not required for
every hazardous material listed under
49 CFR 172.101 titled, ‘‘Table of
Hazardous Materials and Special
Provisions.’’ The HMSP is required only
for the HM transported in an amount or
manner listed under § 385.403.
Under 49 U.S.C. 5109(b), Congress
authorized the Secretary to prescribe the
types and quantities of HM which are
subject to an HMSP, stipulating that the
list must, at a minimum, include the
four types of HMs listed in section
5109(b). The Secretary delegated
responsibility for implementing section
5109 to the FMCSA Administrator. See
49 CFR 1.87(d)(2). In 2004, FMCSA
published a final rule establishing a
national HMSP program for motor
carriers that transport in interstate or
intrastate commerce the HM listed and
transported in the amount or manner
prescribed in § 385.403(a)–(f).38
4. Mexico-Domiciled Motor Carriers
MoDOT commented that the Agency
should exclude all Mexican carriers
from completing Form MCSA–1,
including carriers with operations
37 See

76 FR 66506, 66514.
Final Rule, Hazardous Materials Safety
Permits, 69 FR 39350 (June 30, 2004).
38 See

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limited to the border commercial zones.
This commenter asserted that it is
confusing to have some of the Mexican
carriers complete this form and others
complete the old OP–1(MX) and MCS–
150 forms.
FMCSA Response. The Agency is
adopting the approach proposed for
Mexico-domiciled carriers in the
SNPRM. FMCSA will subject all entities
under its jurisdiction to the URS
registration requirement, to the extent
practicable. Applications from Mexicodomiciled long-haul carriers, however,
will continue to be processed separate
from the URS because the U.S.-Mexico
border is open to only those carriers
participating in the pilot program with
distinct requirements.39 The North
American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) authorized the Agency to
apply different standards for long-haul
Mexico-domiciled carriers due to
concerns about regulatory disparities
between Mexico and the United States.
Because the results of the pilot program
are still uncertain, it would be
premature to include long-haul Mexicodomiciled carriers in the URS at this
time. FMCSA may include such carriers
in the URS in the future, if appropriate.
FMCSA disagrees with MoDOT that
all Mexico-domiciled carriers, including
those confined to the border commercial
zones, should be excluded from the URS
based on possible confusion.
Commercial zone Mexico-domiciled
carriers already file different forms, and
are subject to different rules, than
Mexico-domiciled long-haul carriers.
Including Mexico-domiciled
commercial zone carriers in the URS,
moreover, is consistent with the
statutory mandate to include foreign
carriers in the system.
5. Non-Motor Carrier Leasing
Companies
MoDOT requested that the Agency
provide a specific definition for the term
‘‘leasing company’’ and instructions for
how these entities should complete
Form MCSA–1. According to MoDOT,
there may be instances where such
companies act as a motor carrier, but in
other cases they do not. When the
leasing company is not a motor carrier,
MoDOT commented that the company
needs to know how to complete the
MCSA–1 Form, which sections apply to
it, and how to report or not report its
number of vehicles.
FMCSA Response. FMCSA contacted
MoDOT to gain a clearer understanding
39 See Pilot Program on the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Long-Haul Trucking
Provisions, 76 FR 40420 (July 8, 2011); see generally
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/intl-programs/trucking/
Trucking-Program.aspx (last accessed Apr. 2, 2012).

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of this comment and learned it is
actually a request for FMCSA to require
non-motor carrier leasing companies to
register in URS so that States have a
source through which they can identify
these entities to collect UCR Agreement
fees.40 Therefore, the Agency regards
this as an ‘‘applicability’’ issue rather
than a form-related one.
Under new FMCSA PRISM
procedures that took effect on or about
September 1, 2012, non-motor carrier
leasing companies are no longer
required to obtain USDOT Numbers. On
August 9, 2010, FMCSA announced the
elimination of ‘‘registrant-only’’ USDOT
Numbers as part of the PRISM
Program.41 As stated in that notice,
FMCSA originally developed the
concept of a registrant-only USDOT
Number to identify registered owners of
CMVs that are not motor carriers, but
lease their CMVs to entities that are
motor carriers. FMCSA concluded,
however, that registrant-only USDOT
Numbers were being used differently
than the Agency intended, impeding its
ability to track motor carriers’ safety
violations.
For example, in several cases, law
enforcement personnel conducting
inspections and crash investigations
were presented with registrant-only
numbers of the leasing companies
providing the vehicles instead of the
USDOT Numbers of the motor carriers
operating the vehicles. In these
instances, the data could not be
assigned to the record of a motor carrier.
Motor carriers that improperly used
registrant-only numbers, therefore, were
evading FMCSA safety oversight,
including compliance reviews and New
Entrant Safety Audits. If safety events
are not properly attributed to the motor
carrier operating the CMVs, FMCSA
cannot factor those events into the
motor carriers’ safety ratings and other
assessments. This situation results from
the misidentification of a vehicle and is
a marking issue, rather than an IT or
URS issue.
Accordingly, FMCSA decided to
eliminate the PRISM procedure that
requires non-motor carrier applicants,
including leasing companies, to obtain
registrant-only USDOT Numbers.
PRISM Program States were directed to
modify their systems, forms, instruction
40 See Memorandum, Telephone Conversation
with Barbara Hague, Missouri Department of
Transportation, Motor Carrier Services, Document
ID No. FMCSA–1997–2349–0178–0193;
Memorandum and Contact with Missouri
Department of Transportation Clarification of Issue
Involving Leasing Companies, Document ID No.
FMCSA–1997–2349–0192.
41 Notice of Procedural Changes to the
Performance and Registration Information Systems
Management Program, 75 FR 47883 (Aug. 9, 2010).

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manuals, computer systems’ validation
and safety edits, renewal applications
and MCS–150 edits and procedures by
August 31, 2011. FMCSA planned to
eliminate the practice of allowing nonmotor carrier applicants to obtain
registrant-only USDOT Numbers by
September 1, 2011. On August 31, 2011,
however, FMCSA extended the effective
date for making the change to eliminate
the registrant-only entry to September 1,
2012.42
Because FMCSA does not regulate
non-motor carrier leasing companies,
they will not be included within the
URS and will not have to complete the
Form MCSA–1. FMCSA will deactivate
the USDOT Numbers issued to leasing
companies prior to October 23, 2015.
Beginning September 1, 2012, the
Agency notified each entity registered as
a Registrant to either deactivate its
USDOT Number or change its operation
type to the appropriate carrier
operation. If such actions are not taken,
the Agency will deactivate those
USDOT Numbers.
6. School Bus Operations
The NSTA commented that, as it
understood the proposed rule, school
bus operations (home-to-school-to-home
routes) continue to be exempt from
URS. Therefore, a for-hire school bus
contractor would register under URS
only if the contractor also provides
charter transportation, such as school
activity trips. If this were the case, the
NSTA commented that it believed the
contractor would check the box on the
proposed form in Section A, question
17a, for Charter and Special Operations.
The NSTA requested clarification from
FMCSA that under the sections on the
Form MCSA–1 that ask for the number
of vehicles and the number of drivers
who will be operating in the United
States, the contractor need enter only
the portion of its vehicles and drivers
that are used in charter operations, and
not the portion that are used in school
bus operations. NSTA also requested
clarification as to whether Section G,
question 36 (Government Funding
Status) of Form MCSA–1 includes a
contract between a municipality and a
school bus contractor for school
transportation service, if such contract
includes activity transportation.
FMCSA Response. This final rule does
not in any way affect the school bus
exemption. Motor carriers that provide
charter transportation services under
contract to schools, and that are subject
to FMCSA jurisdiction, remain subject
to registration requirements with regard
42 See Notice, Extension of Effective Date, 76 FR
54288 (Aug. 31, 2011).

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to the need to obtain authority to
operate an interstate for-hire motor
carrier, maintain minimum levels of
financial responsibility and file proof of
coverage, and acquire and maintain
proof of designation of process. The
drivers employed by these carriers are
subject to FMCSA’s requirements for
commercial driver’s licenses and the
controlled substances and alcohol
testing rules. Such a contractor that
provides charter transportation would
check the box on the MCSA–1 Form in
Section A for Charter and Special
Operations, which has been renumbered
as question 15a. In response to the
NSTA’s specific questions, the
contractor need enter only the portion of
its vehicles and drivers that are used in
interstate charter operations, and not the
portion that are used solely in school
bus operations, as defined in 49 CFR
390.5. In compliance reviews, the
Agency also does not count the number
of buses used for exempt transportation.
Regarding Form MCSA–1, the
question regarding Government Funding
Status, which has been renumbered as
question 34, does not include a contract
between a municipality and a school
bus contractor for school transportation
service, if such contract includes
activity transportation. The question is
directly related to the requirements of
49 U.S.C. 13902. Under 49 U.S.C.
13902(b), the Agency is obligated to
grant an application for regular-route
operating authority filed by a private
recipient of government financial
assistance if the applicant can show that
it is fit, willing, and able to serve the
route, unless a protestant comes forward
and affirmatively demonstrates that
granting the application would be
inconsistent with the public interest.
Under 49 U.S.C. 13902(b)(8)(B), the term
‘‘private recipient of government
assistance’’ is defined as ‘‘any person
(other than a public recipient of
government assistance) who received
governmental financial assistance in the
form of a subsidy for the purchase,
lease, or operation of any bus.’’ Based
on this definition, FMCSA believes that
payments made by a municipality to a
for-hire school bus operator to provide
non-exempt transportation of students
would be considered compensation
rather than a subsidy and, thus, not
within the confines of section
13902(b)(8)(B). Therefore, such an
applicant would not be considered a
private recipient of government
assistance under these circumstances,
and the public interest standard would
not apply.
Generally, for specific interpretations
of existing regulatory requirements, any
member of the public may contact the

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FMCSA Office of Policy or visit the
FMCSA regulatory guidance Web site at
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rulesregulations/administration/fmcsr/
fmcsrguide.aspx?section_type=G.
E. Mandatory Electronic Filing
The SNPRM proposed the adoption of
an exclusively online electronic
registration system.43 ATA endorsed
requiring entities filing applications or
updating their information with FMCSA
to do so electronically. However, this
commenter recommended that FMCSA
establish a backup process for the
mandatory electronic filing requirement,
should the Agency’s electronic system
be temporarily unavailable for some
reason, such as a natural disaster or
terrorist attack.
FMCSA Response. The Federal
government, including FMCSA,
recognizes the need for emergency
planning. FMCSA already builds in
redundancies for its systems under its
Continuity of Operations Planning
(COOP) to prevent such failures. In
accordance with National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST)
guidelines (NIST 800–34, Contingency
Planning Guide for Information
Technology Systems), the FMCSA IT
Security Team will develop a
Contingency Plan and Disaster Recovery
Plan for the URS in the event that a
disaster occurs to ensure the
continuation of vital business processes.
This plan will provide an effective
solution that can be used to recover all
vital business processes within the
required time frame.
F. Biennial Update
FMCSA proposed to require
electronic updates to Form MCSA–1
biennially.44 MoDOT asked if FMCSA
will automatically deactivate the
USDOT Number (and revoke
corresponding operating authority
registration) of those entities that have
not updated their MCS–150s within the
2-year requirement as of the final rule
effective date. MoDOT believes that
doing so would be extremely helpful in
cleaning old data from the system.
FMCSA Response. The Agency will
not automatically deactivate a USDOT
Number for any entity currently
registered within the system solely on
the basis that it has not completed a
biennial update requirement that may
come due on the compliance date of the
final rule. The Agency believes that
such entities should first receive a
warning regarding this regulatory
76 FR 66506, 66519.
76 FR 66506, 66594 (proposed 49 CFR
390.101(d)).

change. Therefore, beginning November
1, 2013 (the compliance date of the
revised biennial update provision), the
Agency will issue a warning letter 30
days in advance of a biennial update
deadline to notify the entity that its
USDOT Number will be deactivated if it
fails to comply with the biennial update
requirement.
Only after an entity has failed to heed
that warning will the Agency begin
deactivating USDOT registrations for
failure to update the information on
Form MCSA–1 and consider imposing
civil penalties. FMCSA, however, would
not retroactively apply sanctions against
entities that had not met the biennial
update requirement by November 1,
2013.
G. Administrative Filings
1. Timeframe for Filing Changes to
Name, Address
FMCSA proposed to require all
entities to notify FMCSA of any changes
to the information in Section A of Form
MCSA–1 (e.g., a change in legal name,
form of business, or address) within 20
days of the precipitating change.45 ATA
recommended retaining the current 45day deadline for notification of such
changes. In support of its request, ATA
stated that because the nature of many
of these changes (e.g., a change of
address, change of business name, etc.)
implies a disruption in the ordinary
routines of a business entity, it may be
unrealistic to expect such expeditious
notification. This commenter also stated
that the SNPRM proposed no changes to
49 CFR 365.413, regarding the
procedure for motor carrier name
changes.
FMCSA Response. Although ATA
does not provide specific regulatory
references to a 45-day notification
requirement, the only current
regulations containing such a
requirement are §§ 365.509, 368.4, and
385.609. These regulations apply to
motor carriers domiciled in Mexico or
outside of North America.
In response to ATA’s comments and
for purposes of consistency, FMCSA
amends all change reporting deadlines
to 30 days after the date of the change
event (see §§ 390.201(d)(4), 365.509(a),
366.6(b), 368.4(a), 385.405(d), and
385.609(a)(2)). FMCSA has added an
additional 10 days to the update
requirement and believes that a 30-day
requirement is reasonable and would
not be more disruptive to a carrier’s
business than the 45-day requirement
proposed by ATA.

43 See
44 See

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45 See 76 FR 66506, 66586 (proposed 49 CFR
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
2. Financial Responsibility for Certain
FTA Grantees
The SNPRM explained that for a
passenger carrier that provides
transportation within a transit service
area located in more than one State
under an agreement with a Federal,
State, or local government funded, in
whole or in part, with a grant under 49
U.S.C. 5307, 5310, or 5311, the
minimum financial responsibility
requirement is the highest level of
financial responsibility required for any
of the States in which it operates.46
FMCSA explained that this aspect of the
proposal was a consequence of 49
U.S.C. 31138(e)(4), which exempts
section 5307, 5310, and 5311 grantees
from the Federal general financial
responsibility requirements and instead
subjects them to applicable State
requirements.
Greyhound expressed support for the
proposed financial responsibility
requirements for such FTA grantees,
particularly the language added to the
Form MCSA–1 Instructions that states
that the FMCSA financial responsibility
requirements ‘‘do not apply to entities
providing transportation service within
a transit service area under an
agreement with a Federal, State, or local
government funded in whole or in part
with a grant under 49 U.S.C. 5307, 5310,
or 5311.’’ However, Greyhound
expressed concern that the proposed
amendments to 49 CFR 387.33,
Financial responsibility, minimum
levels, only referred to entities that
provide transportation services within a
transit service area located in more than
one State.47 This commenter stated that
it believes FMCSA’s changes were
intended to apply to transit operators
whether they are operating in just one
State or across State lines. Greyhound
suggested that, because of the
complexity of this issue, FMCSA should
state clearly that it is using its authority
under 49 U.S.C. 31138(e)(4) to authorize
transit providers that operate in only
one State, but participate in interline
relationships with interstate carriers, to
meet their FMCSA financial
responsibility requirements by
complying with the financial
responsibility requirements of the State
in which they operate. This commenter
requested similar clarifying language to
49 CFR 387.33.
FMCSA Response. FMCSA has, at
Greyhound’s suggestion, added
language to 49 CFR 387.33(b), as well as
to 49 CFR 387.303, Security for the
protection of the public: minimum
46 See

76 FR 66506, 66520.
76 FR 66506, 66589 (proposed 49 CFR
387.33(b)).
47 See

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limits, to clarify that FTA grantees
providing service within a transit
service area and are subject to the
special insurance requirements of 49
U.S.C. 31138(e), are also subject to these
requirements when they operate in a
single State, but participate in providing
interstate service by entering into
interline agreements with interstate
carriers. The instructions to Form
MCSA–1 (Section K) have also been
modified to incorporate this
clarification, as requested by the
commenter.
3. Financial Responsibility for Private
HM Carriers
FMCSA proposed to require a private
motor carrier hauling HM in interstate
commerce to file evidence of financial
responsibility with the Agency.48 The
NPRM explained that these carriers are
already required by statute (49 U.S.C.
31138 and 31139) and regulations (49
CFR part 387) to obtain and maintain
public liability insurance, and that the
proposed change would merely require
filing of evidence of financial
responsibility with FMCSA.49
NPTC questioned the need to require
private motor carriers transporting HM
in interstate commerce to file evidence
of financial responsibility with FMCSA
as a condition for obtaining registration
and believes the Agency offered no
compelling policy reason for requiring
private HM carriers to now file evidence
of liability coverage. NPTC stated that
currently, regulations permit private
HM carriers to meet financial
responsibility requirements by
maintaining a copy of the HM liability
endorsement (Form MCS–90) at the
company’s principal place of business,
subject to review upon reasonable
demand by enforcement officials. This
commenter asserted that absent
evidence of lack of compliance with
liability insurance requirements, it sees
no need to impose a new filing mandate
on private motor carriers transporting
HM.
FMCSA Response. Congress expressly
authorized FMCSA to require a private
motor carrier to file evidence of
financial responsibility with the Agency
(49 U.S.C. 31139; SAFETEA–LU section
4120). At this time, the Agency has
elected to require only those private
motor carriers that transport HM in
interstate commerce to make these
filings.
FMCSA believes that the potentially
greater human toll and environmental
consequences of HM-involved CMV
48 See 76 FR 66506, 66515, 66594 (proposed 49
CFR 390.103(a)(2)(ii)).
49 See 70 FR 28990, 28997.

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52621

incidents make it even more important
to ensure that private HM carriers under
its jurisdiction can adequately cover
liabilities arising from such incidents as
a condition for granting registration.
Further, the filing requirement for
private HM carriers would assure
members of the public that such carriers
have the financial means to compensate
them for injuries or damages caused by
negligence. These filings also would
increase public accessibility to
insurance information and would
enable FMCSA to more effectively track
insurance cancellations. This new
requirement for private HM carriers will
not impose a significant new burden
because, as explained above, these
carriers are already required to maintain
public liability insurance. Filing
evidence of insurance coverage with
FMCSA, as opposed to maintaining
evidence of coverage at the place of
business, will require the filing of a
form with the Agency.50 FMCSA
believes that this nominal cost for
private HM carriers is warranted to
achieve the benefits noted above. As
discussed in the SNPRM, there will be
a 3-month moratorium on enforcement
of the filing requirement after the
compliance date of this final rule. The
moratorium would not apply to new
applicants for USDOT registration.
Therefore, the Agency is establishing
the financial responsibility filing
requirement for private HM carriers as
proposed.
4. Blanket Agents
FMCSA proposed to expand its
existing designation of process agent
requirements to private and exempt forhire carriers.51 The Agency’s
designation of process agent regulations
(49 CFR part 366) permit a carrier to
fulfill its process agent designation
requirements by listing an association or
corporation that has filed with FMCSA
a list of process agents for each State
(blanket agent) on the required Form
BOC–3.
OOIDA suggested that the designation
of process agent requirements could be
made more effective if motor carriers
using a blanket agent are required to
update the BOC–3 designation form
along with the biennial update of the
MCSA–1. OOIDA also noted that service
of process on a motor carrier may be
impeded if the motor carrier does not
report address changes to the blanket
agent, or if the blanket agent withdraws
from offering process agent services
without notice. This commenter pointed
50 See
51 See

49 CFR 387.15, Forms.
76 FR 66506, 66525 and 70 FR 28990,

28999.

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out that 49 CFR 366.5 permits a carrier
to satisfy its process agent designation
requirements by listing a blanket agent
on its BOC–3, and that such listing
could satisfy the carrier’s designation
requirement indefinitely, regardless of
whether any relationship is maintained
between the blanket agent and the motor
carrier. OOIDA commented that the
regulations would not ensure that a
motor carrier’s process agent
designations are updated and accurate
unless the biennial update requirement
is also expanded to include the BOC–3
Form. Further, OOIDA stated that 49
CFR 366.6, Cancellation or change, is
silent concerning the ability of the
blanket agent to cancel the designation,
and only allows the motor carrier to take
such action.
FMCSA Response: The Agency has
revised the final rule to accommodate
this commenter’s concerns. FMCSA
agrees that the current service of process
agent requirements should be modified
to provide greater certainty that process
agent designations are accurate and that
process agents are able to receive and
serve on their clients/principals notices
in court or administrative proceedings
on regulated entities. Accordingly, the
Agency has revised 49 CFR 366.6 in
several respects. First, in § 366.6(a), we
have clarified that the process agent or
blanket agent, in addition to the motor
carrier, broker, or freight forwarder, may
cancel or change a process agent
designation by filing a new designation
with the Agency. To help ensure that
such designations are up to date,
§ 366.6(b) requires that changes to
designations be reported to FMCSA
within 30 days of the change. This will
provide more timely notice of such
changes than a biennial update
requirement would and are consistent
with other notifications of change
required by the rule.
In response to OOIDA’s concern that
a process agent would be unable to
serve notices on a motor carrier if the
carrier does not notify the agent of a
change of address, the Agency has
added, in § 366.6(c), a new requirement
that a motor carrier, broker or freight
forwarder report changes in name,
address, or contact information to its
process agents and/or the company
making a blanket designation on its
behalf within 30 days of the change.
Finally, while FMCSA does not have
jurisdiction over process agents and
blanket agents, they should report to the
Agency when their contract or
relationship with the entity they
represent terminates. Motor carriers,
other entities we regulate, and the
public depend upon these process
agents and blanket agents to keep their

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information current. Thus, the Agency
has added new § 366.6(d), which
requires process agents and/or
companies to provide FMCSA with a
notice of termination within 30 days of
the termination. FMCSA’s Office of
Registration and Safety Information
currently authorizes blanket agents to
submit process agent designations on
behalf of regulated entities. Failure to
keep process agent information up to
date may result in the withdrawal of
Agency authorization.
Overall, the amendments to the
requirements in part 366 will help
ensure that the process agent
designation regulations serve their
purpose of assisting members of the
public seeking compensation for losses
involving a CMV. Accurate process
agent information from all parties to the
transaction enables the public to serve
process in lawsuits on the correct party
in any State in which a motor carrier,
broker, or freight forwarder operates.
Additionally, FMCSA uses the
information to locate hard-to-find
carriers for compliance interventions
and to serve notices for civil penalty
enforcement actions, out-of-service
orders, and other administrative
proceedings. Therefore, these
requirements will ensure that the
Agency can properly enforce its
regulations against violators.
H. Potential URS Impacts on Existing
Systems and Programs
A few commenters expressed
concerns about potential negative
impacts of URS implementation on
Federal/State partnership initiatives
such as the UCR Agreement, the PRISM
Program, the CSA Program, and the New
Entrant Safety Assurance Program.
FMCSA assures stakeholders that the
Agency will consult with them in
planning, developing and testing the
new URS information system to prevent
conflicts with such programs.
1. Impacts on PRISM Program
Inconsistent Motor Carrier Registration
Data
MoDOT requested that FMCSA clarify
how the proposed URS information
requirements will impact the PRISM
Program. In particular, MoDOT
commented that information concerning
carrier registration is passed to the
States within the States’ Commercial
Vehicle Information Exchange Window
(CVIEW) snapshot, and is used when
companies plate their vehicles under
the International Registration Plan (IRP).
This commenter stated that inconsistent
data when information is validated for

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the PRISM Program is confusing for the
States and the industry.
FMCSA Response. PRISM ensures that
a vehicle does not receive license plates
without identification of the carrier
responsible for the safety of the vehicle
during the registration year. By using
vehicle registration sanctions, PRISM
serves as a powerful incentive for unsafe
carriers to improve their safety
performance. CVIEW data has various
purposes while PRISM data specifically
targets certain vehicles and motor
carriers. FMCSA believes these data
programs are complementary, not
inconsistent.
PRISM Program States should
transition to the Form MCSA–1 and the
Agency will provide training to ensure
seamless implementation. PRISM grant
funds may also be available to provide
financial assistance. Aside from use of
the new Form MCSA–1 as described in
this final rule, FMCSA does not
anticipate that the changes to the URS
will significantly impact the operations
of the State’s PRISM or CVIEW program.
States participating in PRISM will
continue to perform PRISM functions
such as issuing USDOT Numbers,
mandating the update to the MCSA–1,
and applying vehicle registration
sanctions when appropriate.
Type of Operation Classification on the
MCSA–1 Form
MoDOT expressed concerns regarding
how the practice of changing a carrier’s
interstate operation classification to
intrastate when no interstate
transportation has been performed
would be affected by the proposed URS
requirements. This commenter
explained that the FMCSA Electronic
Field Operations Training Manual
(eFOTM) states that if a State attempts
to perform a New Entrant Safety Audit
and determines that the carrier has not
performed any interstate transportation,
the State should not perform a New
Entrant Safety Audit, but instead should
change the carrier’s interstate operation
classification to intrastate. The eFOTM
further instructs States to tell the motor
carrier to go online and change its
operation from ‘‘Intrastate’’ to
‘‘Interstate’’ when it begins to operate in
interstate commerce.
MoDOT also requested clarification
regarding proposed 49 CFR 365.110,
which stated that the operating
authority will not become permanent
until the applicant satisfactorily
completes the New Entrant Safety
Assurance Program. The commenter
asked what would happen to a carrier’s
operating authority when no interstate
transportation has been performed
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the States are told not to perform a
safety audit (per the eFOTM
procedures). MoDOT asked whether
States should be permitted to deactivate
the USDOT Number if no interstate
activity has been performed within a
designated time frame and the State
does not require a USDOT Number for
intrastate operations. MoDOT further
asked whether States should be allowed
to perform the safety audit if the carrier
intends to operate in interstate
commerce in order to ensure that the
company is ‘‘ready’’ and meets all
requirements for operating in interstate
commerce.
FMCSA Response. Currently, the
eFOTM procedures direct a safety
investigator/auditor not to conduct a
safety audit if he or she learns the motor
carrier has not yet begun interstate
operations when the audit is being
scheduled and to reclassify its interstate
operation classification within the
Motor Carrier Management Information
System (MCMIS) to intrastate. The
Agency is aware of this issue and will
ensure it is not carried over into the
URS, which will resolve other issues
raised by MoDOT regarding the
intrastate/interstate operation
classification. Because the issue is not
caused by the URS registration
requirements, it is considered beyond
the scope of the final rule and will be
dealt with separately. The Agency is
developing and will implement policies
and procedures to address this
unintended consequence of changing
the operation classification for New
Entrant Safety Assurance Program
purposes. Any changes to the eFOTM
that are needed will be made as the
policies and procedures are developed,
independently of this final rule.
Contradiction With PRISM Program
State’s International Registration Plan
MoDOT expressed concern about
changing any requirement within the
PRISM procedures to suspend a license
plate when an application for USDOT
registration is rejected during FMCSA’s
review because this could contradict the
terms of the IRP. This commenter stated
that depending on the timeframe of the
vehicle registration and the reporting
period, applicants may be allowed to
operate within two different registration
periods with estimated mileage only.
FMCSA Response. As has historically
been the case, PRISM States impose
vehicle registration sanctions when a
motor carrier has been prohibited from
operating by FMCSA, normally when an
out-of-service order has been issued. An
application rejected during FMCSA
review, however, is not the result of an
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In this final rule, the applicant cannot
begin operations or mark a CMV with
the USDOT Number until after the date
of the Agency’s written notice that the
USDOT Number has been activated.
PRISM State vehicle registration
sanctions will continue to apply only in
those cases when FMCSA has issued an
out-of-service order.
PRISM Program State Assistance With
Electronic Filing
Given the electronic filing
requirement for Form MCSA–1 under
URS, MoDOT expressed concern about
how it could help Missouri carriers with
the new registration filing or biennial
updates associated with the PRISM
Program. MoDOT commented that it
would not want to receive or input
information from a paper application
form to assist its customers in
complying with the new registration
requirement.
FMCSA Response. As noted above,
PRISM Program States should update
their IRP to comply with the new URS
registration requirement, including
mandatory electronic filing. The Agency
continues to believe that mandatory
electronic filing is feasible and would
result in cost and time savings to both
applicants and FMCSA.52 In 2008, an
estimated 78 percent of U.S. motor
carrier new applicants electronically
filed their initial registrations, and this
number is projected to steadily increase
to 88 percent by 2016.53 Furthermore,
the Internet is publicly accessible via
libraries and other public facilities.
FMCSA recognizes that this change
could impose a burden on entities that
do not have readily accessible means to
file electronically or that do not wish to
file electronically, and has estimated
these costs in detail in the Regulatory
Evaluation.54 In future years, the
FMCSA estimates that only 12 percent
of applicants would be expected to still
file by paper, if that option were
available. The estimated cost savings of
a mandatory electronic filing
requirement that would accrue to other
carriers and to the Agency is much
greater than the costs to those carriers
that would choose to continue to file by
paper; mandatory electronic filing,
therefore, is a cost effective requirement.
The Agency sought, but did not receive
comment on the SNPRM’s Regulatory
52 See section 3.2 of the Final Regulatory
Evaluation of the Unified Registration System,
which is available in the docket, for a discussion
of the costs and benefits of the mandatory electronic
filing.
53 See Appendix A of the Final Regulatory
Evaluation of the Unified Registration System,
which is available in the docket.
54 Id.

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Evaluation’s estimate of the impact of
mandatory electronic filing.
2. Impacts on UCR Agreement
The SNPRM explained that Congress
established the UCR Plan and
Agreement to replace the SSRS for
registration of interstate motor carriers
with the States, and to ensure that States
did not lose revenues derived from the
SSRS.55 The UCR Plan and Agreement
established fee schedules under which
States collect fees from carriers based on
the number of qualifying CMVs in their
fleets.
MoDOT pointed out unintended
impacts of MCMIS and PRISM on the
UCR Agreement and urged the Agency
to address them within the URS final
rule. For example, information on the
Form MCS–150 is used to determine
fees paid to the States under the UCR
Agreement. MoDOT requested that
FMCSA ensure that replacing Form
MCS–150 with Form MCSA–1 would
not jeopardize such fee determination.
OOIDA identified an existing problem
that could inappropriately create a
liability to pay UCR fees for a year when
a carrier was not operating. Specifically,
this commenter stated that when a
carrier attempts to provide the data
needed to reactivate suspended or
inactive authority, the current system
will not allow the numerical value of
‘‘0’’ (zero) miles to be inputted for the
previous year even where there has been
no activity. The carrier must input a
value of ‘‘1’’ mile in order for the system
to accept the application. Having to
make any mileage declaration could
create a liability to pay UCR fees for a
year where there was no operation.
OOIDA recommended allowing carriers
to enter zero miles in the data field to
resolve the issue.
FMCSA Response. The Agency has
revised Form MCSA–1 to ensure that
replacing Form MCS–150 with Form
MCSA–1 will not jeopardize fee
determination under the UCR
Agreement. A Federal statute, 49 U.S.C.
14504a(f)(3), allows States to use the
Form MCS–150 as a source of
information about the number of
vehicles in a motor carrier’s fleet for
purposes of determining a carrier’s fees
under the UCR Agreement. The number
of CMVs owned or operated for the
purpose of determining the level of fees
charged for registering with the UCR
Plan is either ‘‘the number of
commercial motor vehicles the [carrier]
or freight forwarder has indicated it
operates on its most recently filed MCS–
150 or the total number of such vehicles
it owned or operated for the 12-month
55 See

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period ending on June 30 of the year
immediately prior to the registration
year of the Unified Carrier Registration
System.’’ 56 The new Form MCSA–1 is
the functional equivalent of the MCS–
150. FMCSA construes the reference at
the end of the statutory quote above to
the ‘‘Unified Carrier Registration
System’’ as the UCR Agreement because
the Unified Carrier Registration System
(which FMCSA calls the URS) does not
have a registration year.
The Agency has revised Form MCSA–
1 to collect information about the
number of vehicles in an applicant’s
fleet that are used solely in intrastate
commerce. See Form MCSA–1, Section
B, question 22(d). This revision is in
response to comments from MoDOT
about disparities in data reported by
motor carriers during UCR Agreement
and FMCSA registrations with regard to
fleet size and suggestions for improving
the ability to reconcile these
inconsistencies. FMCSA believes this
change will improve the ability to
determine fees for the UCR Agreement
pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 14504a(f)(3). This
new entry will not increase the
information collection burden on
applicants because they are able to
estimate with reasonable accuracy the
number of vehicles operating in
interstate and intrastate commerce,
respectively.
With respect to the mileage issue, the
Agency is modifying its systems to
accept a value of ‘‘0’’ (zero) in the
mileage field and to require motor
carriers to report vehicle miles traveled
(VMT) data for the previous 12 months
rather than for the previous calendar
year. The MCSA–1 Instructions
(question 21) have been modified
accordingly. These changes are being
implemented outside of this rulemaking
process.
I. Transfers of Operating Authority and
Concerns About Reincarnated Carriers
In the SNPRM, the Agency proposed
to eliminate 49 CFR part 365, subpart D,
governing transfers of operating
authority.57 FMCSA reasoned that
ICCTA removed the Agency’s statutory
authority to approve transfers of
authority and did not prohibit such
transfers.
TIA expressed support for the
proposed elimination of 49 CFR part
365, subpart D. However, TIA cautioned
against simplifying the application and
registration process to the point it
would increase reincarnated carriers.
TIA commented that FMCSA must be
careful to establish the application and

registration process in a way that will
address certain abuses that have arisen
under the current system, and that
retains adequate protections for the
shipping public. TIA requested that the
Agency continue to allow MC Numbers
to reflect a broker’s business history. To
prevent churning of operating
authorities by unscrupulous or
fraudulent operators, TIA encouraged
FMCSA to take steps to conduct a
thorough review of repeat applications
by carriers or brokers filed within the
same year to create an active database of
companies. This commenter suggested
that the Agency link the URS or other
registration requirement with operating
authority. Finally, to further prevent
churning and confusion in the
marketplace, TIA suggested that FMCSA
prohibit the sale of authority numbers
outside the sale of the company.
FMCSA Response. The ICCTA
repealed 49 U.S.C. 10926, which gave
the Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC) specific authority to review and
approve transfers of operating authority
which historically was assigned to nonexempt and for-hire motor carriers,
brokers, and freight forwarders.
However, FMCSA has never allowed
and will continue to disallow transfers
of USDOT numbers which have been
issued for safety-related registration and
now will become the unique identifier
for FMCSA-regulated entities. The
commenter, however, brought up
legitimate concerns about potential
carrier safety record-related impacts of
the URS combining commercial
operating authority and safety
registration under the same USDOT
Number.
Although ICCTA removed the
Agency’s authority under former 49
U.S.C. 10926 to approve transfers of
authority, it did not prohibit FMCSA
from requiring notice of transfers. The
Agency’s statutory authority permits it
to obtain information from carriers and
brokers, and from the employees of such
entities, that FMCSA decides is
necessary to carry out its regulatory
responsibilities.58
This rule will result in the
development of a registration system
that combines information associated
with the Agency’s safety and
commercial registration systems in a
way that does not exist today. FMCSA
believes that combining these separate
Agency information systems into the
URS will improve the Agency’s ability
to detect and prevent unscrupulous
motor carriers that reinvent themselves
to avoid compliance with regulations
and enforcement actions. The Agency

56 Id.
57 See

76 FR 66506, 66519.

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58 49

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U.S.C. 13301(b).

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believes it can identify these
reincarnated carriers despite
discontinuing issuance of the MC
Numbers because a motor carrier’s
safety history is associated with its
USDOT Number, not its MC Number.
All for-hire motor carriers that have MC
Numbers and are subject to the Agency’s
safety jurisdiction also have USDOT
Numbers.
Today, the Agency uses several
screening algorithms to identify
potential reincarnated carriers, which
will continue under the URS. For
example, the Agency already has
implemented a New Applicant
Screening (NAS) Process. The Agency
currently uses the NAS to provide
additional scrutiny to all applications
involving passenger carrier and
household goods (HHG) authority.
However, without a transfer notification
requirement, this and other protections
discussed in the SNPRM may be
insufficient to quickly identify
reincarnated carriers. Absent a
notification requirement, a carrier’s
operating authority could change hands
through the sale of a company, and the
safety history of the transferor company
could be lost if the transferee company
already has its own USDOT Number
that it will continue to use with its
newly acquired operating authority.
This would result in a loophole that
would allow a carrier to avoid a bad
safety history by obtaining a new
USDOT Number and shedding its old
USDOT Number and poor safety history.
In response to the concerns expressed
by TIA, therefore, the Agency has
decided to require, in new
§ 390.201(d)(5), that a person who
obtains operating authority through a
transfer, as defined in part 365, subpart
D, notify FMCSA of the transfer within
30 days of consummation of the
transaction by filing either an updated
Form MCSA–1 or a new Form MCSA–
1, if the transferee did not have an
existing USDOT Number at the time of
transfer. Section 390.201(d)(5) also
requires the transferor to file an updated
Form MCSA–1 to notify FMCSA of the
transfer, which will allow the Agency to
maintain accurate records of entities’
operating authorities. When providing
the transfer of operating authority
information on an updated Form
MCSA–1, a transferee or transferor
would check ‘‘Notification of Transfer of
Operating Authority (Both Transferor
and Transferee)’’ as the reason for filing,
and the information that the online
Form MCSA–1 will require is the name,
address, phone number, and USDOT
Numbers of the transferor and
transferee. They will also need to scan

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and provide an electronic copy of the
operating authority being transferred.
The information provided with a
notification of transfer of authority will
ensure that the Agency’s IT systems are
up to date and that the safety history
associated with a carrier’s operating
authority and its associated USDOT
Number remains connected with that
operating authority, regardless of any
changes in the entities that own that
operating authority. FMCSA is also
revising part 365, subpart D, to specify
the procedures for motor carriers,
property brokers, and freight forwarders
to report to FMCSA transactions that
result in the transfer of operating
authority. Section 365.403(a) defines
transfer as ‘‘any transaction in which an
operating authority issued to one person
is taken over by another person or
persons who assume legal responsibility
for the operations. Such transactions
include a purchase of all or some of the
assets of a company, a merger of two or
more companies, or acquisition of
controlling interest in a company
through a purchase of company stock.’’
Section 365.403(c) defines person as an
‘‘individual, partnership, corporation,
company, association, or other form of
business, or a trustee, receiver, assignee,
or personal representative of any of
these entities.’’ Finally, § 365.405
references § 390.201(d)(5) and specifies
that both the transferor and the
transferee must supply the full name,
address, and USDOT Numbers of the
transferor and transferee (if the
transferee has a USDOT Number), as
well as a copy of the operating authority
being transferred.
The Form MCSA–1 and Instructions
have been revised to accommodate a
filing for purposes of notification of
transfer of operating authority (see
section O). In particular, the Agency has
added an additional reason for filing:
‘‘Notification of Transfer of Operating
Authority (Transferor or Transferee),’’
which will have no associated fee. If a
person filing the Form MCSA–1 checks
this reason, the user will be directed to
Section O (Notification of Transfer of
Operating Authority). The applicant
will first be asked whether it is a
transferor or a transferee. If the
applicant is a transferee, the applicant
will be prompted to confirm whether or
not it has a USDOT Number. If the
transferee does not yet have a USDOT
Number, the applicant will be redirected to Section A, and the applicant
will be required to fill out all applicable
sections of the Form MCSA–1 as a new
applicant.
If the transferee has an existing
USDOT Number, and in all cases for the
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purposes of notification of transfer of
operating authority, Section O will
prompt the applicant to enter the name,
address, contact information, and
USDOT Number for both the transferor
and the transferee. As it does with all
new applicants for a USDOT Number,
the Agency will determine whether the
transferee is willing and able to comply
with applicable regulatory
requirements, and will ensure that the
transferee has satisfied all applicable
administrative filing requirements,
before activating the transferee’s USDOT
Number. The Form MCSA–1
Instructions have been revised to
explain the new reason for filing and to
direct transferors and transferees on
how to enter data in Section O.
J. Reinstatement of Operating Authority
Related to issues of churning
operating authority by reincarnated
carriers, TIA also urged FMCSA to
prohibit the practice of reinstating
authority numbers that have been
inactive for more than 12 months. This
commenter cited data from Internet
Truckstop that 22 percent of reinstated
MC Numbers were not reinstated by the
original owner (i.e., that they had been
purchased by a different company). TIA
stated that any change in ownership
usually flags a change in the company’s
methods of operation and business
practices, quoting an Internet Truckstop
report. For these reasons, TIA
recommended that entities should be
prohibited from purchasing and
reinstating a retired MC Number, unless
someone purchases the entire company.
TIA urged FMCSA to completely retire
MC Numbers and USDOT Numbers that
have been out of service for more than
12 months.
FMCSA Response. As was stated in
the SNPRM, FMCSA no longer has
authority under former 49 U.S.C. 10926
to approve transfers of operating
authority. However, the final rule
requires motor carriers and other
regulated entities to notify FMCSA of
any transactions that may directly or
indirectly result in the transfer of
operating authority (see section V.I).
This notification requirement will help
FMCSA keep track of possible churning
of operating authority registrations by
unsafe carriers. Operating authority or a
USDOT Number may become inactive
for legitimate business reasons. For
example, a small carrier may decide to
lease its vehicles and drivers to another
authorized carrier for a period of time
rather than operate under its own MC or
USDOT Number because it may be
economically beneficial to do so. Or, a
carrier that may have decided to operate
solely in intrastate commerce may

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52625

subsequently resume operations as an
interstate carrier. FMCSA believes that
adopting TIA’s proposal to permanently
‘‘retire’’ MC and USDOT Numbers that
have been inactive for more than 12
months, thus requiring carriers to apply
for new numbers and re-enter the new
entrant program, would be unduly
burdensome for carriers that have
legitimate reasons for temporary
deactivation.
K. Unauthorized Re-Brokering of Freight
The SNPRM proposed that URS apply
to property brokers because section
4302 of SAFETEA–LU requires the
Federal on-line replacement system to
‘‘serve as a clearinghouse and
depository of information on, and
identification of, all foreign and
domestic carriers, motor private carriers,
brokers, freight forwarders, and others
required to register with the Department
of Transportation . . .’’ 59 TIA asked
FMCSA to issue separate operating
authority numbers to entities operating
as both motor carriers and property
brokers so that the Agency could
prevent unauthorized re-brokering of
freight, and to enable shippers to know
which type of entity they are dealing
with at the time of arranging for the
transportation of cargo. This commenter
asserted that many motor carriers
currently operate under the
misperception that registering as a
motor carrier entitles them to broker
freight to other motor carriers when they
cannot handle it themselves.
TIA commented that the unauthorized
re-brokering of freight has led to many
commercial problems for its member
brokers. Further, TIA stated that when
undisclosed re-brokering of freight
occurs, carriers with poor safety
histories—often those that would have
never been chosen by the shipper or
broker—can remain in business and
circumvent the safeguards intended to
discourage the use of unsafe carriers.
Thus, TIA reasoned that unauthorized
re-brokering of freight by motor carriers
also frustrates the efforts of government
and the industry to promote the use of
safe carriers.
TIA commented that the proposed
URS and Form MCSA–1 would
perpetuate the confusion caused by the
current FMCSA registration system
(inherited from the ICC) by permitting
an entity to use a single registration
process to apply for authority as both a
carrier and broker, and by using a single
USDOT Number to cover them both.
This commenter asserted that this
characteristic of the registration system
makes it impossible for the party
59 49

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tendering the cargo to be sure which
operating authority the carrier is
choosing to exercise. Therefore, TIA
urged FMCSA to require separate
applications for motor carrier, broker,
and freight forwarder authority, and to
assign different USDOT Numbers for
motor carrier and broker authority, even
when they are held by the same entity.
FMCSA Response. A ‘‘broker’’ is a
party who, for compensation, arranges,
or offers to arrange the transportation of
property by an authorized motor
carrier.60 When shipments are
transported by motor carriers, both the
carrier and the shipper may use brokers
as agents in connection with the
movement of goods. Currently, entities
may hold authority to operate as both a
motor carrier and a broker, either under
their own name or through affiliated
companies.
Prior to enactment of MAP–21,
separate broker authority was not
necessarily required for motor carriers
to lawfully tender freight to other motor
carriers for transportation, provided the
motor carrier arranged for the
transportation of shipments which they
are authorized to transport and which
they have accepted and legally bound
themselves to transport.61 Section 32915
of MAP–21 amended 49 U.S.C. 13902 to
prohibit a motor carrier from providing
broker services unless it first registers as
a broker under 49 U.S.C. 13904.
Section 32914 of MAP–21 also
amended 49 U.S.C. 13901 to require
distinctive USDOT Numbers for each
type of authority issued. For example,
an entity applying for both broker and
motor carrier authority would receive a
different USDOT Number for each type
of authority. This MAP–21 provision
also requires that the USDOT Number
include an ‘‘indicator’’ of the type of
authority issued. FMCSA will address
these MAP–21 requirements in a
separate rulemaking, at a later date.
L. Americans With Disabilities Act
(ADA) Compliance
Greyhound stated that FMCSA
continues to refuse to make compliance
with the ADA an issue to be considered
before registering motor carriers of
passengers. Greyhound commented that
enactment of the Over-the-Road Bus
Transportation Accessibility Act of 2007
(OTRB Act), Public Law 110–291,
requires FMCSA to assess an applicant’s
willingness and ability to comply with
DOT’s ADA regulations at 49 CFR part
37, subpart H in the same way the
Agency considers the applicant’s ability
to comply with other applicable
60 49
61 49

U.S.C. 13102(2).
CFR 371.2(a).

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regulations, such as those pertaining to
safety and financial responsibility.
Greyhound commented that FMCSA
must gather sufficient information to
make the basic ADA fitness
determination.
Greyhound also requested that
FMCSA modify the equipment list
requirements on page 6 of the proposed
Form MCSA–1 to ensure that all fixedroute operators comply with
requirements regarding lift-equipped
vehicles or provision of equivalent
service, as applicable. Greyhound also
urged that New Entrant Safety Audits be
expanded to include questions
regarding compliance with lift-equipped
vehicle requirements for both demand
responsive and fixed-route passenger
carriers.
FMCSA Response. Although the
OTRB Act required FMCSA to consider
an applicant’s willingness and ability to
comply with DOT’s ADA regulations in
determining whether to grant its
application for operating authority, it
did not mandate a particular means of
doing so. Section G of Form MCSA–1
requires passenger carrier applicants to
certify that they are ‘‘fit, willing, and
able to comply with all pertinent
statutory and regulatory requirements,
including the U.S. Department of
Transportation’s Americans with
Disabilities Act regulations for over-theroad bus companies located at 49 CFR
part 37, subpart H, if applicable.’’ After
explaining differences in terminology
between the part 37 regulations and
FMCSA regulations, the Form directs
the applicant to the Agency’s Web site
for a general overview of the
Department’s ADA regulations. This
certification is more specific than the
certification in Section M of Form
MCSA–1, in which all applicants must
certify that they are willing and able to
comply ‘‘with all pertinent statutory and
regulatory requirements and regulations
issued or administered by the U.S.
Department of Transportation, including
operational regulations, safety fitness
requirements, motor vehicle safety
standards and minimum financial
responsibility, and designation of
process agent requirements.’’ Thus, at
the application stage, the Agency will
assess an applicant’s willingness and
ability to comply with ADA
requirements through self-certification.
If a member of the public or a potential
competitor has evidence that an
applicant is not willing and able to
comply with DOT’s ADA regulations,
they may raise this issue in a protest to
the application filed in accordance with
49 CFR part 365, subpart B.
Regarding the modification of the
equipment list requirements, FMCSA

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believes that the certification in Section
G of Form MCSA–1 complies with the
OTRB Act and that it is unnecessary to
require applicants to include detailed
ADA compliance information on the
application form. FMCSA indicated in
the SNPRM that it would verify ADA
compliance during the New Entrant
Safety Audit stage. New Entrant Safety
Audits are generally conducted within 9
months after a new entrant for-hire
passenger carrier is issued operating
authority registration and in the future
will be conducted within 120 days as
required by MAP–21. At this time, the
Agency will probe into the carrier’s
ADA compliance. Although it is beyond
the scope of this rulemaking, the
Agency will consider augmenting the
New Entrant Safety Audit to include
verifying compliance by both fixedroute and demand responsive passenger
carriers with the fleet standards and/or
equivalent service standard contained in
49 CFR 37.183 and 185.
If noncompliance with DOT’s ADA
regulations is discovered in the course
of the safety audit or a Compliance
Review, FMCSA will, in accordance
with a Memorandum of Understanding
with the U.S. Department of Justice
(DOJ), either forward the information to
DOJ for appropriate action or conduct
its own investigation and attempt to
resolve the violations. We believe that
these procedures are sufficient to meet
the Agency’s obligations under the
OTRB Act.
M. Other Suggested Revisions to MCSA–
1 Form and Instructions
OOIDA, ATA, NTTC and MoDOT
proposed extensive corrections,
revisions and enhancements to the
proposed form and instructions. In this
section, the Agency discusses comments
on the MCSA–1 Form and Instructions
not otherwise addressed above. FMCSA
has made corrections to the
typographical errors that commenters
pointed out.
General
Applicants Accustomed to MCS–150
Terms and Instructions
ATA commented that where an
existing form, such as the MCS–150, has
been in use for years, and those filing it
have become accustomed to the form
and its instructions, it may be advisable,
whenever possible, to continue to use
the same language as the existing form,
and the same instructions.
FMCSA Response. The Agency
acknowledges that some of the terms
used in Form MCSA–1 are new and
unfamiliar to entities that do not require
operating authority. However, these

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entities will need to provide only
information pertinent to their specific
operations. FMCSA will strive to make
the online system and instructions as
clear as possible when designing and
implementing the new system, and will
provide examples to clarify registration
processes whenever feasible.
Use of the Word ‘‘Applicant’’
ATA commented that although the
MCSA–1 Form is a multi-purpose form,
throughout the form and instructions
the filer is referred to as the ‘‘applicant,’’
although only a minority, perhaps a
small minority, of filers would be
applicants for operating authority
registration. ATA commented that the
result would be confusion for those
other than applicants, as such entities
would be uncertain as to what parts of
Form MCSA–1 apply to them. This
commenter recommended that the Form
MCSA–1 and Instructions use a more
general, neutral term, such as ‘‘filer.’’
FMCSA Response. The Agency
disagrees and is retaining the use of the
word applicant in Form MCSA–1 and
the Instructions. Under the URS, every
entity under FMCSA jurisdiction is
considered an applicant for registration,
not just those requesting operating
authority. We recognize, however, that
some existing entities will also file
changes to their name, address, form of
business, and/or updates to their
registration information on the Form
MCSA–1, but they too will be
considered as ‘‘applicants’’ requesting a
change or update in their registration
data. Because the Agency wants to
ensure that the information entered on
Form MCSA–1 pertains to the entity
seeking registration or other appropriate
actions and not a third-party filing
company, FMCSA believes the use of a
more general term (such as ‘‘filer’’)
would be inappropriate. All entities
must indicate their ‘‘Reasons to File’’
the Form MCSA–1. Because the Form
MCSA–1 is electronic, entities will be
directed to the appropriate sections that
need to be completed once they indicate
their reason for filing. This aspect of the
URS will eliminate any uncertainty as to
what parts of Form MCSA–1 apply to
entities filing the form. Accordingly, the
Agency will use the term ‘‘applicant,’’
rather than filer, throughout the URS
rule, the Form MCSA–1, and the
Instructions. In addition, sec. 32105 of
MAP–21, which adds new section
31134 to Title 49, U.S. Code, requires
persons subject to the Agency’s safety
jurisdiction to submit an ‘‘application’’
to receive a USDOT Number. The
universe of ‘‘applicants’’ is therefore not
limited to persons seeking operating
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References to Federal Statutes or
Regulations
ATA pointed out that on the first page
of the proposed Instructions for Form
MCSA–1, in the line immediately above
the bullet points, a reference is made to
‘‘interstate commerce as defined in 49
CFR 390.5.’’ The commenter asserted
that this sort of technical reference
would not be encouraging to
unsophisticated applicants as they begin
to engage with this already intimidating
form. Further, ATA commented that if
applicants do read the referenced
regulation, they may be misled again, to
believe that interstate commerce only
includes movements by vehicles that
cross state lines. This commenter stated
that, in general, references to Federal
statutes or regulations will rarely be
helpful.
FMCSA Response. Generally, the
Agency cites Federal regulations and
statutes in the Form MCSA–1 and
Instructions because cross referencing
these sources is more efficient than
spelling out definitions and
requirements throughout these
documents and the statutes and
regulations provide the basis for
applicable registration requirements.
Inserting language from the statutes or
regulations would require changes to
the MCSA–1 Form and/or Instructions
whenever modifications were made to
the statutory or regulatory language.
However, in the interest of making the
instructions easier to understand, the
Agency has included additional
clarifications wherever feasible.
NTSB Recommendation H–11–1:
Collecting Additional Cargo Tank
Information
As noted in the SNPRM, in 2009 the
National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB), as part of its accident report
concerning a 2009 crash involving a
cargo tank vehicle, recommended that
FMCSA revise the MCS–150 Form to
require HM carriers to report the
number of types of USDOT specification
cargo tanks (i.e., cargo tank vehicles
designed and self-certified by the
vehicle manufacturer as meeting the
applicable PHMSA standards for use in
transporting HM) owned or leased by
the carriers and provide other pertinent
data displayed on the specification
plates of such tanks (Recommendation
H–11–1).62 NTSB recommended that
FMCSA require this information to be
updated annually. In the SNPRM, the
Agency sought comments on this NTSB
62 See http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/
summary/HAR1101.html (last accessed July 30,
2012).

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recommendation.63 NTTC quoted this
NTSB recommendation, noting that
NTSB recommended that data be
collected from all intrastate and
interstate carriers. No other commenter
addressed NTSB Recommendation H–
11–1.
FMCSA Response. The FMCSA
acknowledges the intent of the NTSB
recommendation but the Agency has
opted not to include a requirement in
the URS final rule for the collection of
the cargo tank vehicle information
recommended by the NTSB. Based on
FMCSA’s experience working with
PHMSA and the cargo tank industry to
address safety issues, and our
understanding of the role of crash
investigations or inquiries in identifying
likely causes or contributing factors of
crashes and HM incidents, the Agency
does not need the cargo tank vehicle
data in question.
First, the fact that a specification
cargo tank vehicle was involved in a
recordable crash would not in and of
itself trigger a need for industry-wide
tank vehicle data. In the absence of a
crash or incident involving the
unintended release of HM, and a
subsequent investigation of the cause of
the release of the material, the industrywide data would serve only as a census
of cargo tank vehicles used to transport
HM. This census would not cover tank
vehicles used to transport other
materials even though such vehicles
would be susceptible to crashes.
FMCSA would know the total number
of specification tank vehicles in use but
there would be little if any analytical
value concerning the risks of future
crashes. FMCSA notes that through its
existing motor carrier reporting
requirements, which are continued
through this rulemaking, the Agency has
access to information on the identity of
interstate motor carriers transporting
HM in quantities requiring placards,
which includes the interstate carriers
operating specification cargo tank
vehicles that are the subject of the
NTSB’s interest.
Second, if there is a crash or incident
involving the unintentional release of
HM and the investigation or inquiry
suggests that a design, fabrication, or
maintenance issue may have
contributed to the release of the HM,
FMCSA and PHMSA already have the
tools needed to effectively address the
issue(s) without imposing a new
information collection burden on the
transportation industry. If there is a
concern that a cargo tank vehicle from
a specific manufacturer may not comply
with PHMSA’s standards, the
63 See

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subsequent investigation would
determine whether the problem is with
the fabrication and/or maintenance of
the specific tank vehicle involved in the
crash or incident; involves multiple
cargo tank vehicles produced by the
same manufacturer; involves multiple
cargo tanks serviced by the same repair
facility; involves multiple cargo tanks
operated by the same carrier; or,
involves multiple manufacturers’ cargo
tanks in the specification series. The
Department does not need the
information collection for these
scenarios to address the issue because
FMCSA and PHMSA would work with
the cargo tank manufacturers and repair
facilities to take appropriate actions to
resolve the safety concerns. FMCSA and
PHMSA would work with the
manufacturers and repair facilities
involved to gather up-to-date
information on how many specification
tank vehicles had been sold or serviced
and which customers were operating
those vehicles.
In the event the investigation suggests
flaws with one or more manufacturers’
specification tank vehicle series, the
agencies would work together to inform
the cargo tank industry (manufacturers,
registered repair facilities, and carriers)
and the enforcement community of the
problem and what actions should be
taken to address the problem. For
example, FMCSA could issue a safety
bulletin or alert, or publish a Federal
Register notice announcing the
discovery of the non-compliant tanks.
The Agency has taken a similar action
in the past to alert carriers to safety
problems and to direct them to
immediately discontinue use of the
unsafe cargo tanks until repairs and
recertification were completed.
And, if necessary, the agencies would
work together to determine what
regulatory actions may need to be
considered to provide a long-term
solution. As with the previous
scenarios, the NTSB’s recommended
information collection burden would
not have provided any practical
information useful in addressing the
problem.
If there is a problem with the actual
regulatory standard for a specification
series, i.e., the manufacturers’ tank
designs conform to the PHMSA
standards in effect on the date of
manufacture but the standards for that
series need to be upgraded, the
collection of data does not help FMCSA
and PHMSA because the agencies do
not have a practical means with which
to address such problems short of
conducting a rulemaking to require or
prohibit certain actions by
manufacturers, repair facilities, and

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carriers. At the point the agencies
consider a rulemaking, FMCSA and
PHMSA could query the vehicle
manufacturers to obtain cargo tank
vehicle data needed to support the
preparation of rulemaking documents.
The information collection burden
recommended by the NTSB would
therefore be unnecessary.
For the reasons given above, the
Agency excludes from the final rule the
collection of cargo tank data from motor
carriers. The Agency will formally
notify the NTSB in writing to request
closure of the recommendation. NTTC’s
specific comment relating to URS
applicability to intrastate HM carriers
was addressed in section V.D.2.
Other Comments About the MCSA–1
Form
Section A, MC, MX, and FF Number(s)
MoDOT recommended that proposed
question 10, in Section A of Form
MCSA–1 should be deleted if all entities
registered under the URS are to be
identified solely by the USDOT
Number. Proposed question 10 required
the applicant to list MC, MX, and FF
Number(s) (if updating).
FMCSA Response. The Agency agrees
with MoDOT and has removed question
10 from Form MCSA–1 because
regulated entities will be identified
solely by USDOT Number. However,
applicants must disclose MC, MX and
FF Numbers concerning business
relationships and affiliations with other
entities registered with FMCSA (or its
predecessor agencies) in response to
question 43 of Form MCSA–1 because
the Agency will use the information to
deter reincarnated carriers as discussed
in this section under ‘‘Section K,
Disclosure of Relationships with other
FMCSA-regulated Entities.’’
Section A, Form of Business
Proposed question 13 (Form of
Business) in Section A asked an
applicant to indicate its form of
business by checking all of the
following that apply: Sole Proprietor,
Partnership, Limited Liability Company,
Corporation, or Unit of State or Local
Government. MoDOT recommended
that FMCSA change the instruction for
a Sole Proprietor. MoDOT commented
that under the IRS definition, ‘‘[a] sole
proprietor is someone who runs an
unincorporated business by himself or
herself.’’ The proposed instructions read
‘‘Sole Proprietor—Individuals who
operate a business in their own name.’’
MoDOT stated that this gives the
impression that more than one
individual could be included as a sole
proprietor. Therefore, this commenter

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recommended that the instruction be
changed to read: ‘‘Sole Proprietor—An
individual who operates a business in
his or her own legal name.’’
MoDOT further recommended that
question 13 include ‘‘Limited Liability
Partnerships and Trusts’’ as an option to
check for form of business. ATA
questioned why question 13 (Form of
Business) instructs the applicant to
‘‘select all that apply.’’ This commenter
asked how more than one could apply.
FMCSA Response. In response to
MoDOT’s request, the Agency added the
requested business forms, ‘‘Limited
Liability Partnerships’’ and ‘‘Trusts,’’ as
well as a data field marked ‘‘Other’’ for
question 12 (formerly question 13). The
instructions to question 12 include
definitions for ‘‘Limited Liability
Partnership’’ and ‘‘Trust’’ and instruct
the applicant to use the data field
marked ‘‘Other’’ to indicate any
business forms not listed on the
application. The term ‘‘Limited Liability
Partnership (LLP)’’ is defined as a
‘‘partnership in which some or all
partners (depending on the jurisdiction)
have limited liability. In an LLP, no
partner is responsible or liable (directly
or indirectly) for an obligation of the
partnership due to another partner’s
misconduct or negligence, thus
shielding innocent members of these
partnerships from liability.’’
The term ‘‘Trust’’ is defined as a
‘‘relationship whereby property (real or
personal, tangible or intangible) is
transferred by one party (settlor) to be
held by another party (trustee) for the
benefit of a third party or parties
(beneficiary(ies)). In effect, a trust is a
legal device designed to provide
financial assistance or something of
value to someone without giving the
person total control over the trust assets.
It may be revocable or irrevocable,
express or implied. The trustee owes a
fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries (the
beneficial owners of the trust property)
and is obligated to administer the trust
in accordance with both the terms of the
trust and the governing law.’’
Additionally, the Agency has revised
the definition of ‘‘sole proprietor’’ in the
Form MCSA–1 Instructions to read: ‘‘An
individual who owns and operates a
business normally in his or her legal
name and in which there is no legal
distinction between the owner and the
business. In some jurisdictions the
proprietor can use a trade name or
business name other than his or her
legal name, but the individual is also
required to file a ‘doing business as
(dba)’ statement with local authorities.
Every asset of the business is owned by
the proprietor and all debts of the
business are his or hers as well.’’

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
Regarding the direction that
applicants ‘‘select all that apply,’’ we
agree with ATA that only one form of
business or company structure should
apply here. Because the form of
business or company structure may
vary, each legal entity should have its
own USDOT Number identifier.
Accordingly, we have replaced the
phrase ‘‘select all that apply’’ on
question 12 of the MCSA–1 Form with
‘‘select the one business form that
applies.’’

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES2

Section A, Gross Annual Revenue
ATA commented that on page 8 of the
proposed MCSA–1 Instructions, and on
page 3 of the proposed MCSA–1 Form,
the applicant is to enter its ‘‘gross
annual revenue’’ (proposed Form
MCSA–1 question 16). This commenter
stated that this is a new requirement not
proposed in the NPRM. ATA questioned
what purpose such a requirement could
serve. ATA stated that private motor
carriers are, by definition, engaged
primarily in businesses other than
transportation, and many motor carriers
operate ancillary businesses as well.
Further, ATA commented that many
businesses rightly regard gross revenue
data as proprietary. ATA asserted that a
requirement to provide gross annual
revenue is unwarranted without a full
explanation of a valid regulatory
purpose, which FMCSA has not
provided. This commenter
recommended that the MCSA–1 Form
remove the requirement to enter this
information.
FMCSA Response. The Agency has
revised the Form MCSA–1 and
Instructions to no longer require
information about an applicant’s ‘‘gross
annual revenue.’’ FMCSA, however,
may revisit this issue in the future.
Section B, Mileage
MoDOT requested that FMCSA clarify
the instruction for proposed question 23
(Mileage) to make clear who reports the
mileage of vehicles owned by the
applicant but leased by the applicant to
another carrier, versus vehicles leased
by the applicant from others to use in
the applicant’s business. The proposed
instruction read: ‘‘Estimate the miles
traveled by applicant’s [CMVs] during
the last calendar year. It makes no
difference if the CMVs were leased by
the applicant or owned by the applicant.
. . .’’ MoDOT commented that this
proposed instruction appears to cover
all the vehicles owned by the applicant,
whether or not used by the applicant.
FMCSA Response. The Agency agrees
with MoDOT that the proposed question
23 instruction (question 21 instruction
in the final rule) should be clarified to

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require reporting the mileage of all
CMVs used in the applicant’s
operations. The question 21 instruction
has been revised to read:
Enter the total mileage of all [CMVs] to the
nearest 10,000 miles operated by the
applicant for the previous 12 months
(whether leased or owned). If the applicant
has been in operation for less than 12
months, enter mileage operated to date. If the
applicant has not operated within the last 12
months, enter the number ‘‘0.’’

The Agency has also similarly
modified question 21 on the MCSA–1
Form. FMCSA has also eliminated the
‘‘Calendar Year’’ entry field from the
MCSA–1 Form because the Agency has
decided to request carrier mileage
operated in the previous 12 months.
Section B, Number of Vehicles
MoDOT requested that FMCSA add
further information to the Form MCSA–
1 Instructions for question 24(a), which
requires applicants to list the number of
vehicles with weights greater than or
equal to 10,001 pounds that it will
operate in the United States. This
commenter requested that the Agency
make the instruction absolutely clear
what vehicles are to be counted and
included in this section. For a motor
carrier that owns and leases some of its
vehicles to other motor carriers, MoDOT
asked whether the owner or the lessee
is responsible for reporting those
vehicles. MoDOT commented that
without clarification, vehicle counts
may be reported twice, once by the
owner and once by the lessee.
MoDOT also commented that while
question 24(c) requires applicants to list
the number of vehicles with weights
greater than or equal to 10,001 pounds
that it will operate in interstate
commerce, nothing in the question 24(a)
instructions indicates that vehicles
listed under 24(a) include operations in
intrastate and interstate commerce. This
commenter recommended that similar
language be used within an item in
order to be consistent and to easily
understand the difference between
questions 24(a) and 24(c). MoDOT
commented that the proposed question
24 instructions were not clear and gave
the impression that question 24(c) was
requiring the total number of vehicles
shown in (a), which it may not be.
FMCSA Response. The Agency agrees
with MoDOT that the proposed question
24 instructions may be confusing. For
this reason, and for other reasons
explained below, the Agency is revising
proposed question 24 (renumbered
question 22 in the final rule) on both the
Form MCSA–1 and on the Form MCSA–
1 Instructions. As explained above in
section V.D.5, beginning on or about

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September 1, 2012, FMCSA
discontinued issuing USDOT Numbers
to non-motor carrier leasing companies
and such companies would not fill out
Form MCSA–1.
When responding to renumbered
question 22, applicants should provide
the number of each type of CMV that the
company uses in its U.S. operations
broken out by the method used to
acquire the vehicle (owned, term-leased
or trip-leased). Owned means the
company holds title to the CMV, term
leased means the vehicle is leased for a
specific time period or term of contract,
and trip leased means the CMV is leased
on a trip-by-trip basis as needed. If the
company owns or leases a school bus,
mini-bus, passenger van, or limousine,
then it would indicate the number of
each type of passenger-carrying CMV
(by its passenger-carrying capacity) that
is owned, term leased or trip leased. For
passenger-carrying vehicles, it would
count the driver as a passenger when
determining a vehicle’s passengercarrying capacity.
The Agency amends renumbered
question 22 on the Form MCSA–1 and
Instructions by adding a section (d) to
require applicants to provide the
number of vehicles that are operated or
will be operated solely in intrastate
commerce, while section (c) continues
to require applicants to provide the
number of vehicles that operate
interstate. The instructions to question
22(a) (proposed question 24(a)) have
been clarified to explain that a CMV is
‘‘operated’’ for purposes of this question
‘‘if the vehicle is registered under
Federal or State law, or both, in the
name of the carrier, or is controlled by
the carrier under a trip lease or longterm lease agreement (more than 30
days) during any given year. If a freight
forwarder operates CMVs, it is also
required to enter its fleet size on the
MCSA–1 Form. Both a motor carrier and
a freight forwarder (if operating CMVs)
must include the number of CMVs
operated under a trip lease or long-term
lease agreement in their fleet size
determinations.’’
Section K, Administrative Filings
Information
MoDOT recommended that FMCSA
delete within Section K any information
concerning the insurance company and
the filing of financial responsibility; the
name of the insurance company; policy
number, date issued, etc. (proposed
question 44). MoDOT also
recommended that FMCSA delete the
requirement to document within the
MCSA–1 Form whether the Designation
of Agents for Service of Process Form
(BOC–3) is on file or will be filed

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emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES2

(proposed question 46). With respect to
both of these recommendations, MoDOT
commented that the information on file
with the Agency should be sufficient
proof and documentation to determine
if the applicant is in compliance with
the financial responsibility and process
agent filing requirements. This
commenter reasoned that if the
responses to questions 44 and 46 were
inconsistent with the filings received,
someone would be required to intervene
and question the validity of the
application.
FMCSA Response. FMCSA is
retaining proposed question 44 relating
to financial responsibility on the
MCSA–1 Form (renumbered as question
42 in the final rule) because the
information provided is useful in
identifying, at the application stage,
unsafe carriers that attempt to
‘‘reincarnate’’ as new carriers. However,
URS will not prevent an applicant that
does not yet have this information from
completing an application. FMCSA has
removed proposed question 46 from the
MCSA–1 Form because providing a
simple confirmation that an applicant
has submitted the BOC–3 Form to the
Agency does not provide any useful
information that the Agency does not
already have.
Section K, Disclosure of Relationships
With Other FMCSA-Regulated Entities
MoDOT also recommended that
FMCSA remove column 2, in Section K,
proposed question 45. Proposed
question 45 would require an applicant
to disclose all relationships that it has
had (currently or in the past three years)
with other FMCSA-regulated entities.
The blank table requires an applicant to
list the following information about
such relationships: USDOT Number,
MC/MX/FF number, company’s name,
and company’s latest USDOT safety
rating (as columns 1, 2, 3, and 5,
respectively). MoDOT noted that the
MC/MX/FF numbers will be superseded
by the USDOT Number.
ATA commented that the instructions
for question 45 regarding the reporting
of affiliations were unclear. ATA
requested clarification of what
‘‘affiliation’’ means in this context: ‘‘Is
it the narrow, highly technical
signification of the federal tax
regulations, or some other meaning? At
its broadest, the word can mean any
business, familial, or personal
connection whatever.’’
FMCSA Response. The Agency is
retaining column 2 in proposed
question 45 (renumbered as question 43)
on the MCSA–1 Form, as proposed. The
MC/MX/FF number information is
necessary for FMCSA to preserve within

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the URS registration record for an entity
all historical information relating to the
MC/MX/FF number. For example, if a
motor carrier transfers its operating
authority to another person, the
transferor’s historical information
associated with the MC number would
be recorded in the URS registration
record for the transferee. This erects
another barrier to reincarnated carriers.
As for the instructions to this question
and the term ‘‘affiliation,’’ FMCSA is
incorporating the language of sec. 32105
of MAP–21 in defining ‘‘affiliation.’’
Under this section, an applicant for a
USDOT Number must disclose any past
or current relationship, through
common ownership, common
management, common control, or
common familial relationship to any
other person or applicant for registration
who was determined to be unfit,
unwilling, or unable to comply with
applicable regulatory requirements
during the 3-year period before the date
of the filing of the application. The
MCSA–1 Instructions for question 43
have been modified to reflect the MAP–
21 requirement.
Comments About MCSA–1 Instructions
Instructions for Reasons To File
ATA commented that on page 4 of the
proposed instructions, under the
information provided about the ‘‘New
Entrant Reapplication’’ reason for filing,
the last two sentences are confusing and
perhaps contradictory. On the proposed
Form MCSA–1 Instructions, these
sentences read: ‘‘If the motor carrier
failed to schedule a New Entrant Safety
Audit, did not appear for a safety audit,
or failed a safety audit and did not
submit corrective actions, the motor
carrier must start the process from the
beginning. If the motor carrier failed the
safety audit, it must also demonstrate
that it has corrected the deficiencies that
resulted in revocation of its
registration.’’ (emphasis in proposed
language).
FMCSA Response. The Agency has
renumbered the ‘‘Reasons to File’’ listed
in the Instructions to the MCSA–1 to be
consistent with how they are listed on
the Form MCSA–1. In both documents,
‘‘New Entrant Reapplication’’ is the
second option under ‘‘Reasons to File.’’
There is a $300.00 fee for this
transaction.
The language is not contradictory in
that a new entrant whose USDOT
registration has been revoked and whose
operations have been placed out of
service by FMCSA may re-apply for
USDOT registration but must wait until
30 days after the date of revocation to
do so. If revocation resulted from the

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new entrant’s failure to schedule or
submit to a safety audit, the new entrant
must file an updated Form MCSA–1,
pay the $300.00 filing fee, pass a safety
audit and re-start the 18-month safety
monitoring program commencing from
the date the application is approved.
But if revocation resulted from the fact
that the new entrant failed the safety
audit, the new entrant must do all of the
following: File an updated Form
MCSA–1; pay the $300.00 filing fee;
provide evidence of corrective action;
and re-start the 18-month safety
monitoring program commencing from
the date the application is approved. If
the new entrant is a for-hire motor
carrier subject to chapter 139 and also
has its operating authority revoked, it
must re-apply for operating authority as
set forth in part 365. If revocation was
based on the new entrant’s failure to file
the minimum amounts of financial
responsibility or designate agents for
service of process, it must also complete
administrative filings as well in the
reapplication process. The instructions
for the new entrant reapplication
‘‘Reason to File’’ have been expanded to
include this additional explanation.
Biennial Update Instructions
ATA suggested that the Form MCSA–
1 should state plainly, and as often as
may be helpful, that while an applicant
is required to update its data every 24
months, it may do so as often as it likes.
This commenter stated that the PRISM
Program effectively requires annual
updates, a discrepancy that continues to
confuse many carriers.
FMCSA Response. In response to
ATA’s suggestion, the Agency has
added the statement ‘‘An entity may
also update its record with FMCSA at
any time within this 24-month period’’
to the Form MCSA–1 Instructions’
explanation of the Biennial Update
reason for filing.
Instructions for Agency Notification in
the Event of Change in Ownership,
Management, or Control
ATA commented that on page 5 of the
proposed Form MCSA–1 Instructions, at
the top, there is a remnant of the 2005
NPRM’s proposed requirement that a
carrier must notify FMCSA within 20
days of any change in ownership,
management or control. ATA
recommended that this language be
deleted from the Instructions.
FMCSA Response. The Form MCSA–
1 Instructions have been modified to
remove the requirement that a carrier
must notify FMCSA within 20 days of
any change in ownership, management
or control. However, the Agency is
requiring, in 49 CFR 365.405 and

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
390.201(d)(5), that the parties involved
in any transaction that results in the
transfer of an entity’s operating
authority must report the transfer to
FMCSA on Form MCSA–1 within 30
days of consummation of the
transaction. A new ‘‘reason for filing’’
category has been added to the Form
MCSA–1 for this purpose titled
‘‘Notification of Transfers of Operating
Authority.’’ Both the transferor and
transferee will be required to submit the
MCSA–1 Form to ensure that a transfer
of operating authority actually occurred.
FMCSA needs this information to help
it identify potential churning of
operating authority by entities who seek
to avoid an unfavorable regulatory
compliance history by purchasing
another company or its operating
authority.

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Section A Instructions, Addresses
ATA commented that on pages 5 and
6 of the instructions, some of the
requirements with respect to the
applicant’s name and address seem
arbitrary. This commenter
recommended that the Instructions not
state so definitely that a ‘‘terminal
address’’ is not acceptable. ATA stated
that many trucking companies’
headquarters offices may, in effect, be
terminals, and asked which address
these companies are to use if the use of
a terminal address is prohibited.
This commenter further questioned
why the Instructions indicate that a post
office box is prohibited for a mailing
address, if a company provides a
physical location for the principal place
of business. ATA commented that many
of the smallest trucking companies
operate almost wholly out of a vehicle,
and that the use of any physical address
to receive mail may involve a lack of
security for such companies, not to
mention inconvenience. This
commenter noted that the current Form
MCS–150 does not prohibit P.O. boxes.
FMCSA Response. The Agency has
revised the MCSA–1 Instructions in line
with these recommendations, and has
clarified the FMCSA’s use of each
address. In particular, FMCSA has
removed the prohibition against
providing post office boxes as a mailing
address because the Agency will only
conduct on-site visits (when necessary)
at the principal place of business
address, which may not be a post office
box. The instructions also will no longer
prohibit the use of a terminal address
for principal place of business as long
as the address meets the definition of a
principal place of business.

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Section B Instructions, DriveawayTowaway Operations
MoDOT requested that FMCSA
provide a specific definition and
instructions concerning driveawaytowaway operations. This commenter
stated that the current MCS–150 Form
requires an entry for the number of
vehicles owned by the motor carrier
even though the company may not own
any motor vehicles when all the power
units driven are considered cargo.
MoDOT asked how companies that
perform this service complete Form
MCSA–1, which sections apply to them,
and how they must report or not report
the number of vehicles.
FMCSA Response. A new applicant
filing to conduct driveaway-towaway
operations is a motor carrier and must
complete section A, B, K, N, and P of
Form MCSA–1. Under section B,
question 20 (formerly question 22), that
motor carrier would select ‘‘driveawaytowaway’’ as Cargo Type and report
mileage in question 21 (formerly
question 23). Under question 22(a)
(formerly 24(a)), the number of vehicles
used in the towaway operation must be
reported. Because driveaway operations
involve operation of an unladen or
empty vehicle that is not owned or
leased by the motor carrier, question
22(a) would not apply. So a motor
carrier that engages exclusively in
driveaway operations would not be
required to enter vehicle information in
question 22(a).
The instructions for section B,
question 22(a) now include a statement
that ‘‘the number of vehicles does not
need to be reported for driveaway
operations,’’ which reflects the
definition for ‘‘driveaway-towaway’’
found in § 390.5.
This definition was added to the
MCSA–1 Instructions under question 15
(Operation Classification). Form MCSA–
1, section B, question 22(a) (formerly
question 24(a)) includes ‘‘towaway’’ in
the breakout of vehicle types since the
number of vehicles will need to be
reported for these operations.
VI. Section-by-Section Analysis
This rule amends 49 CFR part 360 in
reference to fees; part 365 procedures
governing applications for operating
authority and transfers of operating
authority; part 366 procedures for
designations of process agents; part 368
procedures governing applications to
operate in municipalities in the United
States on the United States-Mexico
international border or within the
commercial zones of such
municipalities; part 385 safety fitness
procedures; part 387 levels of financial

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52631

responsibility; part 390 general
applicability of the FMCSRs and part
392 regarding the driving of commercial
motor vehicles.
A. Part 360, Fees for Motor Carrier
Registration and Insurance
The Agency revises part 360 as
proposed in the SNPRM. Section 360.1
sets out fees for registration-related
services, such as records searches,
copying, and certification. It also
specifies that no service fees under this
section will be charged to a Federal
agency; a State or local government; or
any representative of a motor carrier,
motor private carrier, leasing company,
broker, or freight forwarder accessing
information related to the entity for the
individual use of such entity.
Section 360.3 sets out the filing fees.
This section also addresses the
appropriate manner of payment, and the
conditions under which an entity may
receive or request a waiver or reduction
of filing fees. As in current § 360.3, this
section also indicates that separate filing
fees are required for each type of
authority sought in each transportation
mode, such as broker authority for
motor property carriers. A separate
filing fee is also required for the filing
of applications for 120-day temporary
operating authority when there is a
national emergency or natural disaster,
regardless of whether such application
is related to an application for
corresponding permanent operating
authority. FMCSA is retaining the
existing fees for self-insurance pending
consideration of changes in these fees in
a separate rulemaking.
Section 360.5 specifies the procedure
FMCSA will follow if the Agency
determines it is necessary to update the
URS user fees.
B. Part 365, Rules Governing
Applications for Operating Authority
FMCSA revises § 365.101(a) and
365.101(h) to remove references to
‘‘common’’ and ‘‘contract’’ carriers
because section 4303(c) of SAFETEA–
LU required the Agency to discontinue
designating operating authority as
‘‘common’’ or ‘‘contract’’ carriage.64
FMCSA removes and reserves § 365.103
relating to a modified procedure.
The Agency amends § 365.105,
Starting the application process: Form
MCSA–1, FMCSA Registration/Update
(USDOT Number—Operating Authority
Application), to replace references to
obsolete OP series forms with ‘‘Form
MCSA–1’’ and to reduce the number of
operational categories from six to three
64 49 U.S.C. 13902(f), as amended by SAFETEA–
LU, section 4303(c).

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so it is clear that the fee for operating
authority applies only to the general
categories of motor carrier, broker, and
freight forwarder, and not to each
individual subgroup of these categories
listed in Section A, questions 15a, 15b,
15c, and 15d of Form MCSA–1.
Revised § 365.107, Types of
applications, replaces references to OP
series forms with ‘‘Form MCSA–1.’’
FMCSA has also removed obsolete
references to common and contract
carriage in § 365.107, as required by
SAFETEA–LU. Under § 365.107(e), the
Agency will grant temporary operating
authority only in cases of national
emergency or natural disaster, and
following an emergency declaration
under 49 CFR 390.23, Relief from
regulations. Entities granted temporary
operating authority will need to file
evidence of financial responsibility with
FMCSA.
The Agency revises § 365.109, Review
of the application, to require new filings
of both evidence of financial
responsibility and designation of agents
for service of process to be completed
within 90 days of the date that the
notice of application is published in the
FMCSA Register. As explained in the
SNPRM, the 90-day time period
combines the existing 20-day initial
deadline and 60-day extension period
and adds 10 more days for Agency
processing. FMCSA has also removed
the phrase in current § 365.109(b) that
indicates that the FMCSA Register
publication of a summary of an
application is considered ‘‘a preliminary
grant of authority.’’ Instead, § 365.109(b)
now indicates that a summary of the
application will be published in the
FMCSA Register to give notice to the
public in case anyone wishes to oppose
the application.
FMCSA adds new § 365.110, Need to
complete New Entrant Safety Assurance
Program, which specifies that operating
authority does not become permanent
until the applicant satisfactorily
completes the New Entrant Safety
Assurance Program in 49 CFR part 385,
subpart D. The Agency revises
§ 365.111, Appeals to rejections of the
application, to provide the address and
appropriate FMCSA office to which an
applicant should address an appeal
when its application is rejected. The
Agency revises § 365.119, Opposed
applications, to specify that parties
opposing an application are required to
send a copy of their protests to both the
applicant and FMCSA, that all protests
must include statements made under
oath, and that there are no personal
appearances or formal hearings where
there are protests to applications.

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The Agency revises § 365.201,
Definitions, to remove the reference to
‘‘permanent authority.’’ Section 365.201
now reads: ‘‘A person wishing to oppose
a request for operating authority files a
protest. A person filing a valid protest
is known as a protestant.’’ The Agency
revises § 365.203, Time for filing, to
provide the address and appropriate
FMCSA office to which a person should
address a protest. FMCSA removes and
reserves § 365.301, Applicable rules, in
49 CFR part 365, subpart C, General
Rules Governing the Application
Process, because applications for
operating authority are not subject to the
Agency’s Rules of Practice in 49 CFR
part 386.
As explained above in section V.I, the
Agency revises subpart D of part 365 of
title 49 CFR, Transfers of Operating
Authority. Although FMCSA proposed
to remove most of this subpart in the
SNPRM, the Agency has since
determined that the public interest
necessitates requiring non-exempt forhire motor carriers, brokers and freight
forwarders to notify FMCSA of
transactions that may directly or
indirectly result in the transfer or lease
of their operating authority. The Agency
will no longer accept or review requests
for transfers of operating authority.
However, FMCSA believes that it is
necessary to carry forward the reporting
aspects of the regulations governing
these transactions. See section V.I above
for a discussion of these changes.
In 49 CFR part 365, subpart E, Special
Rules for Certain Mexico-domiciled
Carriers, the Agency amends § 365.507,
FMCSA action on the application, to no
longer permit an applicant to submit a
hard copy of Form BOC–3 (Designation
of Agents—Motor Carriers, Brokers and
Freight Forwarders); an applicant or its
process agent company must
electronically file Form BOC–3. As
discussed in section V.G.1 above,
FMCSA revises § 365.509, Requirement
to notify FMCSA of change in applicant
information, to require an applicant to
notify FMCSA within 30 days of any
change or correction to the information
in parts I, IA or II of Form OP–1(MX) or
in Form BOC–3 during the application
process or after having been granted
provisional operating authority. The
regulations previously contained a 45day notification requirement, but this
has been changed to 30 days in order to
be consistent with similar notification
requirements applicable to entities
subject to the URS.
C. Part 366, Designation of Process
Agent
The Agency amends § 366.1,
Applicability, to include private and

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exempt for-hire motor carriers and
freight forwarders among those entities
that are required to acquire the services
of process agents and file proof of
designations with FMCSA. Effective
April 25, 2016, § 366.2, Form of
designation, is amended to specify a
180-day grace period (from the final rule
compliance date) for all existing private
and exempt for-hire motor carriers to
file process agent designations. FMCSA
makes minor revisions to § 366.3,
Eligible persons, to make the reference
to State officials gender neutral. The
Agency revises § 366.4, Required States,
to specify that every motor carrier must
designate process agents for all 48
contiguous States and the District of
Columbia, unless its operating authority
registration is limited to fewer than 48
States and DC, in which case it must
designate process agents for each State
in which it is authorized to operate and
for each State traversed during such
operations. Although this exception was
not proposed in the SNPRM, the Agency
has determined that it is necessary
because while property carriers are
given nationwide authority, passenger
carriers operating over regular routes
(particularly governmental entities) may
have geographically-limited operating
authority. FMCSA also adds a paragraph
366.4(c), which indicates that every
freight forwarder must make a
designation for each State in which its
offices are located or in which contracts
will be written.
The Agency revises § 366.5, Blanket
designations, to specify that brokers and
freight forwarders (in addition to motor
carriers) may make the required
designation of process agents by
specifying the name of an association or
corporation that has filed a list of
process agents for each State with
FMCSA. As discussed in sections III.B.7
and V.G.4 above, the Agency revises
§ 366.6, Cancellation or change, to
clarify that the process agent or blanket
agent, in addition to the motor carrier,
broker, or freight forwarder, may cancel
or change a process agent designation by
filing a new designation with FMCSA
(366.6(a)). To help ensure that such
designations are up-to-date, § 366.6(b)
requires that changes to designations be
reported to FMCSA within 30 days of
the change. In response to public
comments, the Agency has added, in
§ 366.6(c), a new requirement that a
motor carrier, broker or freight
forwarder report changes in name,
address, or contact information to its
process agents and/or the company
making a blanket designation on its
behalf within 30 days of the change.
Finally, the Agency adds § 366.6(d) to

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
require process agents and blanket
agents who file process agent
designations on behalf of motor carriers,
brokers, and freight forwarders to report
to FMCSA terminations of their
contracts with regulated entities within
30 days of the termination. If process
agents and/or blanket agents do not
keep their information up to date,
FMCSA may withdraw their authority to
make process agent designations.

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D. Part 368, Application for a Certificate
of Registration To Operate in
Municipalities in the United States on
the United States-Mexico International
Border or Within the Commercial Zones
of such Municipalities
FMCSA revises § 368.3, Applying for
a certificate of registration, to replace
obsolete references to the OP–2 and
MCS–150 forms with references to
‘‘Form MCSA–1.’’ The Agency revises
§ 368.4, Requirement to notify FMCSA
of change in applicant information, to
require applicants to notify the Agency
within 30 days of any changes or
corrections to the information in Section
A of Form MCSA–1. The revisions to
this section also replace obsolete form
references with references to ‘‘Form
MCSA–1.’’ FMCSA revises § 368.8,
Appeals, to change the Agency office to
which applicants should address an
appeal to a denial of an application.
E. Part 385, Safety Fitness Procedures
In 49 CFR part 385, subpart D, New
Entrant Safety Assurance Program, the
Agency revises § 385.301, What is a
motor carrier required to do before
beginning interstate operations?, to
specify that all for-hire motor carriers
must obtain operating authority in
addition to registering and obtaining a
USDOT Number, unless they are
exclusively providing transportation
that is exempt from the commercial
registration requirement in 49 U.S.C.
chapter 139. FMCSA also revises this
section to reference the new registration
procedures in 49 CFR part 390 in
addition to the instructions for
obtaining operating authority located in
49 CFR part 365. This revised section
also clarifies that, although the New
Entrant Safety Assurance Program
regulations of subpart D do not apply to
Mexico-domiciled motor carriers, such
carriers must register with FMCSA by
following the procedures described in
49 CFR parts 365, 368, and 390.
The Agency revises § 385.303, How
does a motor carrier register with the
FMCSA?, to reference the new Form
MCSA–1. The Agency revises § 385.305,
What happens after the FMCSA receives
a request for new entrant registration?,
to specify in paragraph (c) that upon

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completion of the application form, the
new entrant will be issued an inactive
USDOT Number, and that an applicant
may not begin operations nor mark a
CMV with the USDOT Number until
after the date of the Agency’s written
notice that the USDOT Number has
been activated. The Agency also revises
this section to specify that violators of
this section may be subject to penalties
under § 392.9b(b), and to replace a
reference to the obsolete Form MCS–150
with the new Form MCSA–1. Finally,
paragraph (d) of this section is being
revised to reference new § 390.201(b)
and add a new paragraph heading to
improve the reader’s understanding of
the section.
FMCSA revises § 385.329, May a new
entrant that has had its USDOT new
entrant registration revoked and its
operations placed out of service
reapply?, to replace references to
obsolete Form MCS–150 with references
to Form MCSA–1. The Agency also
revises this section to specify that if the
new entrant is a for-hire motor carrier
subject to the registration provisions of
49 U.S.C. chapter 139 and also had its
operating authority revoked, it must reapply for operating authority as set forth
in § 390.201(b) and 49 CFR part 365.
In 49 CFR part 385, subpart E,
Hazardous Materials Safety Permits, the
Agency revises § 385.405, How does a
motor carrier apply for a safety permit?,
to replace references to obsolete forms
with references to Form MCSA–1.
FMCSA also revises this section to
specify that a motor carrier holding an
HMSP must report to the Agency any
change in the information on Form
MCSA–1 within 30 days of the change.
FMCSA revises §§ 385.409, 385.419, and
385.421 to replace references to obsolete
forms with references to Form MCSA–
1.
In 49 CFR part 385, subpart H, Special
Rules for New Entrant Non-North
America-Domiciled Carriers, the Agency
revises § 385.603, Application, to
replace references to obsolete forms
with references to Form MCSA–1. The
Agency revises § 385.607, FMCSA
action on the application, to indicate
that the Form BOC–3 (Designation of
Agents—Motor Carriers, Brokers and
Freight Forwarders) may only be
submitted electronically. FMCSA
revises § 385.609, Requirement to notify
FMCSA of change in applicant
information, to indicate that motor
carriers subject to this subpart must
notify the Agency of any changes or
corrections to the information in Section
A of Form MCSA–1 that occur in the
application process or after the motor
carrier has been granted new entrant

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52633

registration within 30 days of the
change.
In 49 CFR part 385, subpart I, Safety
Monitoring System for Non-North
American Carriers, the Agency revises
§ 385.713, Reapplying for new entrant
registration, to replace references to
obsolete Form MCS–150 with references
to Form MCSA–1. This revised section
will also clarify that if the new entrant
is a for-hire carrier subject to the
registration provisions under 49 U.S.C.
13901 and also has had its operating
authority revoked, it must reapply for
operating authority as set forth in 49
CFR part 365 and in new § 390.201(b).
F. Part 387, Minimum Levels of
Financial Responsibility for Motor
Carriers
In 49 CFR part 387, subpart A, Motor
Carriers of Property, the Agency adds
§ 387.19 to specify that insurers of
exempt for-hire and private motor
carriers that transport HM in interstate
commerce must file certificates of
insurance, surety bonds, and other
securities and agreements with FMCSA
electronically in accordance with the
requirements and procedures set forth
in § 387.323, Electronic filing of surety
bonds, trust fund agreements,
certificates of insurance and
cancellations.
In 49 CFR part 387, subpart B, Motor
Carriers of Passengers, FMCSA revises
§ 387.33, Financial responsibility,
minimum levels, by adding a paragraph
(b) to clarify the specific URS
registration and financial responsibility
obligations for FTA grantees who
receive grants under 49 U.S.C. 5307,
5310, or 5311. In particular, this section
specifies that the minimum level of
financial responsibility for a motor
vehicle used by such a carrier to provide
transportation services within a transit
service area located in more than one
State must be the highest level required
for any of the States in which it
operates. This section clarifies that this
requirement also applies to transit
service providers who operate in only
one State but interline with other
passenger carriers that provide interstate
transportation within or outside the
transit service area. This section
specifies that these transit service
providers must register as for-hire
passenger carriers under 49 CFR parts
365 and 390, identify the State(s) in
which they operate under the applicable
grants, and certify on their registration
that they have in effect financial
responsibility levels in an amount equal
to or greater than the highest level
required by any of the States in which
they are operating under a qualifying
grant.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations

FMCSA adds § 387.43, Electronic
filing of surety bonds, trust fund
agreements, certificates of insurance
and cancellations, to specify that
insurers of for-hire motor carriers of
passengers must file certificates of
insurance, surety bonds, and other
securities and agreements electronically
in accordance with the requirements
and procedures set forth in § 387.323,
Electronic filing of surety bonds, trust
fund agreements, certificates of
insurance and cancellations. Section
387.43 also specifies that this section
does not apply to Mexico-domiciled
passenger motor carriers, which are
excepted from the § 387.31(b)
requirement that policies of insurance,
surety bonds, and endorsements to
satisfy the financial responsibility
minimum requirements must remain in
effect continuously.
In 49 CFR part 387, subpart C, Surety
Bonds and Policies of Insurance for
Motor Carriers and Property Brokers, the
Agency revises § 387.301, Surety bond,
certificates of insurance, or other
securities, to remove obsolete references
to common and contract carriers, as
required by SAFETEA–LU. Regarding
§ 387.303, Security for the protection of
the public: Minimum limits, as
explained in section V.G.2 above,
FMCSA adds a new subparagraph
387.303(b)(1)(iii) to clarify that the
minimum level of financial
responsibility for a motor vehicle used
by an FTA grantee motor carrier to
provide transportation services within a
transit service area located in more than
one State must be the highest level
required for any of the States in which
it operates. This new subparagraph also
reiterates the other financial
responsibility clarifications described
above in the discussion of § 387.33.
Although FMCSA proposed in the
SNPRM to revise § 387.303 to restore a
previously removed provision and to
remove obsolete references to effective
dates in § 387.303(b)(2), a recently
issued FMCSA technical amendment
made these changes. These changes
restored a provision that established
minimum public liability limits of
$300,000 for fleets that consist only of
vehicles with Gross Vehicle Weight
Ratings (GVWRs) of under 10,000
pounds, except that 10,000 pounds was
changed to 10,001 pounds to be
consistent with the statutory definition
of CMV. Because these changes were
made in a recently issued technical
amendment, the Agency is not making
those changes in this final rule.
The Agency also revises §§ 387.313,
Forms and procedures; 387.323,
Electronic filing of surety bonds, trust
fund agreements, certificates of

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insurance and cancellation; 387.413,
Forms and procedures; and 387.419,
Electronic filing of surety bonds,
certificates of insurance and
cancellations, to clarify that electronic
filing is mandatory and not optional. In
49 CFR part 387, subpart D, Surety
Bonds and Policies of Insurance for
Freight Forwarders, FMCSA revises
§ 387.403, General requirements, to
expand freight forwarder BI&PD
insurance requirements to all freight
forwarders performing transfer,
collection, or delivery service. As
explained in the SNPRM, under the
current regulations, only HHG freight
forwarders performing transfer,
collection, or delivery service are
subject to a BI&PD insurance
requirement. These regulations were
transferred without changes from the
Interstate Commerce Commission
following enactment of the ICCTA.
However, although the ICCTA expanded
the Agency’s jurisdiction over freight
forwarders, which had been previously
limited to HHG freight forwarders, to all
freight forwarders, the regulations were
not amended to reflect the Agency’s
broadened jurisdiction. FMCSA believes
there is no basis for limiting the BI&PD
insurance requirement to HHG freight
forwarders.65
G. Part 390, Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Regulations; General
The Agency revises § 390.3, General
applicability, to remove references to
§ 390.19. In paragraph 390.3(g)(4), a
reference to § 390.19(a)(1) has been
replaced with a reference to § 390.201.
Paragraph 390.3(h), Intermodal
equipment providers, is revised to
remove reference to a December 2009
compliance date. The Agency adds
paragraphs 390.3(i) and 390.3(j) to
reference the safety regulations that are
applicable to brokers and freight
forwarders required to register with
FMCSA pursuant to 49 U.S.C. chapter
139. The Agency adds paragraph
390.3(k) to specify that the rules in 49
CFR part 390, subpart E, Unified
Registration System, apply to each cargo
tank and cargo tank motor vehicle
manufacturer, assembler, repairer,
inspector, tester, and design certifying
engineer that is subject to registration
requirements under 49 CFR 107.502 and
49 U.S.C. 5108.
The Agency revises the definition of
‘‘exempt motor carrier’’ in § 390.5,
Definitions, to mean ‘‘a person engaged
in transportation exempt from economic
65 A technical amendment has also been made to
insert the phrase ‘‘transfer, collection, or delivery
service’’ in place of ‘‘transfer, collection, and
delivery service’’ to conform with the statutory
language at 49 U.S.C. 13906(c)(1).

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regulation by the [FMCSA] under 49
U.S.C. chapter 135,’’ rather than under
49 U.S.C. 13506, as specified in the
current regulation because not all the
statutory exemptions in chapter 135 are
contained within section 13506.
FMCSA makes changes to § 390.19 in
two phases. First, effective November 1,
2013, the Agency amends § 390.19 by
adding a new paragraph (b)(4), which
states that anyone failing to comply
with the biennial update requirement is
subject to civil penalties. As explained
above, FMCSA determined that
enforcement of the biennial update
requirement through the imposition of
civil penalties is so important that the
date for this provision will occur as
soon as possible.
In the second phase of § 390.19
changes, which are effective on the
main compliance date for the rule,
October 23, 2015, FMCSA revises
§ 390.19, Motor carrier identification
reports for certain Mexico-domiciled
motor carriers, to specify that only
Mexico-domiciled long-haul carriers
must file Form MCS–150 with
FMCSA.66 These carriers must file Form
MCS–150 before they begin operations
and an update every 24 months. This
provision continues to allow the MCS–
150 to be submitted to the agency via
hard copy. Paragraph 390.19(e) instructs
these carriers to submit the Form MCS–
150 along with their application for
operating authority (OP–1(MX)).
Paragraph 390.19(h)(2) specifies that a
Mexico-domiciled long-haul carrier
must pass the pre-authorization safety
audit under § 365.507, and that the
Agency will not issue a USDOT Number
until expiration of the protest period
provided in § 365.115 and—if a protest
is received—after FMCSA denies or
rejects the protest.
FMCSA amends § 390.21, which
addresses the marking of CMVs and
intermodal equipment, by revising
subparagraph (b)(1) to reference new
Form MCSA–1 in addition to Form
MCS–150 when specifying the name of
the carrier that must appear in a vehicle
marking because Mexico-domiciled
long-haul carriers are not included in
the URS and will continue to use the
Form MCS–150 when this rule is
implemented. Specifically, the Agency
revises § 390.21(b)(1) to state that the
marking information must display the
‘‘legal name or a single trade name of
the motor carrier operating the self66 Effective on the main compliance date for this
final rule, the biennial update requirement and
accompanying civil penalties provision are
applicable to the new Form MCSA–1 in addition to
the MCS–150. Effective October 23, 2015, the
biennial update requirement for the Form MCSA–
1 is located at § 390.201, as discussed below.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
propelled CMV, as listed on the Form
MCSA–1 or the motor carrier
identification report (Form MCS–150)
and submitted in accordance with
§ 390.201 or § 390.19, as appropriate.’’
The Agency revises § 390.40, What
responsibilities do intermodal
equipment providers have under the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Regulations (49 CFR parts 350–399)?, to
replace a reference to obsolete Form
MCS–150C with a reference to Form
MCSA–1.
FMCSA adds a new subpart E, Unified
Registration System, which includes
§§ 390.201 through 390.209. Section
390.201, USDOT Registration,
establishes the general requirement for
all regulated entities, except Mexicodomiciled long-haul carriers, to obtain
USDOT registration by electronically
filing Form MCSA–1 and to provide
FMCSA biennial updates to the
registration information.
Paragraph 390.201(c)(1) states that
persons who fail to file Form MCSA–1
before beginning operations, or who fail
to file timely biennial updates, are
subject to civil penalties under 49
U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B) or 49 U.S.C.
14901(a), as appropriate. Persons are
also subject to civil penalties if they
furnish misleading information or make
false statements on Form MCSA–1.
Paragraph 390.201(c)(2) provides for
the issuance of an inactive USDOT
Number upon receipt and processing of
Form MCSA–1, which will be activated
after completion of all applicable
administrative filings. It further states
that an applicant may not begin
operations until after its USDOT
Number has been activated.
Paragraph 390.201(c)(3) requires that
a carrier must display a valid USDOT
Number on each CMV. Motor carriers
will not be required to remove the
obsolete numbers (e.g., MC) from their
vehicles and those numbers may be
used for other purposes such as
advertising or marketing. However,
FMCSA encourages carriers to omit
these obsolete numbers from new or
repainted vehicles.
Paragraphs 390.201(d)(2) and (d)(3)
require biennial updates to be filed on
the last day of a specific month, which
is determined based on the last digit of
the entity’s USDOT Number. Paragraph
390.201(d)(4) specifies that a registered
entity must notify the Agency of a
change in legal name, form of business,
or address within 30 days of the change
by filing an updated Form MCSA–1.
Paragraph 390.201(d)(5) requires a
person who obtains operating authority
through a transfer, as defined in part
365, subpart D, to notify FMCSA of the
transfer within 30 days of

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consummation of the transfer by filing
an updated Form MCSA–1, if the
transferee had an existing USDOT
number at the time of the transfer, or a
new Form MCSA–1 if the transferee did
not have an existing USDOT Number at
the time of transfer. Paragraph
390.201(d)(5) also requires the transferor
to file a Form MCSA–1 indicating that
it has transferred its operating authority
to the transferee. Both the transferee and
the transferor are also required to scan
and submit a copy of the operating
authority that is being transferred. See
section V.I above for a discussion of
these requirements. The filing of
updated information under either
paragraph 390.201(d)(4) or 390.201(d)(5)
does not relieve a registered entity from
the requirement to file an updated Form
MCSA–1 every 24 months in accordance
with paragraph 390.201(d)(3).
Section 390.203, PRISM State
registration/biennial updates, specifies
that a motor carrier that registers its
vehicles in a PRISM Program State can
satisfy the USDOT registration and
biennial update requirements in
§ 390.201 by electronically filing the
required information with the State,
provided the State has integrated the
USDOT registration/update capability
into its vehicle registration program.
Section 390.205, Special requirements
for registration, requires all for-hire
motor carriers, private motor carriers
that transport HM in interstate
commerce, brokers, and freight
forwarders to file evidence of financial
responsibility to receive USDOT
registration. This section also specifies
that all motor carriers (both private and
for-hire), brokers, and freight forwarders
required to register under the URS must
designate an agent for service of process
pursuant to 49 CFR part 366.
Section 390.207, Other governing
regulations, lists and provides crossreferences to other governing
regulations that are applicable to those
requesting USDOT registration. Section
390.209, Pre-authorization safety audit,
directs a non-North America-domiciled
motor carrier that requests authority to
conduct interstate commerce within the
United States to § 385.607(c) for detailed
information about the requirement to
complete a pre-authorization safety
audit as a pre-condition for receiving
USDOT registration.
H. Part 392, Driving of Commercial
Motor Vehicles
Effective November 1, 2013, the
Agency adds a new § 392.9b, Prohibited
transportation, to prohibit a motor
carrier with an inactive DOT Number
from operating a CMV and to notify
carriers violating this provision that

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they are subject to civil penalties in
accordance with 49 U.S.C. 521.
VII. Regulatory Evaluation of the URS
Final Rule: Summary of the Calculation
of Benefits and Costs 67
A summary of the benefits and costs
of the URS final rule, including total net
benefits, can be found in section III.C
above. This section summarizes the
calculation of the costs and benefits for
each URS provision. FMCSA refers
readers to the final Regulatory
Evaluation, which can be found in the
docket, for the Agency’s full discussion
of the analysis of benefits and costs of
the URS.
All costs and benefits were calculated
over a 10-year period in nominal
dollars, restated in real 2010 dollars,
and discounted to present value using a
rate of seven percent per Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
guidelines. A full discussion of the data
used, assumptions made, and
calculations performed is in the
Regulatory Evaluation, which can be
found in the public docket for the URS
final rule.
A. New Registration Fees Under the URS
Currently, only non-exempt for-hire
motor carriers, property brokers, and
freight forwarders must pay a one-time
registration fee to FMCSA of $300.
However, under the URS, FMCSA will
require exempt for-hire, private motor
carriers and other entities to pay a
registration fee as well. Section 4304 of
SAFETEA–LU provided that the fee for
new URS applicants shall as nearly as
possible cover the costs of processing
the registration but shall not exceed
$300. The $300 limit was removed by
section 32106 of MAP–21. FMCSA
determined that it would charge all new
applicants the maximum fee of $300
authorized by SAFETEA–LU, even
though the amount needed to cover the
10-year Agency costs associated with
processing the registration filings based
on projections of annual new applicants
and Agency processing costs exceeded
$300 per filing. Although MAP–21
eliminated the $300 limit, the final rule
retains the $300 fee proposed in the
SNPRM because the Agency has not
developed preliminary estimates on
appropriate fees to cover the full costs
of operating its URS program, or issued
for public comment a proposal
concerning such fees. The Agency has
opted to initiate, at a later date, a
separate rulemaking proceeding to
solicit public comment on this issue,
67 Calculations presented in this section may by
subject to rounding errors.

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rather than delay issuance of this final
rule.
FMCSA forecasted $360,122,795 in
upgrading and operating costs of the
registration system over the 10-year
period from 2014 through 2023. This
total includes the costs to operate the
new motor carrier licensing and
insurance system. The total also
includes the cost for FMCSA to vet all
new applicant for-hire carriers.68
A portion of these licensing,
insurance, and vetting costs will be
defrayed by fee revenues other than new

applicant registration fees. The FMCSA
estimated fees collected for various
insurance filings to be $6,943,479 over
the 10-year period, and subtracted the
10-year present value of other fee
revenues ($6,943,479) from the
licensing, insurance, and vetting cost
estimate to arrive at $353,179,316 in
present value costs that the Agency
must recover through the registration
fee. FMCSA divided this cost estimate
by its projection of dollars collected per
dollar of fee ($486,678) 69 to arrive at a
fee of $725. For the reasons stated

above, FMCSA will charge $300 per
new applicant. Though a portion of the
fees will cover some of the costs of
FMCSA’s review of applications, the
$300 fee will not be sufficient to cover
all of these review costs.
The cost to industry associated with
the change will be $63,583,722 in
discounted dollars over the 10-year
period (shown in Table 6). This cost to
industry will be offset by an equal
benefit to the Agency resulting from the
revenues generated through the new
registration fees.

TABLE 6—PROPOSED CHANGE IN FMCSA REGISTRATION FEE TO NEW APPLICANTS BY OPERATION AND CLASSIFICATION
Number
(2014–2023)

Operation classification

Total
(2010 $)

Total
(present value)

Exempt For-Hire Carriers .................................................................................
Private Carriers and other entities * .................................................................

44,449
235,945

300
300

$13,334,700
70,753,500

$10,083,170
53,500,522

Total ..........................................................................................................

280,294

........................

84,088,200

63,583,722

* Cargo

tank facilities and IEPs.

FMCSA amends 49 CFR part 366 to
require private and exempt for-hire
carriers to file process agent designation
information with the Agency. FMCSA
believes that requiring exempt for-hire
carriers to file process agent
designations would enhance safety and
it is not cost prohibitive. FMCSA’s data
show that exempt carriers appear to be
comparable to the general carrier
population when it comes to crash rate
and unfit determinations. Therefore, it
is equally important that FMCSA be
able to quickly identify the appropriate
individual(s) on whom to serve notices
of enforcement actions. In 2011 and
2012, exempt for-hire carriers
constituted about 10 percent of unfit
determinations made by FMCSA
resulting from compliance reviews. An
analysis conducted by the Agency to
examine the safety profile of exempt forhire carriers indicated that these carriers
had much higher post-identification
crash rates than private carriers, but
lower post-identification crash rates

than non-exempt for-hire carriers.70
Additional information supporting the
Agency’s decision to require exempt forhire motor carriers to file process agent
designations with the Agency is found
in section 3.8 of the regulatory
evaluation for this final rule.
Although under SAFETEA–LU
carriers will not be assessed a fee when
filing this information, there is still a
cost to industry associated with
engaging a process agent. The FMCSA
estimated, based on price quotes
available from process agents, that the
cost to engage a process agent is
currently about $35 per carrier. This
cost was assumed to cover the minimal
filing cost to the process agent.71 No
processing cost was assumed for
FMCSA for this electronic filing.
The Agency calculated $7,199,122 in
discounted costs to industry associated
with new-applicant private and exempt
for-hire carrier process agent filings for
2014 through 2023.
FMCSA assumed that no private and
exempt for-hire motor carriers with
recent activity have designated process

agents. The Agency calculated one-time
compliance costs for affected carriers
with recent activity of $10,546,445
based on its estimate of 301,327 private
and exempt for-hire carriers with recent
activity in 2014.
Finally, FMCSA, based on discussions
with the FMCSA Commercial
Enforcement Division, estimated that 10
percent of private and exempt for-hire
motor carriers with recent activity will
change their process agents each year.
The Agency calculated discounted costs
to industry of $7,321,445 associated
with re-filing activities over the 10-year
analysis period. FMCSA also calculated
the Agency resource cost to process the
carrier process agent changes.
Non-exempt for-hire motor carriers,
brokers and freight forwarders currently
must file designations of process agents
via a ‘‘BOC–3’’ filing. Under the URS
final rule, FMCSA is requiring both
private and exempt for-hire carriers to
make the same filings.
This requirement will improve the
ability of FMCSA safety investigators to
locate small and medium-sized private

68 The FMCSA has authority to vet all for-hire
carriers, but is currently vetting only for-hire
household goods and passenger carriers. During the
vetting process, FMCSA reviews the application for
completeness and compares the applicant’s data
with existing carrier data in order to identify
noncompliant carriers seeking authority under a
different name. If an application is incomplete,
FMCSA will contact the applicant to obtain missing
information. If FMCSA determines that an applicant
is an unsafe carrier or the application remains
materially incomplete after contacting the
applicant, FMCSA will reject the application. The
applicant is provided an opportunity to appeal the
rejection and submit additional evidence to support
its position that the application should be
approved.

69 This number was calculated by multiplying the
number of new registrants in each year by $1,
discounting to find the present value, and summing
over the 10-year period of the analysis.
70 The analysis was run using the 2009 Safety
Management System (SMS) Effectiveness Test to
look at the post identification crash rates of: (1)
Carriers with recent activity that meet screening
criteria that ensure they are operational during the
evaluation period; and (2) carriers with 1 or more
Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement
Categories (BASICs) above FMCSA’s SMS
intervention thresholds. This analysis essentially
identifies who the Agency would have identified
had it ran SMS in January 2010 and then what those
carriers post-identification crash rates were between

January 2010 and June 2011. The analysis showed
that exempt for-hire and exempt for-hire plus
another classification experienced higher crash
rates (4.0 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively)
than private carriers (1.7 percent). The difference in
crash rates is even larger when examining those
carriers with one or more BASICs above the
intervention threshold, with exempt for-hire
carriers having a crash rate of 5.8 percent, as
compared to private carriers having a crash rate of
2.2 percent.
71 The $35.00 process agent filing cost is based on
an internet search of process agents conducted May
7th, 2013 found on the FMCSA Web site (http://
www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration-licensing/licensing/
agents.htm).

B. Designation of Process Agents

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and exempt for-hire motor carriers for
enforcement action and compliancerelated activities because investigators
would be able to work with the newlydesignated process agents to locate
hard-to-find motor carriers. If the time
saved is used by safety investigators to
conduct more safety interventions, the
Agency believes this will lead to
increased safety benefits. However, to
present a conservative estimate of the
benefits of the URS final rule, we only
estimate the benefit of time saved by the
Agency due to more efficient
interventions.
The FMCSA investigators sometimes
spend 20 hours or more attempting to
locate motor carriers, and in some cases
are unable to track down the subject
carrier altogether. The FMCSA
estimated that the availability of process
agent information would save field staff
an average of 15 hours in cases
involving hard-to-locate carriers.
In 2002, States conducted 216 carrier
searches per year on average. In 2003,
FMCSA Division Offices reported
between 10 and 100 cases per State in
which field staff had significant trouble
locating a motor carrier on whom they
wished to conduct compliance reviews,
with most Division Offices reporting
fewer than 25 such instances.
FMCSA estimated that 15
enforcement cases per State per year (or
roughly two thirds of the ‘‘difficult’’
cases) will benefit from dramatically
reduced search costs because of the
requirement for private and exempt forhire carriers to designate process agents.
The estimates of 15 saved hours per
difficult case and 15 difficult cases per
year per division result in 225 (15 × 15)
annual staff hours saved per State, or
11,475 (225 × (50 States + District of
Columbia) annual staff hours saved in
total. Assuming the Agency would
allocate all of the annual saved staff
hours to reducing labor costs, FMCSA
estimated the value of this annual
benefit by multiplying the total annual
hours saved (11,475) by the Agency
wage rate presented in section 2 of the
Regulatory Evaluation for the Unified
Registration System Final Rule, which is
in the docket for this rulemaking. For
example, in 2014, the saved staff hours
would benefit the Agency by reducing
labor costs by $424,917 (11,475 ×
$37.03).
FMCSA projected this annual benefit
over the 10-year analysis period to
arrive at a total benefit of $4.2 million
in 2010 dollars. FMCSA discounted this
benefit to present value applying a
seven percent discount rate consistent
with the other portions of this analysis.
The Agency arrived at a total benefit
due to reduced labor cost (i.e., increased

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efficiency) of $3.2 million over the 10year analysis period.
In total, the regulatory changes
requiring exempt for-hire and private
carriers to file process agent
designations are estimated to result in a
cost of $25,067,012 to industry and a
benefit to the Agency of $3,130,736, and
thus a societal net benefit of
¥$21,936,276.72 The Agency sought,
but did not receive, comments on how
the process agent filing process can be
made less costly.
In addition to the Agency time
savings realized through the process
agent designation requirement, FMCSA
believes it provides unquantifiable
benefits to both FMCSA and the public.
FMCSA believes that the unquantifiable
benefits, which are discussed further in
subsequent paragraphs, outweigh the
costs.
When FMCSA needs to serve notices,
such as out-of-service orders on entities
the Agency has deemed an imminent
hazard or unsafe/unfit, it attempts to
provide the notification through three
means—hand delivery, U.S. mail, and/
or by using a process agent to
accomplish service. The purpose of the
designation of process provisions is to
ensure a carrier has been notified of the
Agency order or notice, and if it
continues to operate in violation of the
properly served order or notice, the
carrier could not claim it was unaware
of the service. Thus, the process agents
are an important component of the
registration process as they eliminate
the possibility for a carrier/regulated
entity to claim that it was not served
with effective notification of Agency
action because of relocation or other
circumstances.
Beyond FMCSA’s usage, the
designation of a process agent enhances
the public’s ability to serve legal process
on responsible entities when seeking
compensation for property loss/damage
or personal injury resulting from a crash
involving a commercial motor vehicle
operated by any motor carrier,
72 Current regulations (49 CFR part 366) require
only motor carriers and brokers that are subject to
the 49 U.S.C. chapter 139 commercial registration
requirements to designate a process agent. Exempt
for-hire motor carriers and private carriers are
currently not required to file process agent
designations. The URS rule requires all for-hire and
private motor carriers, brokers, and freight
forwarders to designate process agents via
electronic submission as a precondition for
receiving USDOT registration and/or operating
authority registration, when applicable. Of the
roughly $25 million in total resource costs to the
industry for the designation of process agents, only
$4 million is incurred by exempt for-hire carriers.
The majority of the resource costs resulting from
this provision ($21 million) are incurred by private
carriers, who are required by statute to designate
process agents.

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regardless of where the incident took
place. Similarly, the designated process
agent can receive service of process
concerning any court proceeding
involving commercial transactions
between a carrier and an aggrieved
party. With a regulated entity’s USDOT
number or name, a member of the
public can currently access process
agent information through the FMCSA
Web site at http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/
CompanySnapshot.aspx and, thus, can
complete service of legal process even if
service cannot be effected directly on
the carrier, broker, or freight forwarder.
C. Financial Responsibility
Under the URS final rule, the
insurance representatives of all new
applicant exempt for-hire and private
HM carriers will need to file evidence
of financial responsibility with FMCSA,
and the carriers will be assessed a $10
filing fee.73 FMCSA calculated 10-year
fee costs of $460,331 to industry using
its estimate of new applicant exempt
for-hire and private HM carriers. This
$460,331 cost to industry is offset by an
equal benefit to the Agency resulting
from revenues from the new fees.
The $10 fee is a transfer from the
industry to the Agency, but the industry
will incur resource costs associated with
filing. The FMCSA assumed it would
take insurance companies a minimal
amount of time to file the required proof
of insurance for each carrier they insure.
Because these filings are handled
electronically, FMCSA assigned a cost
of only $4 per filing, assuming 10
minutes of time for a clerk. The Agency
calculated the resource cost to new
applicant exempt for-hire and private
HM carriers by multiplying its
projection of filing costs by its estimate
of new applicants over the 10-year
period to arrive at a total discounted
resource cost to industry of $184,132.
FMCSA is requiring existing exempt
for-hire and private HM carriers to file
proof of insurance. Using the Agency’s
2008 MCMIS data, FMCSA estimated
that in 2014 there will be 48,308 exempt
for-hire carriers with recent activity and
25,019 private HM carriers with recent
activity. The Agency calculated a
discounted cost to industry of $693,890
associated with the fees. This cost to
industry is offset by an equal benefit to
the Agency due to the revenues from the
fees.
FMCSA calculated the resource cost
to carriers with recent activity by
multiplying its $4 filing cost estimate by
73 Section 4304 of SAFETEA–LU caps financial
responsibility filing fees at $10. The filing fee is
paid to FMCSA by the insurance company making
the filing on behalf of the carrier and is passed on
to the carrier by the insurance company.

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the total exempt for-hire and private HM
carriers with recent activity to arrive at
a discounted resource cost of $733,270.
Currently, all for-hire motor carriers,
property brokers, and freight forwarders
performing transfer, collection and
delivery service must maintain current
proof of financial responsibility on file
with FMCSA to remain in ‘‘active’’
status. If an insurance company or
financial institution notifies FMCSA of
cancellation of coverage, carriers,
property brokers, and freight forwarders
must file evidence of replacement
coverage before the policy, bond, or
trust fund termination date. Under this
final rule, exempt for-hire and private
HM carriers will be subject to the same
URS requirements. There is a $10 fee
associated with filing proof of
replacement financial responsibility.
These provisions ensure the continuity
of insurance coverage by exempt-for
hire, private HM carriers and all freight
forwarders. This security will pay any
final judgment recovered against any
entity for bodily injuries to or the death
of any person resulting from the
negligent operation, maintenance or use
of CMVs in transportation, or for loss of
or damage to property of others in
connection with their transportation
service. FMCSA may at any time refuse
to accept or may revoke its acceptance
of any surety bond, certificate of
insurance, or other security or
agreement that does not comply with 49
CFR part 387 or fails to provide
adequate public protection.
Based on 2008 MCMIS data, roughly
8.56 percent of non-exempt for-hire
carriers with recent activity filed proof
of replacement liability insurance
coverage with the Agency. The FMCSA
assumed the same portion of the exempt
for-hire and private HM carriers will file
proof of replacement insurance
following a policy cancellation. The
Agency thus calculated the fees
associated with evidence of financial
responsibility replacement filings
resulting from this proposed change by
multiplying the $10 filing fee by 8.56
percent of the exempt for-hire and
private HM carriers with recent activity
each year. This calculation resulted in a
discounted cost to industry over the 10year analysis period of $498,207. This
cost to industry will be offset by an
equal benefit to the Agency in the form
of new fees received.
FMCSA calculated the resource cost
to carriers with recent activity by
multiplying its replacement filing cost
estimate by 8.56 percent of the
population of exempt for-hire and
private HM carriers with recent activity.
This resulted in a total discounted
resource cost to operating carriers over

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the 10-year analysis period of $199,283.
Again, no costs were attributed to the
Agency for these filings.
Changes in requirements for financial
responsibility filings resulted in a total
10-year cost to industry of $1,691,808.
This cost to industry due to changes in
requirements, however, is offset by an
equal benefit to FMCSA for revenues
from fees associated with the increased
number of filings. Therefore, the societal
costs due to changes in fees are zero.
These changes are estimated to result in
total 10-year resource costs to industry
of $676,723.
D. Cancellation and Reinstatement of
USDOT Numbers/Operating Authority
As discussed in the previous section,
non-exempt for-hire motor carriers,
property brokers, and freight forwarders
must maintain current proof of financial
responsibility (liability insurance, bond,
or trust fund information) with FMCSA
to retain their operating authority. If an
insurance company or financial
institution notifies FMCSA of
cancellation of coverage, carriers,
property brokers, and freight forwarders
must file evidence of replacement
coverage before the policy, bond, or
trust fund termination date. The
operating authorities of entities that do
not file the required updates are revoked
and these entities must apply for
reinstatement of their operating
authority by making the necessary
filings. This final rule requires exempt
for-hire, private HM carriers, and all
freight forwarders providing transfer,
collection, and delivery service to file
and maintain proof of liability insurance
as a condition for obtaining and
retaining an active USDOT Number.
FMCSA will deactivate the USDOT
Number of noncompliant entities, who
would be required to reactivate their
USDOT registrations in order to resume
operations subject to FMCSA
jurisdiction.
Under the current system, carriers
requesting reinstatement of operating
authority must file a written request for
reinstatement, pay an $80 fee (on-line
by credit card, by phone with a credit
card, or by mail with a check) and make
the applicable financial responsibility
filing. Once the payment is received and
applicable filings are made, the FMCSA
information system matches up the
payment with the filings and
automatically issues a reinstatement
letter at 5 a.m. on the next business day.
Under the URS established in today’s
final rule, carriers requesting
reinstatement will make the request
electronically using Form MCSA–1, pay
a $10 fee, and complete applicable
filings showing that their insurance is

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back in effect. The Agency aspect of the
reinstatement process will remain the
same under the URS.
FMCSA discusses these changes
below in the following categories:
(a) Reinstatement for non-exempt forhire carriers, brokers, and freight
forwarders; and
(b) Reinstatement for exempt for-hire
and private HM carriers.
Reinstatement for Non-Exempt For-Hire
Carriers, Brokers and Freight
Forwarders
Under the current system, nonexempt for-hire carriers, brokers and
freight forwarders pay an $80 fee and
file a written request for reinstatement.
Under the URS established in today’s
final rule, these carriers will request
reinstatement using Form MCSA–1, pay
a $10 fee and make the applicable
insurance filing. The Agency assumed
that the cost of this requirement is
minimal, and is approximately equal to
that of filing proof of insurance ($4).
The Agency determined that it incurs
slightly less than $10 per request to
process reinstatement requests. The $10
reinstatement fee will be sufficient to
defray Agency processing costs. FMCSA
calculated savings by non-exempt forhire carriers, brokers and freight
forwarders applying for reinstatement
by multiplying the $70 reduction in fees
for these carriers by the number of
affected carriers to arrive at a 10-year
discounted saving of $4,958,302. This
industry benefit will be offset by an
equal cost to the Agency due to the loss
of revenues from the fees.
Reinstatement for Exempt For-Hire and
Private HM Carriers
Under the current system, exempt forhire and private HM carriers do not file
insurance-related reinstatements. Under
the URS established in today’s final
rule, these carriers will pay a $10 fee
and file updated information. Using
2008 MCMIS data, FMCSA calculated
that 2.58 percent of exempt for-hire and
private HM carriers would let their
insurance coverage lapse and later file
reinstatement requests. The Agency
determined that it incurs slightly less
than $10 per request to process
reinstatement requests. The $10
reinstatement fee will be sufficient to
defray Agency processing costs. FMCSA
calculated fees associated with this
activity by multiplying the $10 fee by
the number of affected carriers to arrive
at a 10-year discounted cost of $150,176.
This industry cost will be offset by an
equal benefit to the Agency due to the
gain in revenues from the fees.
There is a resource cost to industry
associated with making these

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reinstatement requests. As noted above,
FMCSA assumed that the costs
associated with completing the
applicable filings would equal the costs
associated with filing proof of insurance
and process agent designations ($4).
FMCSA calculated discounted costs to
industry of $60,070 associated with
filing activities over the 10-year analysis
period.
FMCSA calculated discounted costs
to the Agency of $135,158 associated
with processing exempt for-hire and
private HM carrier reinstatements over
the 10-year analysis period.

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Cumulative Reinstatement Costs and
Benefits
Changes in fees for reinstatement of
USDOT Numbers and/or commercial
operating authority resulted in a total
10-year saving to industry of $4,808,126.
This saving to industry, however, is
offset by an equal cost to FMCSA in lost
revenues from fees associated with
reinstatements. The changes are
estimated to result in total 10-year
resource costs of $60,070 to industry
and $135,158 to FMCSA for a total
resource cost to society of $195,229.
There are also qualitative benefits to the
Agency and the public from these
requirements. The extension of the
financial responsibility filing and
reinstatement of authority requirements
to exempt for-hire and private hazmat
carriers ensures that the Agency the
proper and updated proof and
documentation of financial
responsibility of those regulated
entities. These requirements also ensure
that motor carriers will have the
incentive to maintain and operate their
vehicles in a safe manner and that they
will maintain, and provide evidenced
of, an appropriate level of financial
responsibility for motor vehicles
operated on public highways.
E. Transfers and Name Changes
Under the URS, the Agency will no
longer require ownership, management,
and control certification when
processing applicant requests for name,
address, or form of business changes.
Motor carriers will be required to report
changes in management when
completing their Form MCSA–1
biennial updates, and will retain their
existing USDOT Number. No new or
replacement USDOT Numbers will be
issued. The Agency estimates that
approximately 494 requests for transfers
of operating authority will be filed with
FMCSA in 2014, based on 2012 data
projected to 2014. Each of the carriers
who requested a transfer of operating
authority paid a $300 filing fee to
FMCSA for this activity. Under the URS,

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FMCSA will not review or approve
transfer requests. As indicated above,
our statutory authority to approve
transfers under former 49 U.S.C. 10926
was eliminated by the ICCTA. The
Agency will, however, institute a
process under which it will not approve
transfers, but will require entities
involved in these transfers to notify
FMCSA of the transaction by submitting
an online Form MCSA–1.
Based on the 2012 data projected to
2014, FMCSA estimated discounted
industry benefits of $1,176,535 over 10
years from the elimination of the
transfer application fee. This benefit to
industry will be offset by an equal cost
to the Agency resulting from the loss of
revenues from the transfer application
fee. Because FMCSA will still require
notification of the transfer by both the
transferor and the transferee, FMCSA
calculated the resource cost for filing
the notification of transfers over the 10year period to arrive at a total cost of
$38,236 over 10 years.
FMCSA is eliminating the $14 filing
fee currently assessed to non-exempt
for-hire motor carriers and others that
change their business names. This
action will result in a cost savings to
industry and a matching cost to the
Agency. In 2008, the Agency processed
11,141 name change requests. Based on
the 2008 data, projected to 2014,
FMCSA estimated 10-year discounted
benefits to industry of $1,345,722 over
the 10-year period. This $1,345,722
benefit to industry will be offset by an
equal cost to the Agency resulting from
the loss of name change filing fee
revenues.
Elimination of transfer and name
change filing fees resulted in a total 10year cost savings to industry of
$2,522,258. The cost savings to industry
due to changes in filing fees, however,
will be offset by an equal cost to the
Agency resulting from reduced revenues
from these filing fees. Therefore, the
projected societal costs due to
elimination of the fees are zero. These
changes will result in resource costs of
$38,236 to industry. The total reduction
in fees for transfers and name changes
is the sum of $1,176,535 and
$1,345,722, or $2,522,258; this sum is a
gain to industry and an equal loss to
FMCSA.
F. The New Application Form—MCSA–
1
The new Form MCSA–1 will replace
existing FMCSA registration forms.
There will be a time cost savings for
those who presently file multiple
application forms. New applicant nonexempt for-hire motor carriers currently
file an OP–1 series form and the MCS–

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150 Form with FMCSA. Property
brokers and freight forwarders file an
OP–1 series form only. All other entities
file forms in the MCS–150 series.
FMCSA estimated an average
completion time of just over 20 minutes
each 74 for the MCS–150 series forms
and 2 hours for the OP–1 forms. FMCSA
determined that 56.45 percent of new
applicants file OP–1 series forms, and
92.45 percent of new applicants file
MCS–150 forms. Based on these
percentages, FMCSA calculated the
current average new applicant filing
completion time as just under 1 hour
and 26 minutes.
The Agency is requiring all new
applicants except Mexico-domiciled
motor carriers requesting to conduct
long-haul operations within the United
States to file only Form MCSA–1. Based
on field testing, FMCSA estimated that
it would take those new applicants who
would have used the OP–1 Form 2
hours and 10 minutes to complete the
new form. The FMCSA assumes that the
time required for entities who would
have used only the MCS–150 or 150B
would not change if they used the
MCSA–1 Form instead. Multiplying 2
hours and 10 minutes by 56.45 percent
(the percent of new applicants that file
OP–1 series forms), and adding just over
20 minutes times the difference between
92.45 percent (the percent of new
applicants that file MCS–150 forms) and
56.45 percent yields just over 1 hour
and 20 minutes. Thus, FMCSA
estimated a weighted average time
savings of almost 6 minutes for each
new applicant (that is, just under 1 hour
and 26 minutes minus just over 1 hour
and 20 minutes).
Using its adjusted average hourly
wage estimate for drivers 75 and its
projection of new applicants, FMCSA
estimated a 10-year discounted resource
cost savings to industry of $1,354,631
attributable to completing the new
MCSA–1 Form instead of the forms it
will replace.
FMCSA also calculated Agency time
saved associated with processing the
new MCSA–1 Form. Based on the
Agency’s estimate that, due to
reductions in data entry, it would save
20 minutes of processing time from not
using the OP–1 series form, and its
74 The MCS–150 Form has been estimated to
require 20 minutes, and the MCS–150B Form a
slightly longer 26 minutes. Because only about 2
percent of carriers file the MCS–150B, the average
is very close to 20 minutes. There is also an MCS–
150C Form, but it is much less frequently used.
75 Note: This activity may be performed by
someone other than a driver. However, FMCSA
assumed the person performing the activity would
earn a wage similar to that of a driver and used the
driver wage rate as the best indicator of cost for this
activity.

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determination that 56.45 percent of new
applicants file the form, FMCSA
estimated an 11-minute time savings per
applicant. The Agency multiplied the
adjusted average hourly wage estimate
for the Agency by the time saved
processing the new MCSA–1 Form and
the number of annual new applicants to
obtain a 10-year discounted resource
cost savings of $3,391,089.
These changes are estimated to result
in total 10-year resource cost savings to
industry of $1,354,621 and resource cost
savings to FMCSA of $3,391,089. The
sum of the resource cost savings to
industry and FMCSA equals $4,745,720,
which is the total benefit to society.

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G. Mandatory Electronic Filing of the
MCSA–1
By requiring electronic submissions,
FMCSA expects to reduce processing
costs. Electronic submissions have the
additional benefit of reducing erroneous
data through automated data quality
checks and increasing the transparency
of the data included in the URS. The
Agency believes that the cost savings
resulting from reduced labor time and
paperwork, and the benefits associated
with reducing erroneous data and
improving data transparency, would be
difficult to achieve without mandating
electronic filing. This change, however,
could impose a burden on entities that
do not have the means to file
electronically or that do not wish to file
electronically.
To assess this potential burden, and to
determine what alternatives to
electronic filing would be available to
small entities, FMCSA conducted a
detailed cost-benefit analysis, ‘‘Report
on Benefits and Costs of Mandatory
Electronic Filing for FMCSA’s Unified
Registration System,’’ which is included
as Appendix A to the regulatory
evaluation. The Agency calculated costs
and benefits associated with electronic
filing by using estimates of the amount
of time required to file the form and the
number of expected applicants. The
present value of the benefits resulting
from mandatory electronic filing is
$20,922,981 in benefits to FMCSA. The
industry experiences a resource cost
from mandatory electronic filing of
$538,894. Thus, the net present value of
the benefits associated with requiring
mandatory electronic filing less the
costs results in a total net benefit to
society of $20,384,087 over a 10-year
period.

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VIII. Rulemaking Analyses and Notices
A. Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory
Planning and Review) and DOT
Regulatory Policies and Procedures as
Supplemented by E.O. 13563
FMCSA has determined that this rule
is a significant regulatory action within
the meaning of Executive Order 12866,
as supplemented by E.O. 13563, and is
significant within the meaning of
Department of Transportation regulatory
policies and procedures (DOT Order
2100.5 dated May 22, 1980; 44 FR
11034, February 26, 1979) because it is
expected to generate significant public
interest. However, the estimated
economic costs do not exceed the $100
million annual threshold for economic
significance. The OMB has reviewed
this rule.
B. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act [Pub.
L. 96–354, 5 U.S.C. 601–612] requires
Federal agencies to take small
businesses’ concerns into account when
developing, writing, publicizing,
promulgating, and enforcing
regulations. To achieve this, the Act
requires that agencies detail how they
have met these concerns through a
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (RFA).
The Agency listed six elements that
were addressed during FMCSA’s final
rulemaking stage.
(1) A description of the reasons why
the Agency is taking this action.
FMCSA takes this action in response
to section 103 of the ICCTA, as amended
by section 4304 of SAFETEA–LU,
which, among other things, requires the
Secretary to develop regulations to
replace four current identification and
registration systems with a single,
online, Federal system. The purpose of
this rule is to consolidate and simplify
current Federal registration processes
and to increase public accessibility to
data about interstate motor carriers,
property brokers, freight forwarders, and
other entities. Pursuant to the statutory
mandate, FMCSA will charge
registration and administrative fees that
will enable FMCSA to recoup the costs
associated with processing registration
applications and administrative filings
and maintaining this system.
(2) A succinct statement of the
objectives of, and legal basis for, the
rule. The ICCTA created a new 49 U.S.C.
13908 directing ‘‘[t]he Secretary, in
cooperation with the States, and after
notice and opportunity for public
comment,’’ . . . to ‘‘issue regulations to
replace the current Department of
Transportation identification number
system, the single State registration
system under section 14504, the

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registration system contained in this
chapter, and the financial responsibility
information system under section 13906
with a single, on-line, Federal system.’’
Section 13908(d) of title 49, United
States Code (U.S.C.), authorizes the
Secretary to establish, under 31 U.S.C.
9701, a fee system for the Unified
Carrier Registration System according to
certain guidelines providing for fee
limits for registration, filing evidence of
financial responsibility and filing
information regarding agents for service
of process.
These directives specifically require
FMCSA to undertake some of the
actions in this rule. The remaining
related changes facilitate the smooth
operation of a unified Federal on-line
registration system.
(3) A description and, where feasible,
an estimate of the number of small
entities to which the rule will apply.
FMCSA will subject all regulated
entities to the rule requirement.76
Carriers are not required to report
revenue to the Agency, but are required
to provide the Agency with the number
of power units (PU) they operate, when
they register with the Agency, and to
update this figure biennially. Because
FMCSA does not have direct revenue
figures for all motor carriers, PUs serve
as a proxy to determine the carrier size
that would qualify as a small business
given the Small Business
Administration (SBA) revenue
threshold. In order to produce this
estimate, it is necessary to determine the
average revenue generated by a PU.
With regard to truck PUs, the Agency
determined in the Electronic On-Board
Recorders and Hours-of-Service
Supporting Documents Rulemaking
RIA 77 that a PU produces about
$174,000 in revenue annually (adjusted
for inflation to 2010 dollars).78
According to the SBA, motor carriers
with annual revenue of $25.5 million
are considered small businesses.79 This
equates to 147 PUs (146.55 =
$25,500,000/$174,000). Thus, FMCSA
76 Due to data availability issues, FMCSA
discusses the determination of a small entity based
on revenue for carriers. The burden calculations,
however, consider the impacts on all entities
engaging in interstate commerce.
77 FMCSA Regulatory Analysis, ‘‘Electronic OnBoard Recorders and Hours of Service Supporting
Documents,’’ NPRM. FR: 76: 41 (February 1, 2011)
p. 5537. (68 FR 22456, April 23, 2003).
78 GDP Deflator. Available from the Bureau of
Economic Analysis online at http://www.bea.gov/
national/nipaweb/
TableView.asp?SelectedTable=13&Freq=Qtr&
FirstYear=2006&LastYear=2008.
79 U.S. Small Business Administration Table of
Small Business Size Standards matched to North
American Industry Classification (NAIC) System
codes, effective August 22, 2008. See NAIC
subsector 484, Truck Transportation.

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considers motor carriers of property
with 147 PUs or fewer to be small
businesses for purposes of this analysis.
The Agency then looked at the number
and percentage of property carriers with
recent activity that would fall under that
definition (of having 147 PUs or fewer).
The results show that at least 99 percent
of all interstate property carriers with
recent activity have 147 PUs or fewer.80
This amounts to 515,000 carriers (99
percent of 520,000 active motor carriers
= 514,800, rounded to the nearest
thousand). Therefore, an overwhelming
majority of interstate carriers of property
would be considered small entities.
With regards to bus power units, the
Agency conducted a preliminary
analysis to estimate the average number
of power units (PUs) for a small entity
earning $7 million annually,81 based on
an assumption that a passenger carrying
CMV generates annual revenues of
$150,000. This estimate compares
reasonably to the estimated average
annual revenue per power unit for the
trucking industry ($172,000). A lower
estimate was used because buses
generally do not accumulate as many
VMT per power unit as trucks,82 and it
is assumed therefore that they would
generate less revenue on average. The
analysis concluded that passenger
carriers with 47 PUs or fewer
($7,000,000 divided by $150,000/PU =
46.7 PU) would be considered small
entities. The Agency then looked at the
number and percentage of passenger
carriers registered with FMCSA that
would fall under that definition (of
having 47 PUs or less). The results show
that 28,838 83 (or 99 percent) of all
active registered passenger carriers have
47 PUs or less. Therefore, the
overwhelming majority of passenger
carriers would be considered small
entities.
This 147 PU figure for trucks would
be applicable to private carriers as well:
because the sizes of the fleets they are
able to sustain are indicative of the
overall size of their operations, large
CMV fleets can generally only be
managed by large firms. There is a risk,
80 MCMIS,

as of June 17, 2010.
SBA increased the annual revenue small
business threshold for passenger carriers from $7
million to $14 million in a final rule titled, ‘‘Small
Business Standards: Transportation and
Warehousing. (77 FR 10943, published February 24,
2012) The preparation of this Regulatory Flexibility
Act Analysis preceded the publication of that final
rule and the publication of FMCSA’s upcoming new
motor carrier counts. Both changes are not expected
to impact the general conclusions of this Regulatory
Flexibility Act Analysis.
82 FMCSA Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2008,
Tables 1 and 20; http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/factsresearch/LTBCF2008/Index-2008Large
TruckandBusCrashFacts.aspx.
83 FMCSA MCMIS snapshot on 2/19/2010.

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however, of overstating the number of
small businesses because the operations
of some large non-truck or bus firms
may require only a small number of
CMVs.
This rule will affect roughly 600,000
small carriers with recent activity
annually on an ongoing basis.84 The
Agency expects a larger number of
affected entities in the first year of the
analysis period when exempt for-hire
carriers with recent activity and private
carriers with recent activity make
administrative filings for the first time.
The first-year costs of the URS rule on
new entrants will be equal to 0.249
percent of average revenue for a
trucking motor carrier and 0.286 percent
of average revenue for a passenger motor
carrier. The first-year costs of the URS
rule on carriers with recent activity will
be equal to 0.064 percent of average
revenue for a trucking motor carrier and
0.073 percent of average revenue for a
passenger motor carrier.
(4) A description of the reporting,
recordkeeping, and other compliance
requirements of the rule, including an
estimate of the classes of small entities
that will be subject to the requirements
and the type of professional skills
necessary for preparation of the report
or record. This rule primarily concerns
submission of information to FMCSA in
support of registration. While this
includes recordkeeping and reporting
for non-exempt for-hire carriers, there
will only be the replacement of one type
of reporting with another. Therefore,
there is no increase in reporting or
recordkeeping requirements for nonexempt for-hire carriers. Non-exempt
for-hire carriers are already required to
pay a $300 registration fee, so there will
be no change in financial burden for
these entities as a result of the Agency’s
implementation of the rule. Private and
exempt for-hire carriers will have the
same replacement reporting and
recordkeeping requirements as nonexempt for-hire carriers regarding
general registration but will also have to
designate a process agent for the first
time under the rule. Exempt for-hire and
private HM carriers will have to file
proof of insurance for the first time.
These requirements are new but will not
impose significant reporting or
recordkeeping requirements on the
affected entities, as the filings will be
made by insurance companies on the
carriers’ behalf. New entrant exempt forhire carriers, private carriers, and other
entities are not currently required to pay
84 This population estimate originates from tables
1 and 2, above. FMCSA used the median year
estimate to account for the net growth in new
entrants and the carriers with recent activity.

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52641

a registration fee but will be required to
pay a $300 registration fee under the
rule. For nearly all affected entities, this
fee will represent a small fraction (well
below one percent, even for very small
firms that do little more than operate a
single truck) of their annual revenues;
on an annualized basis the cost will be
even smaller. The FMCSA will require
property brokers and freight forwarders
to register with FMCSA and obtain
USDOT Numbers under the rule, which
is a new requirement. However, these
entities already register with FMCSA
and the USDOT Number will simply be
a replacement for the MC Numbers or
FF Numbers currently issued to brokers
and freight forwarders, respectively. The
new reporting or recordkeeping
requirements will not impose any
significant burden. Like non-exempt forhire carriers, new entrant brokers and
freight forwarders are currently required
to pay a $300 registration fee, so there
will be no change in financial burden on
these entities.
The FMCSA does not expect that any
special skills for new applicants will be
necessary beyond the ability to access
the Internet and respond to questions
with information about their
organization and operations.
(5) An identification, to the extent
practicable, of all relevant Federal rules
that may duplicate, overlap, or conflict
with this rule. The FMCSA is aware of
Federal rules that may duplicate this
rule to some extent for hazardous
materials motor carriers required to
register. Although some basic
identification information may be filed
with both FMCSA and PHMSA, another
USDOT modal administration, there is
no conflict. PHMSA requires shippers
and transporters of certain types and
quantities of hazardous materials to
register in its Hazardous Materials
Registration System. Transportation
modes required to register with PHMSA
include motor carriers, airlines, ship
lines, and railroads. The PHMSA
Hazardous Materials Registration
System cannot be combined with URS
because entities other than those under
FMCSA jurisdiction must register in
PHMSA’s system.
(6) A description of any significant
alternatives to the rule which minimize
any significant impacts on small
entities. The Agency has not identified
any significant alternatives to the rule
that could lessen the burden on small
entities without compromising its goals
or statutory mandate. Because small
businesses are such a large part of the
demographic the Agency regulates,
providing alternatives to small business
to permit noncompliance with FMCSA

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regulations is not feasible and not
consistent with sound public policy.
C. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of
1995
The final rule will not impose an
unfunded Federal mandate, as defined
by the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1532 et seq.), that will
result in the expenditure by State, local,
and tribal governments, in the aggregate,
or by the private sector, of $143.1
million (which is the value equivalent
of $100,000,000 in 1995, adjusted for
inflation to 2010 levels) or more in any
1 year.
D. National Environmental Policy Act
The Agency analyzed this rule for the
purpose of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.) and determined under our
environmental procedures Order 5610.1,
issued March 1, 2004 (69 FR 9680), that
this action is categorically excluded
(CE) under Appendix 2, paragraphs 6(e),
6(h) and 6(y)(2) of the Order from
further environmental documentation.
The CE under Appendix 2, paragraph
6(e) relates to establishing regulations
and actions taken pursuant to the
requirements concerning applications
for operating authority and certificates
of registration. The CE under Appendix
2, paragraph 6(h) relates to establishing
regulations and actions taken pursuant
to the requirements implementing
procedures to collect fees that will be
charged for motor carrier registrations
and insurance for the following
activities: (1) Application filings; (2)
records searches; and (3) reviewing,
copying, certifying, and related services.
The CE under Appendix 2, paragraph
6(y)(2) addresses regulations
implementing motor carrier
identification and registration reports.
In addition, the Agency believes that
this rule includes no extraordinary
circumstances that will have any effect
on the quality of the human
environment. Thus, the rule does not
require an environmental assessment or
an environmental impact statement.

FMCSA also has analyzed this rule
under the Clean Air Act, as amended
(CAA), section 176(c) (42 U.S.C. 7401 et
seq.), and implementing regulations
promulgated by the Environmental
Protection Agency. Approval of this
action is exempt from the CAA’s general
conformity requirement because it
involves policy development and
rulemaking activities regarding
registration of regulated entities with
FMCSA for commercial, safety and
financial responsibility purposes. See 40
CFR 93.153(c)(2)(vi). The changes
would not result in any emissions
increases nor will they have any
potential to result in emissions that are
above the general conformity rule’s de
minimis emission threshold levels.
Moreover, it is reasonably foreseeable
that the actions will not increase total
CMV mileage or change the routing of
CMVs, how CMVs operate, or the CMV
fleet-mix of motor carriers. This rule
was mandated under section 103 of the
ICCTA. It will consolidate and simplify
the Federal registration processes and
increase public accessibility to data
about interstate and foreign motor
carriers, property brokers, freight
forwarders, and other entities.
E. Paperwork Reduction Act 85
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), a
Federal Agency must obtain approval
from OMB for each collection of
information it conducts, sponsors, or
requires through regulations. The
FMCSA analyzed this rule and
determined that its implementation will
streamline the information collection
burden on motor carriers and other
regulated entities, relative to the
baseline, or current paperwork
collection processes. This includes
streamlining the FMCSA registration,
insurance, and designation of process
agent filing processes and implementing
mandatory electronic online filing of
these applications, as well as
eliminating some outdated filing
requirements. Because FMCSA plans to
implement new filing requirements
upon certain groups of entities during

the first year, the initial filing
population and corresponding burden is
higher than in subsequent years when
carriers only need to update the
information. This is primarily due to the
assumption that all existing private and
exempt for-hire carriers will file proof of
process agent designation in the first
year and the existing private motor
carriers transporting hazardous
materials interstate and exempt-for-hire
carriers will file evidence of insurance,
as a result of the new requirements set
forth in this rule. However, once the
initial process agent and insurance
filing requirements for existing carriers
are met, the overall net result will be a
more streamlined process in future
years for FMCSA registration of motor
carriers, brokers, freight-forwarders, and
other entities the Agency regulates.
This rule will create a new
information collection to cover the
requirements set forth in FMCSA Form
MCSA–1. There are also five approved
information collections that will be
affected by this rule as follows: (1) OMB
Control No. 2126–0013, titled ‘‘Motor
Carrier Identification Report;’’ (2) OMB
Control No. 2126–0015, titled
‘‘Designation of Agents, Motor Carriers,
Brokers and Freight Forwarders;’’ (3)
OMB Control No. 2126–0016, titled
‘‘Licensing Application for Motor
Carrier Operating Authority;’’ (4) OMB
Control No. 2126–0017, titled
‘‘Financial Responsibility, Trucking,
and Freight Forwarding;’’ and (5) OMB
Control No. 2126–0019, titled
‘‘Application for Certificate of
Registration for Foreign Motor Carriers
and Foreign Motor Private Carriers.’’
The new MCSA–1 Form will replace the
forms covered by 2126–0013, 0016, and
0019. The rule will also increase the
number of entities that will be required
to file information on process agents
(2126–0015) and insurance coverage
(2126–0017).
The total burden for the five approved
information collections noted above is
225,739 hours. The table below captures
the burden hours associated with the
five approved information collections.

INFORMATION COLLECTION BURDENS
Burden hours
currently
approved

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OMB Approval No.
2126–NEW
2126–0013
2126–0015
2126–0016
2126–0017

...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................

Burden hours
proposed 1

0
109,005
5,833
55,143
54,158

205,412
0
60,371
0
68,391

85 The calculations presented in this section may
be subject to rounding errors.

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Change
205,412
(109,005)
54,538
(55,143)
14,233

Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations

52643

INFORMATION COLLECTION BURDENS—Continued
Burden hours
currently
approved

OMB Approval No.

Burden hours
proposed 1

Change

2126–0019 ...........................................................................................................

1,600

0

(1,600)

Total ..............................................................................................................

225,739

334,174

108,435

1 The

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figures in this column reflect first year information collection burdens. Many of these information collections will significantly decrease in
later years.
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding.

An explanation of how each of the six
information collections shown above is
affected by this rule is provided below.
OMB Control No. 2126–NEW, titled
‘‘Unified Registration System, Form
MCSA–1.’’ The new form replaces the
forms covered by three existing
information collections—OMB Control
Numbers 2126–0013, 2126–0016, and
2126–0019. The estimated time to
complete the form for purposes of new
applicant registration, biennial updates,
notification of changes, notification of
transfers in operating authority, and
reinstatements is 205,412 burden hours
[147,038 hours for new applicants
(61,280 new motor carriers, brokers,
freight forwarders, and other entities ×
1.34 hours per form + 48,450 intrastate
non-hazmat carriers × 1.34 hours per
form) + 55,877 hours for biennial
updates (292,000 motor carriers,
brokers, freight forwarders, and other
entities + 43,265 intrastate non-hazmat
applicants required to file in year one ×
10 minutes per form, divided by 60
minutes/hr) + 2,017 hours for name/
address change requests (12,103
requests × 0.167 hours) + 165 hours for
notification of transfer (987 × 0.167
hours) + 315 reinstatements (1,891 ×
0.167 hours)].
OMB Control No. 2126–0013, titled
‘‘Motor Carrier Identification Report,
Applications for USDOT Number.’’ All
of the requirements under this
information collection covering the
MCS–150, MCS–150B, and MCS–150C
forms are folded into OMB Control No.
2126–NEW (see above) and the forms
replaced by the MCSA–1 Form. Forms
MCS–150 and OP–1(MX) will be
retained for the small number of
Mexico-domiciled carriers that seek
authority to operate beyond the United
States municipalities on the United
States-Mexico border and their
commercial zones because they are not
included within the scope of the URS
rule.
OMB Control No. 2126–0015, titled
‘‘Designation of Agents, Motor Carriers,
Brokers, and Freight Forwarders.’’ This
information collection, which requires
motor carriers and others to designate
process agents that can be served with

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legal papers, was approved at 5,833
burden hours. This information
collection increased to 60,371 burden
hours [327,226 new applicants × 10
minutes per filing/60 minutes/hr +
35,000 currently file the BOC–3 × 10
minutes per filing/60 minutes/hr]. This
increase was due to FMCSA’s proposal
to extend the designation of process
agent filing requirement to include
private motor carriers and exempt forhire motor carriers. The FMCSA
assumed that no existing private or
exempt for-hire motor carriers had
process agents on file and that all
designated agents with FMCSA as a
result of the proposed requirements set
forth in this rule.
OMB Control No. 2126–0016, titled
‘‘Licensing Applications for Motor
Carrier Operating Authority.’’ This
information collection, which covers
for-hire carriers, freight forwarders, and
property brokers, was approved at
55,143 burden hours. Under this action,
all requirements included in this
information collection are folded into
OMB Control No. 2126–NEW (see
above) and the forms replaced by the
MCSA–1. Basic identification
information that applicants complete on
these forms and MCS–150 forms will
only need to be completed once under
this rule.
OMB Control No. 2126–0017, titled
‘‘Financial Responsibility—Motor
Carriers, Freight Forwarders and
Brokers.’’ This information collection,
which in almost all cases requires
insurers to file a certification of
coverage for certain entities, was
approved at 54,158 burden hours.
Changes were required to this
information collection due to FMCSA’s
requirement for exempt for-hire motor
carriers and private interstate motor
carriers of hazardous materials to file
proof of liability insurance with
FMCSA. As all but a few of these filings
are electronic (self-insurance filings will
still be done on paper), the time
required is adjusted downward to reflect
the efficiencies gained. The revised
burden is 68,391 hours [409,149 filings
× 10 minutes/60 plus 5 self-insurance
filings × 40 hrs].

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OMB Control No. 2126–0019, titled
‘‘Application for Certificate of
Registration for Foreign Motor Carriers
and Foreign Motor Private Carriers.’’
Under this proposal, the requirements
included in this approved information
collection for the OP–2 Form, which
covers operating authority for Mexicodomiciled carriers that operate solely in
the commercial zones on the border, are
folded into OMB Control No. 2126–
NEW (see above), resulting in a net
decrease of 1,600 burden hours.
The actions contained in this rule,
affecting five approved information
collections and one new information
collection, result in a net increase of
108,435 burden hours in the Agency’s
information collection budget for the
first year.
F. Executive Order 12630 (Taking of
Private Property)
This rule will not affect a taking of
private property or otherwise have
taking implications under Executive
Order 12630, Governmental Actions and
Interference with Constitutionally
Protected Property Rights.
G. Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice
Reform)
This rule meets applicable standards
in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of Executive
Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform, to
minimize litigation, eliminate
ambiguity, and reduce burden.
H. Executive Order 13045 (Protection of
Children)
Executive Order 13045, ‘‘Protection of
Children from Environmental Health
Risks and Safety Risks’’ (April 23, 1997,
62 FR 19885), requires that agencies
issuing economically significant rules,
which also concern an environmental
health or safety risk that an Agency has
reason to believe may
disproportionately affect children, must
include an evaluation of the
environmental health and safety effects
of the regulation on children. Section 5
of Executive Order 13045 directs an
Agency to submit for a covered
regulatory action an evaluation of its
environmental health or safety effects

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations

on children. This rule is not an
economically significant rule and will
not create an environmental risk to
health or risk to safety that might
disproportionately affect children.

rule is available for review in the
docket.

I. Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

Administrative practice and
procedure, Brokers, Buses, Freight
forwarders, Hazardous materials
transportation, Highway safety,
Insurance, Motor carriers, Motor vehicle
safety, Moving of household goods,
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Surety bonds.

List of Subjects
49 CFR Part 360

This rule has been analyzed in
accordance with the principles and
criteria in Executive Order 13132, dated
August 4, 1999 (64 FR 43255, August
10, 1999). The FMCSA consulted with
State licensing agencies participating in
its PRISM Program to discuss
anticipated impacts of the May 2005
NPRM upon their operations. The
Agency has taken into consideration
their comments in its decision-making
process for this rule. Thus, FMCSA has
determined that this rule will not have
significant Federalism implications or
limit the policymaking discretion of the
States.

Administrative practice and
procedure, Brokers, Buses, Freight
forwarders, Motor carriers, Moving of
household goods.
49 CFR Part 366
Brokers, Motor carriers, Freight
forwarders, Process agents.

J. Executive Order 12372
(Intergovernmental Review)

49 CFR Part 368

The regulations implementing
Executive Order 12372 regarding
intergovernmental consultation on
Federal programs and activities do not
apply to this program.

49 CFR Part 385

K. Executive Order 13211 (Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use)
FMCSA has analyzed this rule under
Executive Order 13211, ‘‘Actions
Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use’’ and has
determined that this is not a significant
energy action within the meaning of
section 4(b) of the Executive Order. This
is a procedural action, is not
economically significant, and will not
have a significant adverse effect on the
supply, distribution, or use of energy.
L. Privacy Impact Analysis

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49 CFR Part 365

The FMCSA conducted a privacy
impact assessment of this rule as
required by section 522(a)(5) of division
H of the FY 2005 Omnibus
Appropriations Act, Public Law 108–
447, 118 Stat. 3268 (Dec. 8, 2004) [set
out as a note to 5 U.S.C. 552a]. The
assessment considers any impacts of the
final rule on the privacy of information
in an identifiable form and related
matters. FMCSA has determined that
this rule will impact the handling of
personally identifiable information (PII).
FMCSA has also determined the risks
and effects the rulemaking might have
on collecting, storing, and sharing PII
and has examined and evaluated
protections and alternative information
handling processes in order to mitigate
potential privacy risks. The PIA for this

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Administrative practice and
procedure, Insurance, Motor carriers.
Administrative practice and
procedure, Highway safety, Motor
carriers, Motor vehicle safety, Reporting
and recordkeeping requirements.
49 CFR Part 387
Buses, Freight, Freight forwarders,
Hazardous materials transportation,
Highway safety, Insurance,
Intergovernmental relations, Motor
carriers, Motor vehicle safety, Moving of
household goods, Penalties, Reporting
and recordkeeping requirements, Surety
bonds.
49 CFR Part 390
Highway safety, Intermodal
transportation, Motor carriers, Motor
vehicle safety, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
49 CFR Part 392
Highway safety, Motor carriers.
In consideration of the foregoing,
FMCSA amends 49 CFR chapter III,
parts 360, 365, 366, 368, 385, 387, 390,
and 392 as set forth below:
■ 1. Revise part 360 to read as follows:
PART 360—FEES FOR MOTOR
CARRIER REGISTRATION AND
INSURANCE
Sec.
360.1
360.3
360.5

Fees for registration-related services.
Filing fees.
Updating user fees.

Authority: 31 U.S.C. 9701; 49 U.S.C.
13908; and 49 CFR 1.87.

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§ 360.1 Fees for registration-related
services.

Certifications and copies of public
records and documents on file with the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) will be
furnished on the following basis,
pursuant to USDOT Freedom of
Information Act regulations at 49 CFR
part 7:
(a) Certificate of the Director, Office of
Management and Information Services,
as to the authenticity of documents, $12;
(b) Service involved in locating
records to be certified and determining
their authenticity, including clerical and
administrative work, at the rate of $21
per hour;
(c) Copies of the public documents, at
the rate of $.80 per letter size or legal
size exposure. A minimum charge of $5
will be made for this service; and
(d) Search and copying services
requiring information technology (IT),
as follows:
(1) A fee of $50 per hour for
professional staff time will be charged
when it is required to fulfill a request
for electronic data.
(2) The fee for computer searches will
be set at the current rate for computer
service. Information on those charges
can be obtained from the Office of
Information Technology (MC–RI).
(3) Printing will be charged at the rate
of $.10 per page of computer-generated
output with a minimum charge of $1.
There will also be a charge for the media
provided (e.g., CD ROMs) based on the
Agency’s costs for such media.
(e) Exception. No fee shall be charged
under this section to the following
entities:
(1) Any Agency of the Federal
Government or a State government or
any political subdivision of any such
government for access to or retrieval of
information and data from the Unified
Carrier Registration System for its own
use; or
(2) Any representative of a motor
carrier, motor private carrier, broker, or
freight forwarder (as each is defined in
49 U.S.C. 13102) for the access to or
retrieval of the information related to
such entity from the Unified Carrier
Registration System for the individual
use of such entity.
§ 360.3

Filing fees.

(a) Manner of payment. (1) Except for
the insurance fees described in the next
sentence, all filing fees must be paid at
the time the application, petition, or
other document is electronically filed.
The service fee for insurance, surety or
self-insurer accepted certificate of
insurance, surety bond or other
instrument submitted in lieu of a broker

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
surety bond must be charged to an
insurance service account established
by FMCSA in accordance with
paragraph (a)(2) of this section.
(2) Billing account procedure. A
request must be submitted to the Office
of Registration and Safety Information
(MC–RS) at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov to
establish an insurance service fee
account.
(i) Each account will have a specific
billing date within each month and a
billing cycle. The billing date is the date
that the bill is prepared and printed.
The billing cycle is the period between
the billing date in one month and the
billing date in the next month. A bill for
each account that has activity or an
unpaid balance during the billing cycle
will be sent on the billing date each
month. Payment will be due 20 days
from the billing date. Payments received
before the next billing date are applied
to the account. Interest will accrue in
accordance with 31 CFR 901.9.
(ii) The Federal Claims Collection
Standards, including disclosure to
consumer reporting agencies and the
use of collection agencies, as set forth in
31 CFR part 901, will be utilized to
encourage payment where appropriate.
(iii) An account holder who files a
petition for bankruptcy or who is the
subject of a bankruptcy proceeding must
provide the following information to the
Office of Registration and Safety
Information (MC–RS) at http://
www.fmcsa.dot.gov:
(A) The filing date of the bankruptcy
petition;
(B) The court in which the bankruptcy
petition was filed;
(C) The type of bankruptcy
proceeding;

(D) The name, address, and telephone
number of its representative in the
bankruptcy proceeding; and
(E) The name, address, and telephone
number of the bankruptcy trustee, if one
has been appointed.
(3) Fees will be payable through the
U.S. Department of Treasury secure
payment system, Pay.gov, and are made
directly from the payor’s bank account
or by credit/debit card.
(b) Any filing that is not accompanied
by the appropriate filing fee will be
rejected.
(c) Fees not refundable. Fees will be
assessed for every filing listed in the
schedule of fees contained in paragraph
(f) of this section, titled, ‘‘Schedule of
filing fees,’’ subject to the exceptions
contained in paragraphs (d) and (e) of
this section. After the application,
petition, or other document has been
accepted for filing by FMCSA, the filing
fee will not be refunded, regardless of
whether the application, petition, or
other document is granted or approved,
denied, rejected before docketing,
dismissed, or withdrawn.
(d) Multiple authorities. (1) A separate
filing fee is required for each type of
authority sought, for example broker
authority requested by an entity that
already holds motor property carrier
authority or multiple types of authority
requested in the same application.
(2) Separate fees will be assessed for
the filing of temporary operating
authority applications as provided in
paragraph (f)(2) of this section,
regardless of whether such applications
are related to an application for
corresponding permanent operating
authority.
(e) Waiver or reduction of filing fees.
It is the general policy of the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration not

to waive or reduce filing fees except as
follows:
(1) Filing fees are waived for an
application that is filed by a Federal
government agency, or a State or local
government entity. For purposes of this
section the phrases ‘‘Federal
government agency’’ or ‘‘government
entity’’ do not include a quasigovernmental corporation or
government subsidized transportation
company.
(2) Filing fees are waived for a motor
carrier of passengers that receives a
grant from the Federal Transit
Administration either directly or
through a third-party contract to provide
passenger transportation under an
agreement with a State or local
government pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5307,
5310, 5311, 5316, or 5317.
(3) The FMCSA will consider other
requests for waivers or fee reductions
only in extraordinary situations and in
accordance with the following
procedure:
(i) When to request. At the time that
a filing is submitted to FMCSA, the
applicant may request a waiver or
reduction of the fee prescribed in this
part. Such request should be addressed
to the Director, Office of Registration
and Safety Information.
(ii) Basis. The applicant must show
that the waiver or reduction of the fee
is in the best interest of the public, or
that payment of the fee would impose
an undue hardship upon the requester.
(iii) FMCSA action. The Director,
Office of Registration and Safety
Information, will notify the applicant of
the decision to grant or deny the request
for waiver or reduction.
(f) Schedule of filing fees:

Type of proceeding

Fee

Part I: Registration
(1) .............................................

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(2) .............................................

(3) .............................................
(4) .............................................
(5) .............................................
(6) .............................................
(7) .............................................
(8) .............................................
Part II: Insurance
(9) .............................................

(10) ...........................................

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52645

An application for USDOT Registration pursuant to 49 CFR part 390,
subpart E.
An application for motor carrier temporary authority to provide emergency relief in response to a national emergency or natural disaster following an emergency declaration under § 390.23 of this
subchapter.
Biennial update of registration. ..............................................................
Request for change of name, address, or form of business ................
Request for cancellation of registration .................................................
Request for registration reinstatement ..................................................
Designation of process agent ................................................................
Notification of Transfer of Operating Authority ......................................
A service fee for insurer, surety, or self-insurer accepted certificate of
insurance, surety bond, and other instrument submitted in lieu of a
broker surety bond.
(i) An application for original qualification as self-insurer for bodily injury and property damage insurance (BI&PD).
(ii) An application for original qualification as self-insurer for cargo insurance.

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$300.
$100.

$0.
$0.
$0.
$10.
$0.
$0.
$10 per accepted certificate, surety bond or other instrument
submitted in lieu of a broker surety bond.
$4,200.
$420.

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52646

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§ 360.5

Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
Updating user fees.

(a) Update. Each fee established in
this subpart may be updated, as deemed
necessary by FMCSA.
(b) Publication and effective dates.
Notice of updated fees shall be
published in the Federal Register and
shall become effective 30 days after
publication.
(c) Payment of fees. Any person
submitting a filing for which a filing fee
is established must pay the fee
applicable on the date of the filing or
request for services.
(d) Method of updating fees. Each fee
shall be updated by updating the cost
components comprising the fee.
However, fees shall not exceed the
maximum amounts established by law.
Cost components shall be updated as
follows:
(1) Direct labor costs shall be updated
by multiplying base level direct labor
costs by percentage changes in average
wages and salaries of FMCSA
employees. Base level direct labor costs
are direct labor costs determined by the
cost study in Regulations Governing
Fees For Service, 1 I.C.C. 2d 60 (1984),
or subsequent cost studies. The base
period for measuring changes shall be
April 1984 or the year of the last cost
study.
(2) Operations overhead shall be
developed on the basis of current
relationships existing on a weighted
basis, for indirect labor applicable to the
first supervisory work centers directly
associated with user fee activity. Actual
updating of operations overhead shall
be accomplished by applying the
current percentage factor to updated
direct labor, including current
governmental overhead costs.
(3)(i) Office general and
administrative costs shall be developed
on the basis of current levels costs, i.e.,
dividing actual office general and
administrative costs for the current
fiscal year by total office costs for the
office directly associated with user fee
activity. Actual updating of office
general and administrative costs shall be
accomplished by applying the current
percentage factor to updated direct
labor, including current governmental
overhead and current operations
overhead costs.
(ii) The FMCSA general and
administrative costs shall be developed
on the basis of current level costs; i.e.,
dividing actual FMCSA general and
administrative costs for the current
fiscal year by total Agency expenses for
the current fiscal year. Actual updating
of FMCSA general and administrative
costs shall be accomplished by applying
the current percentage factor to updated
direct labor, including current

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governmental overhead, operations
overhead and office general and
administrative costs.
(4) Publication costs shall be adjusted
on the basis of known changes in the
costs applicable to publication of
material in the Federal Register or
FMCSA Register.
(e) Rounding of updated fees.
Updated fees shall be rounded as
follows. (This rounding procedure
excludes copying, printing and search
fees.)
(1) Fees between $1 and $30 shall be
rounded to the nearest $1;
(2) Fees between $30 and $100 shall
be rounded to the nearest $10;
(3) Fees between $100 and $999 shall
be rounded to the nearest $50; and
(4) Fees above $1,000 shall be
rounded to the nearest $100.
PART 365—RULES GOVERNING
APPLICATIONS FOR OPERATING
AUTHORITY
2. The authority citation for part 365
is revised to read as follows:

■

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 553 and 559; 49 U.S.C.
13101, 13301, 13901–13906, 13908, 14708,
31133, 31138, and 31144; 49 CFR 1.87.

3. Amend § 365.101 by revising
paragraphs (a) and (h) to read as follows:

■

§ 365.101
rules.

Applications governed by these

*

*
*
*
*
(a) Applications for certificates of
motor carrier registration to operate as a
motor carrier of property or passengers.
*
*
*
*
*
(h) Applications for Mexicodomiciled motor carriers to operate in
foreign commerce as for-hire or private
motor carriers of property (including
exempt items) between Mexico and all
points in the United States. Under
NAFTA Annex 1, page I–U–20, a
Mexico-domiciled motor carrier may not
provide point-to-point transportation
services, including express delivery
services, within the United States for
goods other than international cargo.
*
*
*
*
*
§ 365.103

[Removed and Reserved]

■

4. Remove and reserve § 365.103.

■

5. Revise § 365.105 to read as follows:

§ 365.105 Starting the application process:
Form MCSA–1, FMCSA Registration/Update
(USDOT Number—Operating Authority
Application).

(a) Each applicant must apply for
operating authority by electronically
filing Form MCSA–1, FMCSA
Registration/Update (USDOT Number—
Operating Authority Application), to

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request authority pursuant to 49 U.S.C.
13902, 13903 or 13904 to operate as a:
(1) Motor carrier of property or
passengers,
(2) Broker of general commodities or
household goods, or
(3) Freight forwarder of general
commodities or household goods.
(b) A separate filing fee in the amount
set forth at 49 CFR 360.3(f) is required
for each type of authority sought in
§ 365.105(a).
(c) Form MCSA–1 is an electronic
application and is available, including
complete instructions, from the FMCSA
Web site at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov
(Keyword ‘‘MCSA–1’’).
■ 6. Revise § 365.107 to read as follows:
§ 365.107

Types of applications.

(a) Fitness applications. Motor
property applications and certain types
of motor passenger applications require
the finding that the applicant is fit,
willing and able to perform the involved
operations and to comply with all
applicable statutory and regulatory
provisions. These applications can be
opposed only on the grounds that
applicant is not fit [e.g., is not in
compliance with applicable financial
responsibility and safety fitness
requirements]. These applications are:
(1) Motor carrier of property (except
household goods).
(2) Broker of general commodities or
household goods.
(3) Certain types of motor carrier of
passenger applications as described in
Form MCSA–1.
(b) Motor carrier of passenger ‘‘public
interest’’ applications as described in
Form MCSA–1.
(c) Intrastate motor passenger
applications under 49 U.S.C.
13902(b)(3) as described in Form
MCSA–1.
(d) Motor carrier of household goods
applications, including Mexico- or nonNorth America-domiciled carrier
applicants. In addition to meeting the
fitness standard under paragraph (a) of
this section, an applicant seeking
authority to operate as a motor carrier of
household goods must:
(1) Provide evidence of participation
in an arbitration program and provide a
copy of the notice of the arbitration
program as required by 49 U.S.C.
14708(b)(2);
(2) Identify its tariff and provide a
copy of the notice of the availability of
that tariff for inspection as required by
49 U.S.C. 13702(c);
(3) Provide evidence that it has access
to, has read, is familiar with, and will
observe all applicable Federal laws
relating to consumer protection,
estimating, consumers’ rights and

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
responsibilities, and options for
limitations of liability for loss and
damage; and
(4) Disclose any relationship
involving common stock, common
ownership, common management, or
common familial relationships between
the applicant and any other motor
carrier, freight forwarder, or broker of
household goods within 3 years of the
proposed date of registration.
(e) Temporary authority (TA) for
motor carriers. These applications
require a finding that there is or soon
will be an immediate transportation
need that cannot be met by existing
carrier service.
(1) Applications for TA will be
entertained only when an emergency
declaration has been made pursuant to
§ 390.23 of this subchapter.
(2) Temporary authority must be
requested by filing Form MCSA–1.
(3) Applications for temporary
authority are not subject to protest.
(4) Motor carriers granted temporary
authority must comply with financial
responsibility requirements under part
387 of this subchapter.
(5) Only a U.S.-domiciled motor
carrier is eligible to receive temporary
authority.
■ 7. Amend § 365.109 by revising
paragraphs (a)(5) and (6) and (b) to read
as follows:

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§ 365.109 FMCSA review of the
application.

(a) * * *
(5) All applicants must file the
appropriate evidence of financial
responsibility pursuant to 49 CFR part
387 within 90 days from the date notice
of the application is published in the
FMCSA Register:
(i) Form BMC–91 or 91X or BMC 82
surety bond—Bodily injury and
property damage (motor property and
passenger carriers; and freight
forwarders that provide pickup or
delivery service directly or by using a
local delivery service under their
control).
(ii) Form BMC–84—Surety bond or
Form BMC–85—trust fund agreement
(property brokers of general
commodities and household goods).
(iii) Form BMC–34 or BMC 83 surety
bond—Cargo liability (household goods
motor carriers and household goods
freight forwarders).
(6) Applicants also must submit Form
BOC–3—Designation of Agents—Motor
Carriers, Brokers and Freight
Forwarders—within 90 days from the
date notice of the application is
published in the FMCSA Register.
*
*
*
*
*

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(b) A summary of the application will
be published in the FMCSA Register to
give notice to the public in case anyone
wishes to oppose the application.
■ 8. Add § 365.110 to read as follows:
§ 365.110 Need to complete New Entrant
Safety Assurance Program.

For motor carriers operating
commercial motor vehicles as defined in
49 U.S.C. 31132, operating authority
obtained under procedures in this part
does not become permanent until the
applicant satisfactorily completes the
New Entrant Safety Assurance Program
in part 385 of this subchapter.
■ 9. Amend § 365.111 by revising
paragraph (a) to read as follows:
§ 365.111 Appeals to rejections of the
application.

(a) An applicant has the right to
appeal rejection of the application. The
appeal must be filed at the FMCSA,
Office of Registration and Safety
Information, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE.,
Washington, DC 20590, within 10 days
of the date of the letter of rejection.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 10. Revise § 365.119 to read as
follows:
§ 365.119

Opposed applications.

If the application is opposed,
opposing parties are required to send a
copy of their protest to the applicant
and to FMCSA. All protests must
include statements made under oath
(verified statements). There are no
personal appearances or formal
hearings.
■ 11. Revise § 365.201 to read as
follows:
§ 365.201

Definitions.

A person wishing to oppose a request
for operating authority files a protest. A
person filing a valid protest is known as
a protestant.
■ 12. Revise § 365.203 to read as
follows:
§ 365.203

Time for filing.

A protest shall be filed (received at
the FMCSA, Office of the Associate
Administrator for Research and
Information Technology, 1200 New
Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 20590)
within 10 days after notice of the
application appears in the FMCSA
Register. A copy of the protest shall be
sent to applicant’s representative at the
same time. Failure timely to file a
protest waives further participation in
the proceeding.
§ 365.301
■

[Removed and Reserved]

13. Remove and reserve § 365.301.

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52647

14. Revise Subpart D to read as
follows:

■

Subpart D—Transfers of Operating
Authority
Sec.
365.401 Scope of rules.
365.403 Definitions.
365.405 Reporting requirement.

Subpart D—Transfers of Operating
Authority
§ 365.401

Scope of rules.

The rules in this subpart define the
procedures for motor carriers, property
brokers, and freight forwarders to report
to FMCSA transactions that result in the
transfer of operating authority and are
not subject to approval by the U.S.
Surface Transportation Board under 49
U.S.C. 14303.
§ 365.403

Definitions.

For the purposes of this subpart, the
following definitions apply:
(a) Transfer. A transfer means any
transaction in which an operating
authority issued to one person is taken
over by another person or persons who
assume legal responsibility for the
operations. Such transactions include a
purchase of all or some of the assets of
a company, a merger of two or more
companies, or acquisition of controlling
interest in a company through a
purchase of company stock.
(b) Operating authority. Operating
authority means a registration required
by 49 U.S.C. 13902 issued to motor
carriers; 49 U.S.C. 13903 issued to
freight forwarders; and 49 U.S.C. 13904
issued to brokers.
(c) Person. An individual,
partnership, corporation, company,
association, or other form of business, or
a trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal
representative of any of these entities.
§ 365.405

Reporting requirement.

(a) Every transfer of operating
authority from one person to another
person must be reported by both the
transferee and transferor on Form
MCSA–1, in accordance with
§ 390.201(d)(5) of this subchapter.
(b) The following information must be
furnished:
(1) Full name, address and USDOT
Numbers of the transferee and
transferor.
(2) A copy of the operating authority
being transferred.
■ 15. Amend § 365.507 by revising
paragraph (e)(2) to read as follows:
§ 365.507 FMCSA action on the
application.

*

*
*
(e) * * *

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*

*

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(2) Electronically file, or have its
process agent(s) electronically file, Form
BOC–3—Designation of Agents—Motor
Carriers, Brokers and Freight
Forwarders, as required by part 366 of
this subchapter; and
*
*
*
*
*
■ 16. Amend § 365.509 by revising
paragraph (a) to read as follows:
§ 365.509 Requirement to notify FMCSA of
change in applicant information.

(a) A motor carrier subject to this
subpart must notify FMCSA of any
changes or corrections to the
information in parts I, IA, or II of Form
OP–1(MX), or in Form BOC–3—
Designation of Agents—Motor Carriers,
Brokers and Freight Forwarders, during
the application process or after having
been granted provisional operating
authority. The carrier must notify
FMCSA in writing within 30 days of the
change or correction.
*
*
*
*
*
PART 366—DESIGNATION OF
PROCESS AGENT
17. The authority citation for part 366
is revised to read as follows:

■

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 502, 503, 13303,
13304 and 13908; and 49 CFR 1.87.
■

18. Revise § 366.1 to read as follows:

§ 366.1

Applicability.

The rules in this part, relating to the
filing of designations of persons upon
whom court or Agency process may be
served, apply to for-hire and private
motor carriers, brokers, freight
forwarders and, as of the moment of
succession, their fiduciaries (as defined
at 49 CFR 387.319(a)).
■ 19. Effective April 25, 2016, revise
§ 366.2 to read as follows:

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES2

§ 366.2

Form of designation.

(a) Designations shall be made on
Form BOC–3—Designation of Agents—
Motor Carriers, Brokers and Freight
Forwarders. Only one completed
current form may be on file. It must
include all States for which agent
designations are required. One copy
must be retained by the carrier, broker
or freight forwarder at its principal
place of business.
(b) Private motor carriers and for-hire
motor carriers engaged in transportation
exempt from economic regulation by
FMCSA under 49 U.S.C. chapter 135
that are registered with FMCSA as of
October 22, 2013 must file a Form BOC–
3 designation by no later than April 25,
2016. Failure to file a designation in
accordance with this paragraph will
result in deactivation of the carrier’s
USDOT Number.

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■

20. Revise § 366.3 to read as follows:

§ 366.3

Eligible persons.

All persons (as defined at 49 U.S.C.
13102(18)) designated as process agents
must reside in or maintain an office in
the State for which they are designated.
If a State official is designated, evidence
of his or her willingness to accept
service of process must be furnished.
■ 21. Revise § 366.4 to read as follows:
§ 366.4

Required States.

(a) Motor carriers. Every motor carrier
must designate process agents for all 48
contiguous States and the District of
Columbia, unless its operating authority
registration is limited to fewer than 48
States and DC When a motor carrier’s
operating authority registration is
limited to fewer than 48 States and DC,
it must designate process agents for each
State in which it is authorized to
operate and for each State traversed
during such operations. Every motor
carrier operating in the United States in
the course of transportation between
points in a foreign country shall file a
designation for each State traversed.
(b) Brokers. Every broker shall make
a designation for each State, including
DC, in which its offices are located or
in which contracts will be written.
(c) Freight forwarders. Every freight
forwarder shall make a designation for
each State, including DC, in which its
offices are located or in which contracts
will be written.
■ 22. Revise § 366.5 to read as follows:
§ 366.5

Blanket designations.

Where an association or corporation
has filed with the FMCSA a list of
process agents for each State and DC
(blanket agent), motor carriers, brokers
and freight forwarders may make the
required designations by using the
following statement:
I designate those persons named in
the list of process agents on file with the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration
by lllllllllllllllllll
(name of association or corporation)
and any subsequently filed revisions thereof,
for the States in which this carrier is or may
be authorized to operate (or arrange) as an
entity of motor vehicle transportation,
including States traversed during such
operations, except those States for which
individual designations are named.
■

23. Revise § 366.6 to read as follows:

§ 366.6

Cancellation or change.

(a) A designation may be canceled or
changed only by a new designation
made by the motor carrier, broker, or
freight forwarder, or by the process
agent or company filing a blanket

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designation in accordance with § 366.5.
However, where a motor carrier, broker
or freight forwarder’s USDOT Number is
inactive for at least 1 year, designation
is no longer required and may be
canceled without making another
designation.
(b) A change to a designation, such as
name, address, or contact information,
must be reported to FMCSA within 30
days of the change.
(c) Whenever a motor carrier, broker
or freight forwarder changes it name,
address, or contact information, it must
report the change to its process agents
and/or the company making a blanket
designation on its behalf in accordance
with § 366.5 within 30 days of the
change.
(d) Whenever a process agent and/or
company making a blanket designation
on behalf of a motor carrier, broker, or
freight forwarder terminates its contract
or relationship with the entity, it should
report the termination to FMCSA within
30 days of the termination. If process
agents and/or blanket agents do not
keep their information up to date,
FMCSA may withdraw its approval of
their authority to make process agent
designations with the Agency.
PART 368—APPLICATION FOR A
CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION TO
OPERATE IN MUNICIPALITIES IN THE
UNITED STATES ON THE UNITED
STATES-MEXICO INTERNATIONAL
BORDER OR WITHIN THE
COMMERCIAL ZONES OF SUCH
MUNICIPALITIES.
24. The authority citation for part 368
is revised to read as follows:

■

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 13301, 13902 and
13908; Pub. L. 106–159, 113 Stat. 1748; and
49 CFR 1.87.

25. Amend § 368.3 by revising
paragraphs (a), (b), and (f) and removing
and reserving paragraph (e) to read as
follows:

■

§ 368.3 Applying for a certificate of
registration.

(a) If you wish to obtain a certificate
of registration under this part, you must
electronically file an application that
includes the following:
(1) Form MCSA–1—FMCSA
Registration/Update (USDOT Number—
(Operating Authority Application)).
(2) Form BOC–3—Designation of
Agents—Motor Carriers, Brokers and
Freight Forwarders or indicate on the
application that the applicant will use a
process agent service that will submit
the Form BOC–3 electronically.
(b) The FMCSA will only process
your application for a Certificate of

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
Registration if it meets the following
conditions:
(1) The application must be
completed in English;
(2) The information supplied must be
accurate and complete in accordance
with the instructions to Form MCSA–1
and Form BOC–3.
(3) The application must include all
the required supporting documents and
applicable certifications set forth in the
instructions to Form MCSA–1 and Form
BOC–3.
*
*
*
*
*
(e) [Reserved]
(f) Form MCSA–1 is an electronic
application and is available, including
complete instructions, from the FMCSA
Web site at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov
(Keyword ‘‘MCSA–1’’).
■ 26. Amend § 368.4 by revising
paragraph (a) to read as follows:
§ 368.4 Requirement to notify FMCSA of
change in applicant information.

(a) You must notify FMCSA of any
changes or corrections to the
information in Section A of Form
MCSA–1—FMCSA Registration/Update
(USDOT Number—Operating Authority
Application), or the Form BOC–3,
Designation of Agents-Motor Carriers,
Brokers and Freight Forwarders, during
the application process or while you
have a Certificate of Registration. You
must notify FMCSA in writing within
30 days of the change or correction.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 27. Revise § 368.8 to read as follows:
§ 368.8

Appeals.

An applicant has the right to appeal
denial of the application. The appeal
must be in writing and specify in detail
why the Agency’s decision to deny the
application was wrong. The appeal must
be filed with the FMCSA, Office of
Registration and Safety Information
within 20 days of the date of the letter
denying the application. The decision of
the Director will be the final Agency
order.
PART 385—SAFETY FITNESS
PROCEDURES
28. The authority citation for part 385
is revised to read as follows:

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■

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 113, 504, 521(b),
5105(e), 5109, 5113, 13901–13905, 13908,
31136, 31144, 31148, 31151, and 31502; Sec.
350 of Pub. L. 107–87; and 49 CFR 1.87.

29. Revise § 385.301 to read as
follows:

■

§ 385.301 What is a motor carrier required
to do before beginning interstate
operations?

(a) Before a motor carrier of property
or passengers begins interstate

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operations, it must register with FMCSA
and receive a USDOT Number. In
addition, for-hire motor carriers must
obtain operating authority from FMCSA,
unless exclusively providing
transportation exempt from the
commercial registration requirements in
49 U.S.C. chapter 139. Both the USDOT
Number and operating authority are
obtained by following registration
procedures described in 49 CFR part
390, subpart E. Part 365 of this chapter
provides detailed instructions for
obtaining operating authority.
(b) This subpart applies to motor
carriers domiciled in the United States
and Canada.
(c) The regulations in this subpart do
not apply to a Mexico-domiciled motor
carrier. A Mexico-domiciled motor
carrier of property or passengers must
register with FMCSA by following the
registration procedures described in 49
CFR parts 365, 368 and 390. Parts 365
(for long-haul carriers) and 368 (for
commercial zone carriers) of this
chapter provide detailed information
about how a Mexico-domiciled motor
carrier may obtain operating authority.
■ 30. Revise § 385.303 to read as
follows:
§ 385.303 How does a motor carrier
register with the FMCSA?

A motor carrier registers with FMCSA
by completing Form MCSA–1, which is
an electronic application that must be
completed on-line at the FMCSA Web
site at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov
(Keyword ‘‘MCSA–1’’). Complete
instructions for the Form MCSA–1 also
are available at the same location.
■ 31. Revise § 385.305 to read as
follows:
§ 385.305 What happens after the FMCSA
receives a request for new entrant
registration?

(a) The applicant for new entrant
registration will be directed to the
FMCSA Internet Web site (http://
www.fmcsa.dot.gov) to secure and/or
complete the application package
online.
(b) The application package will
include the following:
(1) Educational and technical
assistance material regarding the
requirements of the FMCSRs and HMRs,
if applicable.
(2) Form MCSA–1—FMCSA
Registration/Update (USDOT Number—
Operating Authority Application). This
form is used to obtain both a USDOT
Number and operating authority.
(c) Upon completion of the
application form, the new entrant will
be issued an inactive USDOT Number.
An applicant may not begin operations

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52649

nor mark a commercial motor vehicle
with the USDOT Number until after the
date of the Agency’s written notice that
the USDOT Number has been activated.
Violations of this section may be subject
to the penalties under § 392.9b(b) of this
chapter.
(d) Additional requirements for
certain for-hire motor carriers. For-hire
motor carriers, unless providing
transportation exempt from the
commercial registration requirements in
49 U.S.C. chapter 139, must obtain
operating authority as prescribed under
§ 390.201(b) and part 365 of this chapter
before operating in interstate commerce.
■ 32. Amend § 385.329 by revising
paragraphs (b) introductory text, (b)(1),
(c)(1) and (d) to read as follows:
§ 385.329 May a new entrant that has had
its USDOT new entrant registration revoked
and its operations placed out of service
reapply?

*

*
*
*
*
(b) If the USDOT new entrant
registration was revoked because of a
failed safety audit, the new entrant must
do all of the following:
(1) Submit an updated Form MCSA–
1.
*
*
*
*
*
(c) * * *
(1) Submit an updated Form MCSA–
1.
*
*
*
*
*
(d) If the new entrant is a for-hire
motor carrier subject to the registration
provisions of 49 U.S.C. chapter 139 and
also has had its operating authority
revoked, it must re-apply for operating
authority as set forth in § 390.201(b) and
part 365 of this chapter.
■ 33. Revise § 385.405 to read as
follows:
§ 385.405 How does a motor carrier apply
for a safety permit?

(a) Application form. (1) To apply for
a new safety permit or renewal of the
safety permit, a motor carrier must
complete and submit Form MCSA–1—
FMCSA Registration/Update (USDOT
Number—Operating Authority
Application) and meet the requirements
under 49 CFR part 390, subpart E.
(2) The Form MCSA–1 also will also
satisfy the requirements for obtaining
and renewing a USDOT Number.
(b) Where to get forms and
instructions. Form MCSA–1 is an
electronic application and is available,
including complete instructions, from
the FMCSA Web site at http://
www.fmcsa.dot.gov (Keyword ‘‘MCSA–
1’’).
(c) Signature and certification. An
official of the motor carrier must sign
and certify that the information is

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correct on each form the motor carrier
submits.
(d) Updating information. A motor
carrier holding a safety permit must
report to FMCSA any change in the
information on its Form MCSA–1
within 30 days of the change. The motor
carrier must use Form MCSA–1 to
report the new information.
■ 34. Amend § 385.409 by revising
paragraph (a) to read as follows:
§ 385.409 When may a temporary safety
permit be issued to a motor carrier?

(a) Temporary safety permit. If a
motor carrier does not meet the criteria
of § 385.407(a), FMCSA may issue it a
temporary safety permit. To obtain a
temporary safety permit, a motor carrier
must certify on Form MCSA–1 that it is
operating in full compliance with the
HMRs, with the FMCSRs, and/or
comparable State regulations, whichever
is applicable; and with the minimum
financial responsibility requirements in
part 387 of this subchapter or in State
regulations, whichever is applicable.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 35. Revise § 385.419 to read as
follows:
§ 385.419 How long is a safety permit
effective?

Unless suspended or revoked, a safety
permit (other than a temporary safety
permit) is effective for two years, except
that:
(a) A safety permit will be subject to
revocation if a motor carrier fails to
submit a renewal application (Form
MCSA–1) in accordance with the
schedule set forth for filing Form
MCSA–1 in part 390, subpart E, of this
subchapter; and
(b) An existing safety permit will
remain in effect pending FMCSA’s
processing of an application for renewal
if a motor carrier submits the required
application (Form MCSA–1) in
accordance with the schedule set forth
in part 390, subpart E, of this
subchapter.
■ 36. Amend § 385.421 by revising
paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) to read as
follows:

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES2

§ 385.421 Under what circumstances will a
safety permit be subject to revocation or
suspension by FMCSA?

(a) * * *
(1) A motor carrier fails to submit a
renewal application (Form MCSA–1) in
accordance with the schedule set forth
in part 390, subpart E, of this
subchapter.
(2) A motor carrier provides any false
or misleading information on its
application form (Form MCSA–1) or as
part of updated information it is

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providing on Form MCSA–1 (see
§ 385.405(d)).
■ 37. Revise § 385.603 to read as
follows:
§ 385.603

Application.

(a) Each applicant applying under this
subpart must submit an application that
consists of:
(1) Form MCSA–1, FMCSA
Registration/Update (USDOT Number—
Operating Authority Application); and
(2) A notification of the means used
to designate process agents, either by
submission in the application package
of Form BOC–3, Designation of
Agents—Motor Carriers, Brokers and
Freight Forwarders, or a letter stating
that the applicant will use a process
agent service that will submit the Form
BOC–3 electronically.
(b) The FMCSA will process an
application only if it meets the
following conditions:
(1) The application must be
completed in English.
(2) The information supplied must be
accurate, complete, and include all
required supporting documents and
applicable certifications in accordance
with the instructions to Form MCSA–1
and Form BOC–3.
(3) The application must include the
filing fee payable to the FMCSA in the
amount set forth at 49 CFR 360.3(f)(1).
(4) The application must be signed by
the applicant.
(c) An applicant must electronically
file Form MCSA–1.
(d) Form MCSA–1 is an electronic
application and is available, including
complete instructions, from the FMCSA
Web site at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov
(Keyword ‘‘MCSA–1’’).
■ 38. Amend § 385.607 by revising
paragraph (e)(2) to read as follows:
§ 385.607 FMCSA action on the
application.

*
*
*
*
(e) * * *
(2) File or have its process agent(s)
electronically submit, Form BOC–3—
Designation of Agents—Motor Carriers,
Brokers and Freight Forwarders, as
required by part 366 of this subchapter.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 39. Amend § 385.609 by revising
paragraph (a)(2) and removing
paragraph (a)(3) to read as follows:

application process or after the motor
carrier has been granted new entrant
registration. The motor carrier must
report the changes or corrections within
30 days of the change. The motor carrier
must use Form MCSA–1 to report the
new information.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 40. Amend § 385.713 by revising
paragraphs (b) introductory text, (b)(1),
(c) introductory text, (c)(1), and (d) to
read as follows:
§ 385.713 Reapplying for new entrant
registration.

*

*
*
*
*
(b) If the provisional new entrant
registration was revoked because the
new entrant failed to receive a
Satisfactory rating after undergoing a
compliance review, the new entrant
must do all of the following:
(1) Submit an updated Form MCSA–
1, FMCSA Registration/Update (USDOT
Number—Operating Authority
Application);
*
*
*
*
*
(c) If the provisional new entrant
registration was revoked because
FMCSA found the new entrant failed to
submit to a compliance review, the new
entrant must do all of the following:
(1) Submit an updated Form MCSA–
1, FMCSA Registration/Update (USDOT
Number—Operating Authority
Application);
*
*
*
*
*
(d) If the new entrant is a for-hire
carrier subject to the registration
provisions under 49 U.S.C. 13901 and
also has had its operating authority
revoked, it must reapply for operating
authority as set forth in § 390.201(b) and
part 365 of this subchapter.
PART 387—MINIMUM LEVELS OF
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR
MOTOR CARRIERS

*

385.609 Requirement to notify FMCSA of
change in applicant information.

(a) * * *
(2) A motor carrier subject to this
subpart must notify FMCSA of any
changes or corrections to the
information in Section A of Form
MCSA–1 that occur during the

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41. The authority citation for part 387
is revised to read as follows:

■

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 13101, 13301, 13906,
13908, 14701, 31138, and 31139; and 49 CFR
1.87.

42. Add § 387.19 to subpart A to read
as follows:

■

§ 387.19 Electronic filing of surety bonds,
trust fund agreements, certificates of
insurance and cancellations.

(a) Insurers of exempt for-hire motor
carriers, as defined in § 390.5 of this
subchapter, and private motor carriers
that transport hazardous materials in
interstate commerce must file
certificates of insurance, surety bonds,
and other securities and agreements
with FMCSA electronically in

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
accordance with the requirements and
procedures set forth at § 387.323.
(b) The requirements of this section
do not apply to motor carriers excepted
under § 387.7(b)(3).
■ 43. Revise § 387.33 to read as follows:
§ 387.33
levels.

Financial responsibility, minimum

(a) General limits. The minimum
levels of financial responsibility referred
to in § 387.31 are prescribed as follows:
SCHEDULE OF LIMITS
Public Liability

FOR-HIRE MOTOR CARRIERS OF PASSENGERS OPERATING IN INTERSTATE
OR FOREIGN COMMERCE

§ 387.43 Electronic filing of surety bonds,
trust fund agreements, certificates of
insurance and cancellations.

(a) Insurers of for-hire motor carriers
of passengers must file certificates of
insurance, surety bonds, and other
securities and agreements electronically
in accordance with the requirements
and procedures set forth at § 387.323.
(b) This section does not apply to
motor carriers excepted under
§ 387.31(b)(3).
■ 45. Amend § 387.301 by revising
paragraph (a)(1) to read as follows:
§ 387.301 Surety bond, certificate of
insurance, or other securities.

(a) Public liability. (1) No for-hire
motor carrier or foreign (Mexican) motor
private carrier or foreign motor carrier
(1) Any vehicle with a seattransporting exempt commodities
ing capacity of 16 passubject to Subtitle IV, part B, chapter
sengers or more, including
1
the driver .........................
$5,000,000 135 of title 49, United States Code, shall
engage in interstate or foreign
(2) Any vehicle with a seatcommerce, and no certificate shall be
ing capacity of 15 pasissued to such a carrier or remain in
sengers or less, including
the driver 2 .........................
1,500,000 force unless and until there shall have
been filed with and accepted by the
1 2 Except as provided in § 387.27(b).
FMCSA surety bonds, certificates of
(b) Limits applicable to transit service insurance, proof of qualifications as selfproviders. Notwithstanding the
insurer, or other securities or
provisions of paragraph (a) of this
agreements, in the amounts prescribed
section, the minimum level of financial
in § 387.303, conditioned to pay any
responsibility for a motor vehicle used
final judgment recovered against such
to provide transportation services
motor carrier for bodily injuries to or the
within a transit service area located in
death of any person resulting from the
more than one State under an agreement negligent operation, maintenance or use
with a Federal, State, or local
of motor vehicles in transportation
government funded, in whole or in part, subject to Subtitle IV, part B, chapter
with a grant under 49 U.S.C. 5307, 5310 135 of title 49, U.S.C., or for loss of or
or 5311, including transportation
damage to property of others, or, in the
designed and carried out to meet the
case of motor carriers of property
special needs of elderly individuals and operating freight vehicles described in
individuals with disabilities, will be the § 387.303(b)(2), for environmental
highest level required for any of the
restoration.
States in which it operates. This
*
*
*
*
*
paragraph applies to transit service
■ 46. Amend § 387.303 by adding
providers that operate in more than one
paragraph (b)(1)(iii) to read as follows:
State, as well as transit service providers
that operate in only one State but
§ 387.303 Security for the protection of the
public: Minimum limits.
interline with other motor carriers that
provide interstate transportation within *
*
*
*
*
or outside the transit service area.
(b) * * *
Transit service providers conducting
(1) * * *
such operations must register as for-hire
(iii) Limits applicable to transit
passenger carriers under part 365,
service providers. Notwithstanding the
subpart A and part 390, subpart E, of
provisions of paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this
this subchapter, identify the State(s) in
section, the minimum level of financial
which they operate under the applicable responsibility for a motor vehicle used
grants, and certify on their registration
to provide transportation services
documents that they have in effect
within a transit service area under an
financial responsibility levels in an
agreement with a Federal, State, or local
amount equal to or greater than the
government funded, in whole or in part,
highest level required by any of the
with a grant under 49 U.S.C. 5307, 5310
States in which they are operating under or 5311, including transportation
a qualifying grant.
designed and carried out to meet the
Vehicle seating capacity

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44. Add § 387.43 to subpart B to read
as follows:

■

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Minimum limits

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52651

special needs of elderly individuals and
individuals with disabilities, will be the
highest level required for any of the
States in which it operates. This
paragraph applies to transit service
providers who operate in a transit
service area located in more than one
State, as well as transit service providers
who operate in only one State but
interline with other motor carriers that
provide interstate transportation within
or outside the transit service area.
Transit service providers conducting
such operations must register as for-hire
passenger carriers under part 365,
subpart A and part 390, subpart E of this
subchapter, identify the State(s) in
which they operate under the applicable
grants, and certify on their registration
documents that they have in effect
financial responsibility levels in an
amount equal to or greater than the
highest level required by any of the
States in which they are operating under
a qualifying grant.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 47. Amend § 387.313 by revising
paragraphs (b) and (d) to read as
follows:
§ 387.313

Forms and procedures.

*

*
*
*
*
(b) Filing and copies. Certificates of
insurance, surety bonds, and notices of
cancellation must be filed with the
FMCSA at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
*
*
*
*
*
(d) Cancellation notice. Except as
provided in paragraph (e) of this
section, surety bonds, certificates of
insurance, and other securities or
agreements shall not be cancelled or
withdrawn until 30 days after written
notice has been submitted to http://
www.fmcsa.dot.gov on the prescribed
form (Form BMC–35, Notice of
Cancellation Motor Carrier Policies of
Insurance under 49 U.S.C. 13906, and
BMC–36, Notice of Cancellation Motor
Carrier and Broker Surety Bonds, as
appropriate) by the insurance company,
surety or sureties, motor carrier, broker
or other party thereto, as the case may
be, which period of thirty (30) days
shall commence to run from the date
such notice on the prescribed form is
filed with FMCSA at http://
www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 48. Revise § 387.323 to read as
follows:
§ 387.323 Electronic filing of surety bonds,
trust fund agreements, certificates of
insurance and cancellations.

(a) Insurers must electronically file
forms BMC 34, BMC 35, BMC 36, BMC
82, BMC 83, BMC 84, BMC 85, BMC 91,
and BMC 91X in accordance with the

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requirements and procedures set forth
in paragraphs (b) through (d) of this
section.
(b) Each insurer must obtain
authorization to file electronically by
registering with the FMCSA. An
individual account number and
password for computer access will be
issued to each registered insurer.
(c) Filings must be transmitted online
via the Internet at http://
www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
(d) All registered insurers agree to
furnish upon request to the FMCSA a
copy of any policy (or policies) and all
certificates of insurance, endorsements,
surety bonds, trust fund agreements,
proof of qualification to self-insure or
other insurance filings.
■ 49. Revise § 387.403 to read as
follows:
§ 387.403

General requirements.

(a) Cargo. A household goods freight
forwarder may not operate until it has
filed with FMCSA an appropriate surety
bond, certificate of insurance,
qualifications as a self-insurer, or other
securities or agreements, in the amounts
prescribed at § 387.405, for loss of or
damage to household goods.
(b) Public liability. A freight forwarder
may not perform transfer, collection, or
delivery service until it has filed with
the FMCSA an appropriate surety bond,
certificate of insurance, qualifications as
a self-insurer, or other securities or
agreements, in the amounts prescribed
at § 387.405, conditioned to pay any
final judgment recovered against such
freight forwarder for bodily injury to or
the death of any person, or loss of or
damage to property (except cargo) of
others, or, in the case of freight vehicles
described at § 387.303(b)(2), for
environmental restoration, resulting
from the negligent operation,
maintenance, or use of motor vehicles
operated by or under its control in
performing such service.
■ 50. Amend § 387.413 by revising
paragraph (b) to read as follows:
§ 387.413

Forms and procedures.

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*

*
*
*
*
(b) Procedure. Certificates of
insurance, surety bonds, and notices of
cancellation must be electronically filed
with the FMCSA.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 51. Revise § 387.419 to read as
follows:
§ 387.419 Electronic filing of surety bonds,
certificates of insurance and cancellations.

Insurers must electronically file
certificates of insurance, surety bonds,
and other securities and agreements and
notices of cancellation in accordance

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with the requirements and procedures
set forth at § 387.323.
PART 390—FEDERAL MOTOR
CARRIER SAFETY REGULATIONS;
GENERAL
52. The authority citation for part 390
is revised to read as follows:

■

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 508, 13301, 13902,
13908, 31132, 31133, 31136, 31151, 31502,
31504; sec. 114, Pub. L. 103–311, 108 Stat.
1673, 1677; sec. 217, Pub. L. 106–159, 113
Stat. 1748, 1767; sec. 4136, Pub. L. 109–59,
119 Stat. 1144, 1745; and 49 CFR 1.87.
■

53. Revise § 390.3 to read as follows:

§ 390.3

General applicability.

(a) The rules in subchapter B of this
chapter are applicable to all employers,
employees, and commercial motor
vehicles that transport property or
passengers in interstate commerce.
(b) The rules in part 383 of this
chapter, Commercial Driver’s License
Standards; Requirements and Penalties,
are applicable to every person who
operates a commercial motor vehicle, as
defined in § 383.5 of this subchapter, in
interstate or intrastate commerce and to
all employers of such persons.
(c) The rules in part 387 of this
chapter, Minimum Levels of Financial
Responsibility for Motor Carriers, are
applicable to motor carriers as provided
in § 387.3 or § 387.27 of this chapter.
(d) Additional requirements. Nothing
in subchapter B of this chapter shall be
construed to prohibit an employer from
requiring and enforcing more stringent
requirements relating to safety of
operation and employee safety and
health.
(e) Knowledge of and compliance with
the regulations. (1) Every employer shall
be knowledgeable of and comply with
all regulations contained in this
subchapter that are applicable to that
motor carrier’s operations.
(2) Every driver and employee
involved in motor carrier operations
shall be instructed regarding, and shall
comply with, all applicable regulations
contained in this subchapter.
(3) All motor vehicle equipment and
accessories required by this chapter
shall be maintained in compliance with
all applicable performance and design
criteria set forth in this subchapter.
(f) Exceptions. Unless otherwise
specifically provided, the rules in this
subchapter do not apply to—
(1) All school bus operations as
defined in § 390.5 except for the
provisions of §§ 391.15(e) and 392.80;
(2) Transportation performed by the
Federal government, a State, or any
political subdivision of a State, or an
agency established under a compact

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between States that has been approved
by the Congress of the United States;
(3) The occasional transportation of
personal property by individuals not for
compensation and not in the
furtherance of a commercial enterprise;
(4) The transportation of human
corpses or sick and injured persons;
(5) The operation of fire trucks and
rescue vehicles while involved in
emergency and related operations;
(6) The operation of commercial
motor vehicles designed or used to
transport between 9 and 15 passengers
(including the driver), not for direct
compensation, provided the vehicle
does not otherwise meet the definition
of a commercial motor vehicle, except
for the texting provisions of §§ 391.15(e)
and 392.80, and except that motor
carriers operating such vehicles are
required to comply with §§ 390.15,
390.21(a) and (b)(2), 390.201 and
390.205.
(7) Either a driver of a commercial
motor vehicle used primarily in the
transportation of propane winter heating
fuel or a driver of a motor vehicle used
to respond to a pipeline emergency, if
such regulations would prevent the
driver from responding to an emergency
condition requiring immediate response
as defined in § 390.5.
(g) Motor carriers that transport
hazardous materials in intrastate
commerce. The rules in the following
provisions of this subchapter apply to
motor carriers that transport hazardous
materials in intrastate commerce and to
the motor vehicles that transport
hazardous materials in intrastate
commerce:
(1) Part 385, subparts A and E, for
carriers subject to the requirements of
§ 385.403 of this subchapter.
(2) Part 386, Rules of Practice for
Motor Carrier, Intermodal Equipment
Provider, Broker, Freight Forwarder,
and Hazardous Materials Proceedings,
of this subchapter.
(3) Part 387, Minimum Levels of
Financial Responsibility for Motor
Carriers, to the extent provided in
§ 387.3 of this subchapter.
(4) Subpart E of this part, Unified
Registration System, and § 390.21,
Marking of CMVs, for carriers subject to
the requirements of § 385.403 of this
subchapter. Intrastate motor carriers
operating prior to January 1, 2005, are
excepted from § 390.201.
(h) Intermodal equipment providers.
The rules in the following provisions of
this subchapter apply to intermodal
equipment providers:
(1) Subpart F, Intermodal Equipment
Providers, of Part 385, Safety Fitness
Procedures.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
(2) Part 386, Rules of Practice for
Motor Carrier, Intermodal Equipment
Provider, Broker, Freight Forwarder,
and Hazardous Materials Proceedings.
(3) Part 390, Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Regulations; General, except
§ 390.15(b) concerning accident
registers.
(4) Part 393, Parts and Accessories
Necessary for Safe Operation.
(5) Part 396, Inspection, Repair, and
Maintenance.
(i) Brokers. The rules in the following
provisions of this subchapter apply to
brokers that are required to register with
the Agency pursuant to 49 U.S.C.
chapter 139.
(1) Part 371, Brokers of Property.
(2) Part 386, Rules of Practice for
Motor Carrier, Intermodal Equipment
Provider, Broker, Freight Forwarder,
and Hazardous Materials Proceedings.
(3) Part 387, Minimum Levels of
Financial Responsibility for Motor
Carriers, to the extent provided in
subpart C of that part.
(4) Subpart E of this part, Unified
Registration System.
(j) Freight forwarders. The rules in the
following provisions of this subchapter
apply to freight forwarders that are
required to register with the Agency
pursuant to 49 U.S.C. chapter 139.
(1) Part 386, Rules of Practice for
Motor Carrier, Intermodal Equipment
Provider, Broker, Freight Forwarder,
and Hazardous Materials Proceedings.
(2) Part 387, Minimum Levels of
Financial Responsibility for Motor
Carriers, to the extent provided in
subpart D of that part.
(3) Subpart E of this part, Unified
Registration System.
(k) Cargo tank facilities. The rules in
subpart C of this part, Unified
Registration System, apply to each cargo
tank and cargo tank motor vehicle
manufacturer, assembler, repairer,
inspector, tester, and design certifying
engineer that is subject to registration
requirements under 49 CFR 107.502 and
49 U.S.C. 5108.
54. Amend § 390.5 by revising the
definition of ‘‘Exempt motor carrier’’ to
read as follows:

■

§ 390.5

Definitions.

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*

*
*
*
*
Exempt motor carrier means a person
engaged in transportation exempt from
economic regulation by the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA) under 49 U.S.C. chapter 135
but subject to the safety regulations set
forth in this subchapter.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 55. Effective November 1, 2013,
amend § 390.19 by adding paragraph
(b)(4) to read as follows:

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§ 390.19 Motor carrier, hazardous material
shipper, and intermodal equipment provider
identification reports.

*

*
*
*
*
(b) * * *
(4) A person that fails to complete
biennial updates to the information
pursuant to paragraph (b)(2) of this
section is subject to the penalties
prescribed in 49 U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B) or
49 U.S.C. 14901(a), as appropriate, and
deactivation of its USDOT Number.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 56. Effective October 23, 2015, revise
§ 390.19 to read as follows:
§ 390.19 Motor carrier identification
reports for certain Mexico-domiciled motor
carriers.

(a) Applicability. A Mexico-domiciled
motor carrier requesting authority to
provide transportation of property or
passengers in interstate commerce
between Mexico and points in the
United States beyond the municipalities
and commercial zones along the United
States-Mexico international border must
file Form MCS–150 with FMCSA as
follows:
(b) Filing schedule. Each motor carrier
must file the appropriate form under
paragraph (a) of this section at the
following times:
(1) Before it begins operations; and
(2) Every 24 months, according to the
following schedule:
USDOT Number
ending in

Must file by last day

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0

January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.

................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................

(3) If the next-to-last digit of its
USDOT Number is odd, the motor
carrier shall file its update in every oddnumbered calendar year. If the next-tolast digit of the USDOT Number is even,
the motor carrier shall file its update in
every even-numbered calendar year.
(4) A person that fails to complete
biennial updates to the information
pursuant to paragraph (b)(2) of this
section is subject to the penalties
prescribed in 49 U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B) or
49 U.S.C. 14901(a), as appropriate, and
deactivation of its USDOT Number.
(c) Availability of forms. The Form
MCS–150 and complete instructions are
available from the FMCSA Web site at
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov (Keyword
‘‘MCS–150’’); from all FMCSA Service

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52653

Centers and Division offices nationwide;
or by calling 1–800–832–5660.
(d) Where to file. The Form MCS–150
must be filed with the FMCSA Office of
Registration and Safety Information. The
form may be filed electronically
according to the instructions at the
Agency’s Web site, or it may be sent to
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration, Office of Registration
and Safety Information, MC–RS 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington,
DC 20590.
(e) Special instructions. A motor
carrier should submit the Form MCS–
150 along with its application for
operating authority (OP–1(MX)), to the
appropriate address referenced on that
form, or may submit it electronically or
by mail separately to the address
mentioned in paragraph (d) of this
section.
(f) Only the legal name or a single
trade name of the motor carrier may be
used on the Form MCS–150.
(g)(1) A motor carrier that fails to file
the Form MCS–150 or furnishes
misleading information or makes false
statements upon the form, is subject to
the penalties prescribed in 49 U.S.C.
521(b)(2)(B).
(2) A motor carrier that fails to update
the Form MCS–150 as required in
paragraph (b) will have its USDOT
Number deactivated and will be
prohibited from conducting
transportation.
(h)(1) Upon receipt and processing of
the form described in paragraph (a) of
this section, FMCSA will issue the
motor carrier or intermodal equipment
provider an identification number
(USDOT Number).
(2) A Mexico-domiciled motor carrier
seeking to provide transportation of
property or passengers in interstate
commerce between Mexico and points
in the United States beyond the
municipalities and commercial zones
along the United States-Mexico
international border must pass the preauthorization safety audit under
§ 365.507 of this subchapter. The
Agency will not issue a USDOT Number
until expiration of the protest period
provided in § 365.115 of this chapter
or—if a protest is received—after
FMCSA denies or rejects the protest.
(3) The motor carrier must display the
USDOT Number on each self-propelled
CMV, as defined in § 390.5, along with
the additional information required by
§ 390.21.
■ 57. Amend § 390.21 by revising
paragraph (b)(1) to read as follows:
§ 390.21 Marking of self-propelled CMVs
and intermodal equipment.

*

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(b) * * *
(1) The legal name or a single trade
name of the motor carrier operating the
self-propelled CMV, as listed on the
Form MCSA–1 or the motor carrier
identification report (Form MCS–150)
and submitted in accordance with
§ 390.201 or § 390.19, as appropriate.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 58. Amend § 390.40 by revising
paragraph (a) to read as follows:
§ 390.40 What responsibilities do
intermodal equipment providers have under
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Regulations (49 CFR parts 350–399)?

*

*
*
*
*
(a) Identify its operations to the
FMCSA by filing the Form MCSA–1
required by § 390.201.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 59. Add a new subpart E, consisting
of §§ 390.201 through 390.209, to part
390 to read as follows:
Subpart E—Unified Registration System
Sec.
390.201 USDOT Registration.
390.203 PRISM State registration/biennial
updates.
390.205 Special requirements for
registration.
390.207 Other governing regulations.
390.209 Pre-authorization safety audit.

Subpart E—Unified Registration
System

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES2

§ 390.201

USDOT Registration.

(a) Purpose. This section establishes
who must register with FMCSA under
the Unified Registration System, the
filing schedule, and general information
pertaining to persons subject to the
Unified Registration System registration
requirements.
(b) Applicability. (1) Except as
provided in paragraph (g) of this
section, each motor carrier (including a
private motor carrier, an exempt for-hire
motor carrier, a non-exempt for-hire
motor carrier, and a motor carrier of
passengers that participates in a through
ticketing arrangement with one or more
interstate for-hire motor carriers of
passengers), intermodal equipment
provider, broker and freight forwarder
subject to the requirements of this
subchapter must file Form MCSA–1
with FMCSA to:
(i) Identify its operations with the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration for safety oversight, as
authorized under 49 U.S.C. 31144, as
applicable;
(ii) Obtain operating authority
required under 49 U.S.C. chapter 139, as
applicable; and

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(iii) Obtain a hazardous materials
safety permit as required under 49
U.S.C. 5109, as applicable.
(2) A cargo tank and cargo tank motor
vehicle manufacturer, assembler,
repairer, inspector, tester, and design
certifying engineer that is subject to
registration requirements under 49 CFR
107.502 and 49 U.S.C. 5108 must satisfy
those requirements by electronically
filing Form MCSA–1 with FMCSA.
(c) General (1)(i) A person that fails to
file Form MCSA–1 pursuant to
paragraph (d)(1) of this section is subject
to the penalties prescribed in 49 U.S.C.
521(b)(2)(B) or 49 U.S.C. 14901(a), as
appropriate.
(ii) A person that fails to complete
biennial updates to the information
pursuant to paragraph (d)(2) of this
section is subject to the penalties
prescribed in 49 U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B) or
49 U.S.C. 14901(a), as appropriate, and
deactivation of its USDOT Number.
(iii) A person that furnishes
misleading information or makes false
statements upon Form MCSA–1 is
subject to the penalties prescribed in 49
U.S.C. 521(b)(2)(B), 49 U.S.C. 14901(a)
or 49 U.S.C. 14907, as appropriate.
(2) Upon receipt and processing of
Form MCSA–1, FMCSA will issue the
applicant an inactive identification
number (USDOT Number). FMCSA will
activate the USDOT Number after
completion of applicable administrative
filings pursuant to § 390.205(a), unless
the applicant is subject to § 390.205(b).
An applicant may not begin operations
nor mark a commercial motor vehicle
with the USDOT Number until after the
date of the Agency’s written notice that
the USDOT Number has been activated.
(3) The motor carrier must display a
valid USDOT Number on each selfpropelled CMV, as defined in § 390.5,
along with the additional information
required by § 390.21.
(d) Filing schedule. Each person listed
under § 390.201(b) must electronically
file Form MCSA–1 at the following
times:
(1) Before it begins operations; and
(2) Every 24 months as prescribed in
paragraph (d)(3) of this section.
(3) (i) Persons assigned a USDOT
Number must file an updated Form
MCSA–1 every 24 months, according to
the following schedule:
USDOT Number
ending in

Must file by last day
of

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.

................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................
................................

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USDOT Number
ending in

Must file by last day
of

8 ................................
9 ................................
0 ................................

August.
September.
October.

(ii) If the next-to-last digit of its
USDOT Number is odd, the person must
file its update in every odd-numbered
calendar year. If the next-to-last digit of
the USDOT Number is even, the person
must file its update in every evennumbered calendar year.
(4) When there is a change in legal
name, form of business, or address. A
registered entity must notify the Agency
of a change in legal name, form of
business, or address within 30 days of
the change by filing an updated Form
MCSA–1 reflecting the revised
information. Notification of a change in
legal name, form of business, or address
does not relieve a registered entity from
the requirement to file an updated Form
MCSA–1 every 24 months in accordance
with paragraph (d)(3) of this section.
(5) When there is a transfer of
operating authority. (i) Both a person
who obtains operating authority through
a transfer, as defined in part 365,
subpart D of this subchapter (transferee),
and the person transferring its operating
authority (transferor), must each notify
the Agency of the transfer within 30
days of consummation of the transfer by
filing:
(A) An updated Form MCSA–1, for
the transferor, and for the transferee, if
the transferee had an existing USDOT
Number at the time of the transfer; or
(B) A new Form MCSA–1, if the
transferee did not have an existing
USDOT Number at the time of the
transfer.
(C) A copy of the operating authority
that is being transferred.
(ii) Notification of a transfer of
operating authority does not relieve a
registered entity from the requirement to
file an updated Form MCSA–1 every 24
months in accordance with paragraph
(d)(3) of this section.
(e) Availability of form. Form MCSA–
1 is an electronic application and is
available, including complete
instructions, from the FMCSA Web site
at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov (Keyword
‘‘MCSA–1’’).
(f) Where to file. Persons subject to the
registration requirements under this
subpart must electronically file Form
MCSA–1 on the FMCSA Web site at
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
(g) Exception. The rules in this
subpart do not govern the application by
a Mexico-domiciled motor carrier to
provide transportation of property or
passengers in interstate commerce

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 164 / Friday, August 23, 2013 / Rules and Regulations
between Mexico and points in the
United States beyond the municipalities
and commercial zones along the United
States-Mexico international border. The
applicable procedures governing
transportation by Mexico-domiciled
motor carriers are provided in § 390.19.
§ 390.203 PRISM State registration/
biennial updates.

(a) A motor carrier that registers its
vehicles in a State that participates in
the Performance and Registration
Information Systems Management
(PRISM) program (authorized under
section 4004 of the Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century [Pub. L.
105–178, 112 Stat. 107]) alternatively
may satisfy the requirements set forth in
§ 390.201 by electronically filing all the
required USDOT registration and
biennial update information with the
State according to its policies and
procedures, provided the State has
integrated the USDOT registration/
update capability into its vehicle
registration program.
(b) If the State procedures do not
allow a motor carrier to file the Form
MCSA–1 or to submit updates within
the period specified in § 390.201(d)(2), a
motor carrier must complete such filings
directly with FMCSA.
(c) A for-hire motor carrier, unless
providing transportation exempt from
the commercial registration
requirements of 49 U.S.C. chapter 139,
must obtain operating authority as
prescribed under § 390.201(b) and part
365 of this subchapter before operating
in interstate commerce.

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES2

§ 390.205 Special requirements for
registration.

(a)(1) General. A person applying to
operate as a motor carrier, broker, or
freight forwarder under this subpart
must make the additional filings
described in paragraphs (a)(2) and (a)(3)
of this section as a condition for
registration under this subpart within 90
days of the date on which the
application is filed:
(2) Evidence of financial
responsibility. (i) A person that registers
to conduct operations in interstate
commerce as a for-hire motor carrier, a
broker, or a freight forwarder must file
evidence of financial responsibility as
required under part 387, subparts C and
D of this subchapter.
(ii) A person that registers to transport
hazardous materials as defined in 49

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CFR 171.8 (or any quantity of a material
listed as a select agent or toxin in 42
CFR part 73) in interstate commerce
must file evidence of financial
responsibility as required under part
387, subpart C of this subchapter.
(3) Designation of agent for service of
process. All motor carriers (both private
and for-hire), brokers and freight
forwarders required to register under
this subpart must designate an agent for
service of process (a person upon whom
court or Agency process may be served)
following the rules in part 366 of this
subchapter:
(b) If an application is subject to a
protest period, the Agency will not
activate a USDOT Number until
expiration of the protest period
provided in § 365.115 of this subchapter
or—if a protest is received—after
FMCSA denies or rejects the protest, as
applicable.
§ 390.207

Other governing regulations.

(a) Motor carriers. (1) A motor carrier
granted registration under this part must
successfully complete the applicable
New Entrant Safety Assurance Program
as described in paragraphs (a)(1)(i)
through (a)(1)(iii) of this section as a
condition for permanent registration:
(i) A U.S.- or Canada-domiciled motor
carrier is subject to the new entrant
safety assurance program under part
385, subpart D, of this subchapter.
(ii) A Mexico-domiciled motor carrier
is subject to the safety monitoring
program under part 385, subpart B of
this subchapter.
(iii) A Non-North America-domiciled
motor carrier is subject to the safety
monitoring program under part 385,
subpart I of this subchapter.
(2) Only the legal name or a single
trade name of the motor carrier may be
used on the Form MCSA–1.
(b) Brokers, freight forwarders and
non-exempt for-hire motor carriers. (1)
A broker or freight forwarder must
obtain operating authority pursuant to
part 365 of this chapter as a condition
for obtaining USDOT Registration.
(2) A motor carrier registering to
engage in transportation that is not
exempt from economic regulation by
FMCSA must obtain operating authority
pursuant to part 365 of this subchapter
as a condition for obtaining USDOT
Registration.
(c) Intermodal equipment providers.
An intermodal equipment provider is

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subject to the requirements of subpart D
of this part.
(1) Only the legal name or a single
trade name of the intermodal equipment
provider may be used on the Form
MCSA–1.
(2) The intermodal equipment
provider must identify each unit of
interchanged intermodal equipment by
its assigned USDOT Number.
(d) Hazardous materials safety permit
applicants. A person who applies for a
hazardous materials safety permit is
subject to the requirements of part 385,
subpart E, of this subchapter.
(e) Cargo tank facilities. A cargo tank
facility is subject to the requirements of
49 CFR part 107, subpart F, 49 CFR part
172, subpart H, and 49 CFR part 180.
§ 390.209

Pre-authorization safety audit.

A non-North America-domiciled
motor carrier seeking to provide
transportation of property or passengers
in interstate commerce within the
United States must pass the preauthorization safety audit under
§ 385.607(c) of this subchapter as a
condition for receiving registration
under this part.
PART 392—DRIVING OF COMMERCIAL
MOTOR VEHICLES
60. The authority citation for part 392
is revised to read as follows:

■

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 521, 13902, 13908,
31136, 31151, 31502; and 49 CFR 1.87.

61. Effective November 1, 2013, add
§ 392.9b to read as follows:

■

§ 392.9b

Prohibited transportation.

(a) USDOT Registration required. A
commercial motor vehicle providing
transportation in interstate commerce
must not be operated without a USDOT
Registration and an active USDOT
Number.
(b) Penalties. If it is determined that
the motor carrier responsible for the
operation of such a vehicle is operating
in violation of paragraph (a) of this
section, it may be subject to penalties in
accordance with 49 U.S.C. 521.
Issued under authority delegated under 49
CFR 1.87 on: August 15, 2013.
Anne S. Ferro,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2013–20446 Filed 8–22–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P

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