E-log noncompliance penalties yet to be determined, FMCSA says

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Updated Mar 9, 2016

TND_on_dash_02-hi_resThe enforcement date of the freshly published federal rule requiring truck operators to use electronic logging devices to track their hours-of-service is just a little less than two years away — Dec. 16, 2017.

Assuming the rule isn’t held up in court – and at least one challenge, from OOIDA, has been issued to date – operators of post-1999 model year trucks not running a 395.15-compliant AOBRD-type e-log as of last month will need to have an ELD in place and in use by that date. Or else.

What exactly that “else” entails, however, is still unknown, and the U.S. DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is still in the process of finalizing enforcement measures for the ELD mandate, says FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne, given that the rule’s compliance date is still about two years away.

“Corresponding enforcement actions/civil penalties for noncompliance are to be determined,” DeBruyne said in an email response to a Overdrive inquiry.

Speculating in September during an address at FTR’s annual conference, former FMCSA Administrator Annette Sandberg said enforcement could be as simple as “one strike, you’re out,” hinting that operators who fail the comply with the mandate by December 2017 would face either a temporary shutdown, such as a standard out-of-service order, or perhaps even a more severe shutdown order.

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Overdrive will publish more specifics on penalties for noncompliance when specifics are fleshed out. See more coverage of the ELD rule and its harassment prevention measures later this week.