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Effective date: August 1, 2016. PHMSA is revising the maximum and minimum civil penalties for a knowing violation of the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law. The "Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015" (the 2015 Act), which amended the Federal Civil Penalties, Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (the Inflation Adjustment Act), requires Agencies to update their civil monetary penalties through interim final rulemaking. The maximum civil penalty for a knowing violation is now $77,114, except for violations that result in death, serious illness, or severe injury to any person or substantial destruction of property, for which the maximum civil penalty is $179,933. In addition, the minimum civil penalty amount for a violation relating to training is now $463. 81 FR 42266-42268.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: June 28, 2016. This direct final rule incorporates by reference the most recent editions of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The purpose of this update is to enable nonspecification (nurse tank) manufacturers and other DOT and UN specification packaging manufacturers to utilize current technology, materials, and practices to help maintain a high level of safety. PHMSA is replacing the ASME referenced standard (1998 Edition) with the new, current ASME standard (2015 Edition) for boiler and pressure vessels. PHMSA is also replacing the ASME 1998 Edition referenced standard of ASME's Transportation Systems for Liquids and Slurries: Pressure Piping to the current 2012 Edition. 81 FR 25613-25618.

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Effective date: March 31, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is adopting regulatory amendments applicable to the reverse logistics shipments of certain hazardous materials by highway transportation. This final rule revises the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to include a definition of "reverse logistics" and provides appropriate provisions for hazardous materials within the scope of this definition. This final rule also expands a previously existing exception for return shipments of used automobile batteries transported between a retail facility and a recycling center. The PHMSA incorporated recommendations from petitions for rulemaking and public comment into this rulemaking. 81 FR 18527-18541.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: January 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations. This rulemaking is responsive to two petitions for rulemaking submitted by industry representatives: P–1557, concerning the continued use of renewal applications, and P–1583, concerning the incorporation of an industry standard publication. Further, developing these requirements provides wider access to the regulatory flexibility currently only offered by special permits and competent authorities. The requirements of this final rule mirror the majority of provisions contained in nine widely-used longstanding special permits that have established safety records. These requirements eliminate the need for future renewal requests, thus reducing paperwork burdens and facilitating commerce while maintaining a commensurate level of safety. This final rule authorizes the transportation of certain explosives, ammonium nitrates, ammonium nitrate emulsions, and other specific hazardous materials in both non-bulk and bulk packagings, which are not otherwise authorized under current regulations. These hazardous materials are used in blasting operations on cargo tank motor vehicles and specialized vehicles, known as multipurpose bulk trucks, which are used as mobile work platforms to create blends of explosives that are unique to each blast site. Finally, this rulemaking addresses the construction of new multipurpose bulk trucks. 80 FR 79424-79453.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

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Effective date: November 9, 2015. PHMSA is adopting regulations to include the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and criteria used to evaluate applications for special permits and approvals. This rulemaking addresses issues identified in the Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2012 related to the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety's Approvals and Permits Division. In addition, this rulemaking also provides clarity regarding what conditions need to be satisfied to promote special permit application completeness. An application that contains the required information reduces processing delays by reducing the number of applications rejected due to incompleteness. Through public notice and comment, this final rule is required to establish SOPs to support the administration of the special permit and approval programs, and objective criteria to support the evaluation of special permit and approval applications. These amendments do not change previously established policies, to include but not limited to any inspection activities subsequent to issuance, modification or renewal of a special permit and approval. 80 FR 54418-54440.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: January 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations. This rulemaking is responsive to two petitions for rulemaking submitted by industry representatives: P–1557, concerning the continued use of renewal applications, and P–1583, concerning the incorporation of an industry standard publication. Further, developing these requirements provides wider access to the regulatory flexibility currently only offered by special permits and competent authorities. The requirements of this final rule mirror the majority of provisions contained in nine widely-used longstanding special permits that have established safety records. These requirements eliminate the need for future renewal requests, thus reducing paperwork burdens and facilitating commerce while maintaining a commensurate level of safety. This final rule authorizes the transportation of certain explosives, ammonium nitrates, ammonium nitrate emulsions, and other specific hazardous materials in both non-bulk and bulk packagings, which are not otherwise authorized under current regulations. These hazardous materials are used in blasting operations on cargo tank motor vehicles and specialized vehicles, known as multipurpose bulk trucks, which are used as mobile work platforms to create blends of explosives that are unique to each blast site. Finally, this rulemaking addresses the construction of new multipurpose bulk trucks. 80 FR 79424-79453.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

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Effective date: August 15, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is issuing this final rule to codify in the Hazardous Materials Regulations certain mandates and minimum requirements of the FAST Act. Specifically, the FAST Act mandates a revised phase-out schedule for all DOT Specification 111 tank cars used to transport unrefined petroleum products (e.g., petroleum crude oil), ethanol, and other Class 3 flammable liquids. The FAST Act also requires that each tank car built to meet the DOT Specification 117 and each non-jacketed tank car retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R be equipped with a thermal protection blanket that is at least 1/2-inch thick and meets existing thermal protection standards. Further, the FAST Act mandates minimum top fittings protection requirements for tank cars retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R. 81 FR 53935-53937.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: June 28, 2016. This direct final rule incorporates by reference the most recent editions of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The purpose of this update is to enable nonspecification (nurse tank) manufacturers and other DOT and UN specification packaging manufacturers to utilize current technology, materials, and practices to help maintain a high level of safety. PHMSA is replacing the ASME referenced standard (1998 Edition) with the new, current ASME standard (2015 Edition) for boiler and pressure vessels. PHMSA is also replacing the ASME 1998 Edition referenced standard of ASME's Transportation Systems for Liquids and Slurries: Pressure Piping to the current 2012 Edition. 81 FR 25613-25618.

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Effective date: March 31, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is adopting regulatory amendments applicable to the reverse logistics shipments of certain hazardous materials by highway transportation. This final rule revises the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to include a definition of "reverse logistics" and provides appropriate provisions for hazardous materials within the scope of this definition. This final rule also expands a previously existing exception for return shipments of used automobile batteries transported between a retail facility and a recycling center. The PHMSA incorporated recommendations from petitions for rulemaking and public comment into this rulemaking. 81 FR 18527-18541.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: January 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations. This rulemaking is responsive to two petitions for rulemaking submitted by industry representatives: P–1557, concerning the continued use of renewal applications, and P–1583, concerning the incorporation of an industry standard publication. Further, developing these requirements provides wider access to the regulatory flexibility currently only offered by special permits and competent authorities. The requirements of this final rule mirror the majority of provisions contained in nine widely-used longstanding special permits that have established safety records. These requirements eliminate the need for future renewal requests, thus reducing paperwork burdens and facilitating commerce while maintaining a commensurate level of safety. This final rule authorizes the transportation of certain explosives, ammonium nitrates, ammonium nitrate emulsions, and other specific hazardous materials in both non-bulk and bulk packagings, which are not otherwise authorized under current regulations. These hazardous materials are used in blasting operations on cargo tank motor vehicles and specialized vehicles, known as multipurpose bulk trucks, which are used as mobile work platforms to create blends of explosives that are unique to each blast site. Finally, this rulemaking addresses the construction of new multipurpose bulk trucks. 80 FR 79424-79452.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. This final rule amends the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) regulation to conform to recent legislation that changed the definition of the term "service agent" in the DOT drug and alcohol testing regulations. The final rule also revises the definition of "service agent" to include all entities that provide services for DOT mandated drug and alcohol programs. 81 FR 52364-52365.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. This also affects Parts 383, 384 and 391. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: December 12, 2016. FMCSA amends its commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations to ease the transition of military personnel into civilian careers driving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by simplifying the process of obtaining a commercial learner's permit (CLP) or CDL. This final rule extends the period of time for applying for a skills test waiver from 90 days to 1 year after leaving a military position requiring the operation of a CMV. This final rule also allows a State to accept applications from active duty military personnel who are stationed in that State as well as administer the written and skills tests for a CLP or CDL. States that choose to accept such applications are required to transmit the test results electronically to the State of domicile of the military personnel. The State of domicile may issue the CLP or CDL on the basis of those results. 81 FR 70634-70646.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 81 FR 59065.

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Effective date: October 4, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49556.

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Effective date: June 17, 2016. FMCSA amends its Hazardous Materials Safety Permits rules to update the current incorporation by reference of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) "North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria and Level VI Inspection Procedures and Out-of-Service Criteria for Commercial Highway Vehicles Transporting Transuranics and Highway Route Controlled Quantities of Radioactive Materials as defined in 49 CFR part 173.403." Currently the rules reference the April 1, 2015, edition of the out-of-service criteria and, through this final rule, FMCSA incorporates the April 1, 2016, edition. 81 FR 39587-39590.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules. 80 FR 78292-78416.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016 (The effective date of this rule is September 30, 2016, except for §§ 365.T106, 368.T3, and 390.T200, which are effective from December 12, 2015 through September 29, 2016. The effective dates of the rule published at 78 FR 52608 (August 23, 2013) are delayed until September 30, 2016. The withdrawal of Instruction #1 from the correction published at 78 FR 63100 (October 23, 2013) is effective October 21, 2015.). FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: October 4, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49556.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47822.

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Effective date: March 16, 2016. FMCSA extends the compliance date by which motor carriers of passengers operating CMVs under a lease or interchange agreement are subject to the FMCSA final rule published May 27, 2015, for one year, to January 1, 2018. The Agency received numerous petitions for reconsideration of the final rule and based upon a review of the petitions, determined that the compliance date should be extended to provide sufficient time to address the issues raised by the petitioners. The Agency is adding a temporary section to its regulations to inform the public of this extension. There will no longer be a need for the section on the compliance date after January 1, 2018, thus the temporary section will be in effect only from March 16, 2016 through January 1, 2018. 81 FR 13998-13400.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules. 80 FR 78292-78416.

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Effective date: January 29, 2016. FMCSA adopts regulations that prohibit motor carriers, shippers, receivers, or transportation intermediaries from coercing drivers to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in violation of certain provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs)—including drivers' hours-of-service limits; the commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations; drug and alcohol testing rules; and the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs). In addition, the rule prohibits anyone who operates a CMV in interstate commerce from coercing a driver to violate the commercial regulations. This rule includes procedures for drivers to report incidents of coercion to FMCSA, establishes rules of practice that the Agency will follow in response to reports of coercion, and describes penalties that may be imposed on entities found to have coerced drivers. This rulemaking is authorized by section 32911 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21) and the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 (MCSA), as amended. 80 FR 74695-74710.

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Effective date: FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: December 21, 2015. The FMCSA announces a 120-day grace period during which Medical Examiners may use either the current or the newly revised versions of the Medical Examination Report (MER) Form and Medical Examiner's Certificate (MEC). This period is from December 22, 2015, until April 20, 2016. This action is being taken to ensure that Medical Examiners have sufficient time to become familiar with the new forms and to program electronic medical records systems. 80 FR 79273.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49555.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA corrects an error in its June 7, 2016, final rule "Driving of Commercial Motor Vehicles: Use of Seat Belts." The amendatory language in the final rule inadvertently limited the applicability of the requirement for drivers to use their seat belts to operators of property-carrying vehicles. Today's correction fixes the error such that drivers of passenger-carrying vehicles will continue to be required to wear their seat belts. 81 FR 43957.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA revises the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) by requiring passengers in property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to use the seat belt assembly whenever the vehicles are operated on public roads in interstate commerce. This rule holds motor carriers and drivers responsible for ensuring that passengers riding in the property-carrying CMV are using the seat belts required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs). 81 FR 36474.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 24, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to allow the voluntary mounting of certain devices on the interior of the windshields of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), including placement within the area that is swept by the windshield wipers. Section 5301 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act directs the Agency to amend the FMCSRs to allow devices to be mounted on the windshield that utilize "vehicle safety technology," as defined in the Act. In addition, the section 5301 states that all windshield mounted devices/technologies with a limited 2-year exemption in effect on the date of enactment, shall be considered to meet the equivalent-or-greater safety standard required for the initial exemption. Promulgation of this final rule is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that does not require prior notice and public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 65568-65574.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: This notice makes corrections to a final rule published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2016, regarding amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in response to several petitions for rulemaking and NTSB recommendations. The Agency makes several minor clerical corrections regarding the rear license plate lamp requirements and the periodic inspection requirements for antilock brake systems (ABS). 81 FR 60633-60634.

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Effective date: August 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Effective date: November 1, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) an exemption from the 30-minute rest break rule of the Agency's hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for certain commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The Agency denies SC&RA's further request for exemption from the 14-hour driving window of the HOS rules. All qualifying motor carriers and drivers operating mobile cranes with a rated lifting capacity of greater than 30 tons are exempt from the 30-minute break provision. FMCSA has analyzed the exemption application and public comments and has determined that the exemption, subject to the terms and conditions imposed, will achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent such exemption. 81 FR 75727-75729.

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September 30, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules.

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Effective date: October 2, 2015. FMCSA issues regulatory guidance concerning the editing of records created by automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs). The guidance makes clear that, within certain limits, a driver must be allowed to review his or her AOBRD records, annotate and correct inaccurate records, enter any missing information, and certify the accuracy of the information. The AOBRD must retain the original entries, and reflect the date, time, and name of the person making edits to the information. Drivers' supervisors may request that a driver make edits to correct errors, but the driver must accept or reject such requests. Driving time may not be edited except in the case of unidentified or team drivers, and when driving time was assigned to the wrong driver or no driver. All prior Agency interpretations and regulatory guidance on this subject, including memoranda and letters, may no longer be relied upon to the extent they are inconsistent with this guidance. 80 FR 59664-59665.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends regulatory guidance, previously published in the Federal Register, regarding the periodic inspection of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register, FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to, among other things, eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the periodic (annual) inspection requirement through a violation-free roadside inspection. As a result of this amendment to the FMCSRs, certain regulatory guidance is amended to ensure consistency between the FMCSRs and the published guidance. 81 FR 47732-47733.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Effective date: April 1, 2016. http://cvsa.org/wp-content/uploads/inspection-oosc-changes-april-2016.pdf

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. This final rule amends the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) regulation to conform to recent legislation that changed the definition of the term "service agent" in the DOT drug and alcohol testing regulations. The final rule also revises the definition of "service agent" to include all entities that provide services for DOT mandated drug and alcohol programs. 81 FR 52364-52365.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. This also affects Parts 383, 384 and 391. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: December 12, 2016. FMCSA amends its commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations to ease the transition of military personnel into civilian careers driving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by simplifying the process of obtaining a commercial learner's permit (CLP) or CDL. This final rule extends the period of time for applying for a skills test waiver from 90 days to 1 year after leaving a military position requiring the operation of a CMV. This final rule also allows a State to accept applications from active duty military personnel who are stationed in that State as well as administer the written and skills tests for a CLP or CDL. States that choose to accept such applications are required to transmit the test results electronically to the State of domicile of the military personnel. The State of domicile may issue the CLP or CDL on the basis of those results. 81 FR 70634-70646.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 81 FR 59065.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: December 12, 2016. FMCSA amends its commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations to ease the transition of military personnel into civilian careers driving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by simplifying the process of obtaining a commercial learner's permit (CLP) or CDL. This final rule extends the period of time for applying for a skills test waiver from 90 days to 1 year after leaving a military position requiring the operation of a CMV. This final rule also allows a State to accept applications from active duty military personnel who are stationed in that State as well as administer the written and skills tests for a CLP or CDL. States that choose to accept such applications are required to transmit the test results electronically to the State of domicile of the military personnel. The State of domicile may issue the CLP or CDL on the basis of those results. 81 FR 70634-70646.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016 (The effective date of this rule is September 30, 2016, except for §§ 365.T106, 368.T3, and 390.T200, which are effective from December 12, 2015 through September 29, 2016. The effective dates of the rule published at 78 FR 52608 (August 23, 2013) are delayed until September 30, 2016. The withdrawal of Instruction #1 from the correction published at 78 FR 63100 (October 23, 2013) is effective October 21, 2015.). FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 81 FR 59065.

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Effective date: October 4, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49556.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47822.

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Effective date: March 16, 2016. FMCSA extends the compliance date by which motor carriers of passengers operating CMVs under a lease or interchange agreement are subject to the FMCSA final rule published May 27, 2015, for one year, to January 1, 2018. The Agency received numerous petitions for reconsideration of the final rule and based upon a review of the petitions, determined that the compliance date should be extended to provide sufficient time to address the issues raised by the petitioners. The Agency is adding a temporary section to its regulations to inform the public of this extension. There will no longer be a need for the section on the compliance date after January 1, 2018, thus the temporary section will be in effect only from March 16, 2016 through January 1, 2018. 81 FR 13998-13400.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules. 80 FR 78292-78416.

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Effective date: January 29, 2016. FMCSA adopts regulations that prohibit motor carriers, shippers, receivers, or transportation intermediaries from coercing drivers to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in violation of certain provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs)—including drivers' hours-of-service limits; the commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations; drug and alcohol testing rules; and the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs). In addition, the rule prohibits anyone who operates a CMV in interstate commerce from coercing a driver to violate the commercial regulations. This rule includes procedures for drivers to report incidents of coercion to FMCSA, establishes rules of practice that the Agency will follow in response to reports of coercion, and describes penalties that may be imposed on entities found to have coerced drivers. This rulemaking is authorized by section 32911 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21) and the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 (MCSA), as amended. 80 FR 74695-74710.

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Effective date: FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: December 21, 2015. The FMCSA announces a 120-day grace period during which Medical Examiners may use either the current or the newly revised versions of the Medical Examination Report (MER) Form and Medical Examiner's Certificate (MEC). This period is from December 22, 2015, until April 20, 2016. This action is being taken to ensure that Medical Examiners have sufficient time to become familiar with the new forms and to program electronic medical records systems. 80 FR 79273.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49555.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA corrects an error in its June 7, 2016, final rule "Driving of Commercial Motor Vehicles: Use of Seat Belts." The amendatory language in the final rule inadvertently limited the applicability of the requirement for drivers to use their seat belts to operators of property-carrying vehicles. Today's correction fixes the error such that drivers of passenger-carrying vehicles will continue to be required to wear their seat belts. 81 FR 43957.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA revises the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) by requiring passengers in property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to use the seat belt assembly whenever the vehicles are operated on public roads in interstate commerce. This rule holds motor carriers and drivers responsible for ensuring that passengers riding in the property-carrying CMV are using the seat belts required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs). 81 FR 36474.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 24, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to allow the voluntary mounting of certain devices on the interior of the windshields of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), including placement within the area that is swept by the windshield wipers. Section 5301 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act directs the Agency to amend the FMCSRs to allow devices to be mounted on the windshield that utilize "vehicle safety technology," as defined in the Act. In addition, the section 5301 states that all windshield mounted devices/technologies with a limited 2-year exemption in effect on the date of enactment, shall be considered to meet the equivalent-or-greater safety standard required for the initial exemption. Promulgation of this final rule is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that does not require prior notice and public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 65568-65574.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: This notice makes corrections to a final rule published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2016, regarding amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in response to several petitions for rulemaking and NTSB recommendations. The Agency makes several minor clerical corrections regarding the rear license plate lamp requirements and the periodic inspection requirements for antilock brake systems (ABS). 81 FR 60633-60634.

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Effective date: August 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Effective date: November 1, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) an exemption from the 30-minute rest break rule of the Agency's hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for certain commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The Agency denies SC&RA's further request for exemption from the 14-hour driving window of the HOS rules. All qualifying motor carriers and drivers operating mobile cranes with a rated lifting capacity of greater than 30 tons are exempt from the 30-minute break provision. FMCSA has analyzed the exemption application and public comments and has determined that the exemption, subject to the terms and conditions imposed, will achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent such exemption. 81 FR 75727-75729.

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September 30, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules.

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Effective date: October 2, 2015. FMCSA issues regulatory guidance concerning the editing of records created by automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs). The guidance makes clear that, within certain limits, a driver must be allowed to review his or her AOBRD records, annotate and correct inaccurate records, enter any missing information, and certify the accuracy of the information. The AOBRD must retain the original entries, and reflect the date, time, and name of the person making edits to the information. Drivers' supervisors may request that a driver make edits to correct errors, but the driver must accept or reject such requests. Driving time may not be edited except in the case of unidentified or team drivers, and when driving time was assigned to the wrong driver or no driver. All prior Agency interpretations and regulatory guidance on this subject, including memoranda and letters, may no longer be relied upon to the extent they are inconsistent with this guidance. 80 FR 59664-59665.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends regulatory guidance, previously published in the Federal Register, regarding the periodic inspection of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register, FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to, among other things, eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the periodic (annual) inspection requirement through a violation-free roadside inspection. As a result of this amendment to the FMCSRs, certain regulatory guidance is amended to ensure consistency between the FMCSRs and the published guidance. 81 FR 47732-47733.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Effective date: April 1, 2016. http://cvsa.org/wp-content/uploads/inspection-oosc-changes-april-2016.pdf

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. This final rule amends the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) regulation to conform to recent legislation that changed the definition of the term "service agent" in the DOT drug and alcohol testing regulations. The final rule also revises the definition of "service agent" to include all entities that provide services for DOT mandated drug and alcohol programs. 81 FR 52364-52365.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. This also affects Parts 383, 384 and 391. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: December 12, 2016. FMCSA amends its commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations to ease the transition of military personnel into civilian careers driving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by simplifying the process of obtaining a commercial learner's permit (CLP) or CDL. This final rule extends the period of time for applying for a skills test waiver from 90 days to 1 year after leaving a military position requiring the operation of a CMV. This final rule also allows a State to accept applications from active duty military personnel who are stationed in that State as well as administer the written and skills tests for a CLP or CDL. States that choose to accept such applications are required to transmit the test results electronically to the State of domicile of the military personnel. The State of domicile may issue the CLP or CDL on the basis of those results. 81 FR 70634-70646.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 81 FR 59065.

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Effective date: October 4, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49556.

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Effective date: June 17, 2016. FMCSA amends its Hazardous Materials Safety Permits rules to update the current incorporation by reference of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) "North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria and Level VI Inspection Procedures and Out-of-Service Criteria for Commercial Highway Vehicles Transporting Transuranics and Highway Route Controlled Quantities of Radioactive Materials as defined in 49 CFR part 173.403." Currently the rules reference the April 1, 2015, edition of the out-of-service criteria and, through this final rule, FMCSA incorporates the April 1, 2016, edition. 81 FR 39587-39590.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules. 80 FR 78292-78416.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016 (The effective date of this rule is September 30, 2016, except for §§ 365.T106, 368.T3, and 390.T200, which are effective from December 12, 2015 through September 29, 2016. The effective dates of the rule published at 78 FR 52608 (August 23, 2013) are delayed until September 30, 2016. The withdrawal of Instruction #1 from the correction published at 78 FR 63100 (October 23, 2013) is effective October 21, 2015.). FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: October 4, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49556.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47822.

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Effective date: March 16, 2016. FMCSA extends the compliance date by which motor carriers of passengers operating CMVs under a lease or interchange agreement are subject to the FMCSA final rule published May 27, 2015, for one year, to January 1, 2018. The Agency received numerous petitions for reconsideration of the final rule and based upon a review of the petitions, determined that the compliance date should be extended to provide sufficient time to address the issues raised by the petitioners. The Agency is adding a temporary section to its regulations to inform the public of this extension. There will no longer be a need for the section on the compliance date after January 1, 2018, thus the temporary section will be in effect only from March 16, 2016 through January 1, 2018. 81 FR 13998-13400.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules. 80 FR 78292-78416.

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Effective date: January 29, 2016. FMCSA adopts regulations that prohibit motor carriers, shippers, receivers, or transportation intermediaries from coercing drivers to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in violation of certain provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs)—including drivers' hours-of-service limits; the commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations; drug and alcohol testing rules; and the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs). In addition, the rule prohibits anyone who operates a CMV in interstate commerce from coercing a driver to violate the commercial regulations. This rule includes procedures for drivers to report incidents of coercion to FMCSA, establishes rules of practice that the Agency will follow in response to reports of coercion, and describes penalties that may be imposed on entities found to have coerced drivers. This rulemaking is authorized by section 32911 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21) and the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 (MCSA), as amended. 80 FR 74695-74710.

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Effective date: FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: December 21, 2015. The FMCSA announces a 120-day grace period during which Medical Examiners may use either the current or the newly revised versions of the Medical Examination Report (MER) Form and Medical Examiner's Certificate (MEC). This period is from December 22, 2015, until April 20, 2016. This action is being taken to ensure that Medical Examiners have sufficient time to become familiar with the new forms and to program electronic medical records systems. 80 FR 79273.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49555.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA corrects an error in its June 7, 2016, final rule "Driving of Commercial Motor Vehicles: Use of Seat Belts." The amendatory language in the final rule inadvertently limited the applicability of the requirement for drivers to use their seat belts to operators of property-carrying vehicles. Today's correction fixes the error such that drivers of passenger-carrying vehicles will continue to be required to wear their seat belts. 81 FR 43957.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA revises the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) by requiring passengers in property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to use the seat belt assembly whenever the vehicles are operated on public roads in interstate commerce. This rule holds motor carriers and drivers responsible for ensuring that passengers riding in the property-carrying CMV are using the seat belts required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs). 81 FR 36474.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 24, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to allow the voluntary mounting of certain devices on the interior of the windshields of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), including placement within the area that is swept by the windshield wipers. Section 5301 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act directs the Agency to amend the FMCSRs to allow devices to be mounted on the windshield that utilize "vehicle safety technology," as defined in the Act. In addition, the section 5301 states that all windshield mounted devices/technologies with a limited 2-year exemption in effect on the date of enactment, shall be considered to meet the equivalent-or-greater safety standard required for the initial exemption. Promulgation of this final rule is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that does not require prior notice and public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 65568-65574.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: This notice makes corrections to a final rule published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2016, regarding amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in response to several petitions for rulemaking and NTSB recommendations. The Agency makes several minor clerical corrections regarding the rear license plate lamp requirements and the periodic inspection requirements for antilock brake systems (ABS). 81 FR 60633-60634.

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Effective date: August 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Effective date: November 1, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) an exemption from the 30-minute rest break rule of the Agency's hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for certain commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The Agency denies SC&RA's further request for exemption from the 14-hour driving window of the HOS rules. All qualifying motor carriers and drivers operating mobile cranes with a rated lifting capacity of greater than 30 tons are exempt from the 30-minute break provision. FMCSA has analyzed the exemption application and public comments and has determined that the exemption, subject to the terms and conditions imposed, will achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent such exemption. 81 FR 75727-75729.

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September 30, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules.

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Effective date: October 2, 2015. FMCSA issues regulatory guidance concerning the editing of records created by automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs). The guidance makes clear that, within certain limits, a driver must be allowed to review his or her AOBRD records, annotate and correct inaccurate records, enter any missing information, and certify the accuracy of the information. The AOBRD must retain the original entries, and reflect the date, time, and name of the person making edits to the information. Drivers' supervisors may request that a driver make edits to correct errors, but the driver must accept or reject such requests. Driving time may not be edited except in the case of unidentified or team drivers, and when driving time was assigned to the wrong driver or no driver. All prior Agency interpretations and regulatory guidance on this subject, including memoranda and letters, may no longer be relied upon to the extent they are inconsistent with this guidance. 80 FR 59664-59665.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends regulatory guidance, previously published in the Federal Register, regarding the periodic inspection of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register, FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to, among other things, eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the periodic (annual) inspection requirement through a violation-free roadside inspection. As a result of this amendment to the FMCSRs, certain regulatory guidance is amended to ensure consistency between the FMCSRs and the published guidance. 81 FR 47732-47733.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Changes effective November 9, 2015: 80 FR 54418-54435: PHMSA adopted regulations to include the standard operating procedures and criteria used to evaluate applications for special permits and approvals. This rulemaking addressed issues identified in the Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2012 related to the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety's Approvals and Permits Division. The rulemaking also provided clarity regarding what conditions need to be satisfied to promote special permit application completeness. An application that contains the required information reduces processing delays by reducing the number of applications rejected due to incompleteness.

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Changes effective December 23, 2015: 80 FR 72914-72929: This final rule corrected editorial errors, made minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improved the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The amendments contained in this rule were nonsubstantive changes and did not impose new requirements.

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Changes effective January 20, 2016: 80 FR 79424-79453: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations.

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Changes effective February 22, 2016: 81 FR 3636-3685: As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. Voluntary compliance date: February 22, 2016. Delayed compliance date: Unless otherwise specified, compliance with the amendments adopted in this final rule is required beginning January 23, 2017.

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Changes effective March 31, 2016: 81 FR 18527-18541: PHMSA adopted regulatory amendments applicable to the reverse logistics shipments of certain hazardous materials by highway transportation. This final rule revised the Hazardous Materials Regulations to include a definition of "reverse logistics" and provided appropriate provisions for hazardous materials within the scope of this definition, and expanded a previously existing exception for return shipments of used automobile batteries transported between a retail facility and a recycling center.

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Changes effective June 28, 2016: 81 FR 25613-25618: This direct final rule incorporates by reference the most recent editions of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The purpose of this update was to enable nonspecification (nurse tank) manufacturers and other DOT and UN specification packaging manufacturers to utilize current technology, materials, and practices to help maintain a high level of safety. PHMSA is replacing the ASME referenced standard (1998 Edition) with the new, current ASME standard (2015 Edition) for boiler and pressure vessels. PHMSA is also replacing the ASME 1998 Edition referenced standard of ASME's Transportation Systems for Liquids and Slurries: Pressure Piping to the current 2012 Edition.

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Changes effective July 5, 2016: 81 FR 35484-35545: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. The amendments included, but are not limited to, removing the packing group II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. Voluntary Compliance Date: June 2, 2016.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 42266-42268: PHMSA revised the maximum and minimum civil penalties for a knowing violation of the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law.

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Changes effective December 23, 2015: 80 FR 72914-72929: This final rule corrected editorial errors, made minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improved the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The amendments contained in this rule were nonsubstantive changes and did not impose new requirements.

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Changes effective January 20, 2016: 80 FR 79424-79453: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations.

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Changes effective February 22, 2016: 81 FR 3636-3685: As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. Voluntary compliance date: February 22, 2016. Delayed compliance date: Unless otherwise specified, compliance with the amendments adopted in this final rule is required beginning January 23, 2017.

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Changes effective July 5, 2016: 81 FR 35484-35545: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. The amendments included, but are not limited to, removing the packing group II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. Voluntary Compliance Date: June 2, 2016.

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Changes effective December 23, 2015: 80 FR 72914-72929: This final rule corrected editorial errors, made minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improved the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The amendments contained in this rule were nonsubstantive changes and did not impose new requirements.

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Changes effective January 20, 2016: 80 FR 79424-79453: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations.

•

Changes effective February 22, 2016: 81 FR 3636-3685: As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. Voluntary compliance date: February 22, 2016. Delayed compliance date: Unless otherwise specified, compliance with the amendments adopted in this final rule is required beginning January 23, 2017.

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Changes effective March 31, 2016: 81 FR 18527-18541: PHMSA adopted regulatory amendments applicable to the reverse logistics shipments of certain hazardous materials by highway transportation. This final rule revised the Hazardous Materials Regulations to include a definition of "reverse logistics" and provided appropriate provisions for hazardous materials within the scope of this definition, and expanded a previously existing exception for return shipments of used automobile batteries transported between a retail facility and a recycling center.

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Changes effective July 5, 2016: 81 FR 35484-35545: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. The amendments included, but are not limited to, removing the packing group II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. Voluntary Compliance Date: June 2, 2016.

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Changes effective August 15, 2016: 81 FR 53935-53957: PHMSA issued this final rule to codify in the Hazardous Materials Regulations certain mandates and minimum requirements of the FAST Act. Specifically, the FAST Act mandates a revised phase-out schedule for all DOT Specification 111 tank cars used to transport unrefined petroleum products (e.g., petroleum crude oil), ethanol, and other Class 3 flammable liquids. The FAST Act also requires that each tank car built to meet the DOT Specification 117 and each non-jacketed tank car retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R be equipped with a thermal protection blanket that is at least 1/2-inch thick and meets existing thermal protection standards. Further, the FAST Act mandates minimum top fittings protection requirements for tank cars retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R.

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Changes effective February 22, 2016: 81 FR 3636-3685: As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. Voluntary compliance date: February 22, 2016. Delayed compliance date: Unless otherwise specified, compliance with the amendments adopted in this final rule is required beginning January 23, 2017.

•

Changes effective December 23, 2015: 80 FR 72914-72929: This final rule corrected editorial errors, made minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improved the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The amendments contained in this rule were nonsubstantive changes and did not impose new requirements.

•

Changes effective February 22, 2016: 81 FR 3636-3685: As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. Voluntary compliance date: February 22, 2016. Delayed compliance date: Unless otherwise specified, compliance with the amendments adopted in this final rule is required beginning January 23, 2017.

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Changes effective June 28, 2016: 81 FR 25613-25618: This direct final rule incorporates by reference the most recent editions of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The purpose of this update was to enable nonspecification (nurse tank) manufacturers and other DOT and UN specification packaging manufacturers to utilize current technology, materials, and practices to help maintain a high level of safety. PHMSA is replacing the ASME referenced standard (1998 Edition) with the new, current ASME standard (2015 Edition) for boiler and pressure vessels. PHMSA is also replacing the ASME 1998 Edition referenced standard of ASME's Transportation Systems for Liquids and Slurries: Pressure Piping to the current 2012 Edition.

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Changes effective July 5, 2016: 81 FR 35484-35545: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. The amendments included, but are not limited to, removing the packing group II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. Voluntary Compliance Date: June 2, 2016.

•

Changes effective July 5, 2016: 81 FR 35484-35545: PHMSA amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. The amendments included, but are not limited to, removing the packing group II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. Voluntary Compliance Date: June 2, 2016.

•

Changes effective August 15, 2016: 81 FR 53935-53957: PHMSA issued this final rule to codify in the Hazardous Materials Regulations certain mandates and minimum requirements of the FAST Act. Specifically, the FAST Act mandates a revised phase-out schedule for all DOT Specification 111 tank cars used to transport unrefined petroleum products (e.g., petroleum crude oil), ethanol, and other Class 3 flammable liquids. The FAST Act also requires that each tank car built to meet the DOT Specification 117 and each non-jacketed tank car retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R be equipped with a thermal protection blanket that is at least 1/2-inch thick and meets existing thermal protection standards. Further, the FAST Act mandates minimum top fittings protection requirements for tank cars retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective December 28, 2015: 80 FR 80682-80683: This notice of determination provided the FRA Administrator's minimum annual random drug and alcohol testing rates for calendar year 2016.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective December 23, 2016: 81 FR 94270: This notice of determination provided the FRA Administrator's minimum annual random drug and alcohol testing rates for calendar year 2017.

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Changes effective June 12, 2017: 81 FR 37894-37948: In response to Congress' mandate in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA), FRA expanded the scope of its drug and alcohol regulation to cover Maintenance of Way (MOW) employees. This rule also codified guidance from FRA compliance manuals, responded to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations, and adopted substantive amendments based upon FRA's regulatory review of 30 years of implementation of this part. The final rule it adopts part 214's definition of "roadway worker" to define "MOW employee" under this part. And, because FRA has withdrawn its proposed peer support requirements, subpart K contains a revised version of the troubled employee identification requirements previously in subpart E.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

•

Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective January 1, 2016: 80 FR 80683-80686: This rule maintained the rail equipment accident/incident monetary reporting threshold at $10,500 for railroad accidents/incidents involving property damage that occur during calendar year 2016 that FRA's accident/incident reporting regulations require to be reported to the agency.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective Dec. 16, 2016: 81 FR 88133-88135: This final rule updated FRA's accident/incident reporting regulations to provide the current electronic mail address railroads must use to electronically submit to FRA certain accident/incident report forms.

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Changes effective Jan. 1, 2017: 81 FR 94271-94274: This rule increased the rail equipment accident/incident monetary reporting threshold from $10,500 to $10,700 for railroad accidents/incidents involving property damage that occur during calendar year 2017 that FRA's accident/incident reporting regulations require railroads to report to the agency. This action was needed to ensure FRA's reporting requirements reflect cost increases that have occurred since FRA last published the reporting threshold in December 2015.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Changes effective June 10, 2016: 81 FR 37521-37534: This was a response to a petition for reconsideration of FRA's January 6, 2015, final rule addressing U.S. DOT National Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory Reporting Requirements. This document amended and clarified the final rule in response to the petition for reconsideration and made certain additional amendments to the rule to address practical implementation problems that arose after publication of the final rule.

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Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

•

Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

•

Changes effective Aug. 1, 2016: 81 FR 43105-43114: To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA adjusted the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority.

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Effective date: August 1, 2016. PHMSA is revising the maximum and minimum civil penalties for a knowing violation of the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law. The "Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015" (the 2015 Act), which amended the Federal Civil Penalties, Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (the Inflation Adjustment Act), requires Agencies to update their civil monetary penalties through interim final rulemaking. The maximum civil penalty for a knowing violation is now $77,114, except for violations that result in death, serious illness, or severe injury to any person or substantial destruction of property, for which the maximum civil penalty is $179,933. In addition, the minimum civil penalty amount for a violation relating to training is now $463. 81 FR 42266-42268.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: June 28, 2016. This direct final rule incorporates by reference the most recent editions of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The purpose of this update is to enable nonspecification (nurse tank) manufacturers and other DOT and UN specification packaging manufacturers to utilize current technology, materials, and practices to help maintain a high level of safety. PHMSA is replacing the ASME referenced standard (1998 Edition) with the new, current ASME standard (2015 Edition) for boiler and pressure vessels. PHMSA is also replacing the ASME 1998 Edition referenced standard of ASME's Transportation Systems for Liquids and Slurries: Pressure Piping to the current 2012 Edition. 81 FR 25613-25618.

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Effective date: March 31, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is adopting regulatory amendments applicable to the reverse logistics shipments of certain hazardous materials by highway transportation. This final rule revises the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to include a definition of "reverse logistics" and provides appropriate provisions for hazardous materials within the scope of this definition. This final rule also expands a previously existing exception for return shipments of used automobile batteries transported between a retail facility and a recycling center. The PHMSA incorporated recommendations from petitions for rulemaking and public comment into this rulemaking. 81 FR 18527-18541.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: January 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations. This rulemaking is responsive to two petitions for rulemaking submitted by industry representatives: P–1557, concerning the continued use of renewal applications, and P–1583, concerning the incorporation of an industry standard publication. Further, developing these requirements provides wider access to the regulatory flexibility currently only offered by special permits and competent authorities. The requirements of this final rule mirror the majority of provisions contained in nine widely-used longstanding special permits that have established safety records. These requirements eliminate the need for future renewal requests, thus reducing paperwork burdens and facilitating commerce while maintaining a commensurate level of safety. This final rule authorizes the transportation of certain explosives, ammonium nitrates, ammonium nitrate emulsions, and other specific hazardous materials in both non-bulk and bulk packagings, which are not otherwise authorized under current regulations. These hazardous materials are used in blasting operations on cargo tank motor vehicles and specialized vehicles, known as multipurpose bulk trucks, which are used as mobile work platforms to create blends of explosives that are unique to each blast site. Finally, this rulemaking addresses the construction of new multipurpose bulk trucks. 80 FR 79424-79453.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

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Effective date: November 9, 2015. PHMSA is adopting regulations to include the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and criteria used to evaluate applications for special permits and approvals. This rulemaking addresses issues identified in the Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2012 related to the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety's Approvals and Permits Division. In addition, this rulemaking also provides clarity regarding what conditions need to be satisfied to promote special permit application completeness. An application that contains the required information reduces processing delays by reducing the number of applications rejected due to incompleteness. Through public notice and comment, this final rule is required to establish SOPs to support the administration of the special permit and approval programs, and objective criteria to support the evaluation of special permit and approval applications. These amendments do not change previously established policies, to include but not limited to any inspection activities subsequent to issuance, modification or renewal of a special permit and approval. 80 FR 54418-54440.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: January 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations. This rulemaking is responsive to two petitions for rulemaking submitted by industry representatives: P–1557, concerning the continued use of renewal applications, and P–1583, concerning the incorporation of an industry standard publication. Further, developing these requirements provides wider access to the regulatory flexibility currently only offered by special permits and competent authorities. The requirements of this final rule mirror the majority of provisions contained in nine widely-used longstanding special permits that have established safety records. These requirements eliminate the need for future renewal requests, thus reducing paperwork burdens and facilitating commerce while maintaining a commensurate level of safety. This final rule authorizes the transportation of certain explosives, ammonium nitrates, ammonium nitrate emulsions, and other specific hazardous materials in both non-bulk and bulk packagings, which are not otherwise authorized under current regulations. These hazardous materials are used in blasting operations on cargo tank motor vehicles and specialized vehicles, known as multipurpose bulk trucks, which are used as mobile work platforms to create blends of explosives that are unique to each blast site. Finally, this rulemaking addresses the construction of new multipurpose bulk trucks. 80 FR 79424-79453.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

•

Effective date: August 15, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is issuing this final rule to codify in the Hazardous Materials Regulations certain mandates and minimum requirements of the FAST Act. Specifically, the FAST Act mandates a revised phase-out schedule for all DOT Specification 111 tank cars used to transport unrefined petroleum products (e.g., petroleum crude oil), ethanol, and other Class 3 flammable liquids. The FAST Act also requires that each tank car built to meet the DOT Specification 117 and each non-jacketed tank car retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R be equipped with a thermal protection blanket that is at least 1/2-inch thick and meets existing thermal protection standards. Further, the FAST Act mandates minimum top fittings protection requirements for tank cars retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R. 81 FR 53935-53937.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

•

Effective date: June 28, 2016. This direct final rule incorporates by reference the most recent editions of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The purpose of this update is to enable nonspecification (nurse tank) manufacturers and other DOT and UN specification packaging manufacturers to utilize current technology, materials, and practices to help maintain a high level of safety. PHMSA is replacing the ASME referenced standard (1998 Edition) with the new, current ASME standard (2015 Edition) for boiler and pressure vessels. PHMSA is also replacing the ASME 1998 Edition referenced standard of ASME's Transportation Systems for Liquids and Slurries: Pressure Piping to the current 2012 Edition. 81 FR 25613-25618.

•

Effective date: March 31, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is adopting regulatory amendments applicable to the reverse logistics shipments of certain hazardous materials by highway transportation. This final rule revises the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to include a definition of "reverse logistics" and provides appropriate provisions for hazardous materials within the scope of this definition. This final rule also expands a previously existing exception for return shipments of used automobile batteries transported between a retail facility and a recycling center. The PHMSA incorporated recommendations from petitions for rulemaking and public comment into this rulemaking. 81 FR 18527-18541.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: January 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations. This rulemaking is responsive to two petitions for rulemaking submitted by industry representatives: P–1557, concerning the continued use of renewal applications, and P–1583, concerning the incorporation of an industry standard publication. Further, developing these requirements provides wider access to the regulatory flexibility currently only offered by special permits and competent authorities. The requirements of this final rule mirror the majority of provisions contained in nine widely-used longstanding special permits that have established safety records. These requirements eliminate the need for future renewal requests, thus reducing paperwork burdens and facilitating commerce while maintaining a commensurate level of safety. This final rule authorizes the transportation of certain explosives, ammonium nitrates, ammonium nitrate emulsions, and other specific hazardous materials in both non-bulk and bulk packagings, which are not otherwise authorized under current regulations. These hazardous materials are used in blasting operations on cargo tank motor vehicles and specialized vehicles, known as multipurpose bulk trucks, which are used as mobile work platforms to create blends of explosives that are unique to each blast site. Finally, this rulemaking addresses the construction of new multipurpose bulk trucks. 80 FR 79424-79452.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 80 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 80 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: June 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is issuing a final rule to prohibit passengers and crewmembers from carrying battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices (e.g., e-cigarettes, e-cigs, e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookahs, personal vaporizers, electronic nicotine delivery systems) in checked baggage and from charging these devices and their batteries on board the aircraft. However, these devices may continue to be carried in carry-on baggage. This action is consistent with the interim final rule (IFR) published in the Federal Register on October 30, 2015, and a similar amendment in the 2015–2016 Edition of the International Civil Aviation Organization Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (ICAO Technical Instructions). This final rule amends the Hazardous Materials Regulations to maintain alignment with the ICAO Technical Instructions. Furthermore, this final rule does not impact the existing rules on the transport of lithium batteries or other portable electronic devices that are transported for personal use in a passenger's checked or carry-on baggage. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: November 6, 2015. PHMSA is issuing an interim final rule to prohibit passengers and crewmembers from carrying battery powered portable electronic smoking devices (e.g., e-cigarettes, e-cigs, e-cigars, e-pipes, e-hookahs, personal vaporizers, electronic nicotine delivery systems) in checked baggage and prohibit passengers and crewmembers from charging the devices and/or batteries on board the aircraft. These devices may continue to be carried in carry-on baggage. This action is consistent with a similar action taken by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that incorporated this restriction into the 2015–2016 Edition of the ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air by way of an addendum and is necessary to address an immediate safety risk. This interim final rule does not impact the existing rules on the transport of lithium batteries or other portable electronic devices that are transported for personal use in a passenger's checked or carry-on baggage. Because the actions taken in this interim final rule address a public safety risk, PHMSA finds that good cause exists to amend the regulations without advance notice and opportunity for public comment. For the reasons described below, public notice is impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest. PHMSA encourages persons to participate in this rulemaking by submitting comments containing relevant information, data, or views. We will consider all comments received on or before the closing date for comments. We will consider late filed comments to the extent practicable. This interim final rule may be amended based on comments received. 80 FR 66817-66821.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective date: January 20, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations by establishing standards for the safe transportation of explosives on cargo tank motor vehicles and multipurpose bulk trucks transporting materials for blasting operations. This rulemaking is responsive to two petitions for rulemaking submitted by industry representatives: P–1557, concerning the continued use of renewal applications, and P–1583, concerning the incorporation of an industry standard publication. Further, developing these requirements provides wider access to the regulatory flexibility currently only offered by special permits and competent authorities. The requirements of this final rule mirror the majority of provisions contained in nine widely-used longstanding special permits that have established safety records. These requirements eliminate the need for future renewal requests, thus reducing paperwork burdens and facilitating commerce while maintaining a commensurate level of safety. This final rule authorizes the transportation of certain explosives, ammonium nitrates, ammonium nitrate emulsions, and other specific hazardous materials in both non-bulk and bulk packagings, which are not otherwise authorized under current regulations. These hazardous materials are used in blasting operations on cargo tank motor vehicles and specialized vehicles, known as multipurpose bulk trucks, which are used as mobile work platforms to create blends of explosives that are unique to each blast site. Finally, this rulemaking addresses the construction of new multipurpose bulk trucks. 80 FR 79424-79453.

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Effective date: December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: June 28, 2016. This direct final rule incorporates by reference the most recent editions of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. The purpose of this update is to enable nonspecification (nurse tank) manufacturers and other DOT and UN specification packaging manufacturers to utilize current technology, materials, and practices to help maintain a high level of safety. PHMSA is replacing the ASME referenced standard (1998 Edition) with the new, current ASME standard (2015 Edition) for boiler and pressure vessels. PHMSA is also replacing the ASME 1998 Edition referenced standard of ASME's Transportation Systems for Liquids and Slurries: Pressure Piping to the current 2012 Edition. 81 FR 25613-25618.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: August 15, 2016. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is issuing this final rule to codify in the Hazardous Materials Regulations certain mandates and minimum requirements of the FAST Act. Specifically, the FAST Act mandates a revised phase-out schedule for all DOT Specification 111 tank cars used to transport unrefined petroleum products (e.g., petroleum crude oil), ethanol, and other Class 3 flammable liquids. The FAST Act also requires that each tank car built to meet the DOT Specification 117 and each non-jacketed tank car retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R be equipped with a thermal protection blanket that is at least 1/2-inch thick and meets existing thermal protection standards. Further, the FAST Act mandates minimum top fittings protection requirements for tank cars retrofitted to meet the DOT Specification 117R. 81 FR 53935-53957.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: November 18, 2015. On May 8, 2015, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published a final rule entitled "Hazardous Materials: Enhanced Tank Car Standards and Operational Controls for High-Hazard Flammable Trains," which adopted requirements designed to reduce the consequences and, in some instances, reduce the probability of accidents involving trains transporting large quantities of Class 3 flammable liquids. The Hazardous Materials Regulations provide a person the opportunity to appeal a PHMSA action, including a final rule. PHMSA received six appeals regarding the final rule, one of which was withdrawn. This document responds to the five remaining appeals submitted by the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and jointly the Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes (Columbia River Treaty Tribes) and the Quinault Indian Nation (Northwest Treaty Tribes). 80 FR 71952-71973.

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Effective date: July 5, 2016. In this final rule, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to make miscellaneous amendments in order to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The amendments in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances, and explosives; incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders; providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries; and revising the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms. 81 FR 35484-35546.

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Effective date: February 22, 2016. As required by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21), the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations to adopt provisions contained in certain widely-used or long-standing special permits that have an established safety record. The adopted amendments are intended to provide wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered in special permits and eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests. The adopted amendments will also reduce paperwork burdens and facilitate commerce while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. PHMSA conducted an extensive analysis of all active special permits and codified, as appropriate, those special permits deemed suitable in this rulemaking. 81 FR 3636-3686.

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Effective December 23, 2015. This final rule corrects editorial errors, makes minor regulatory changes and, in response to requests for clarification, improves the clarity of certain provisions in the Hazardous Materials Regulations. The intended effect of this rule is to enhance the accuracy and reduce misunderstandings of the regulations. The amendments contained in this rule are nonsubstantive changes and do not impose new requirements. 80 FR 72914-72929.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. This also affects Parts 383, 384 and 391. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: January 4, 2017. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to establish requirements for the Commercial Driver's License Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse), a database under the Agency's administration that will contain information about violations of FMCSA's drug and alcohol testing program for the holders of commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). This rule is mandated by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21). It will improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations that render them ineligible to operate a CMV. 81 FR 87686-87731.

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Effective date: October 13, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration corrects an inadvertent error in the October 4, 2016 final rule "General Technical, Organizational, Conforming, and Correcting Amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations." Due to an error, the rule unintentionally did not include the word "and" at the end of the next to last condition for a farm vehicle driver to take advantage of the farm vehicle driver exceptions to commercial driver's license standards and alcohol and drug testing requirements. Today's correction makes it clear that all four conditions in each farm vehicle driver exception must be met in order for the exception to be used. 81 FR 71016.

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Effective date: December 12, 2016. FMCSA amends its commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations to ease the transition of military personnel into civilian careers driving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) by simplifying the process of obtaining a commercial learner's permit (CLP) or CDL. This final rule extends the period of time for applying for a skills test waiver from 90 days to 1 year after leaving a military position requiring the operation of a CMV. This final rule also allows a State to accept applications from active duty military personnel who are stationed in that State as well as administer the written and skills tests for a CLP or CDL. States that choose to accept such applications are required to transmit the test results electronically to the State of domicile of the military personnel. The State of domicile may issue the CLP or CDL on the basis of those results. 81 FR 70634-70646.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 81 FR 59065.

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Effective date: October 4, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49556.

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Effective date: June 17, 2016. FMCSA amends its Hazardous Materials Safety Permits rules to update the current incorporation by reference of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA) "North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria and Level VI Inspection Procedures and Out-of-Service Criteria for Commercial Highway Vehicles Transporting Transuranics and Highway Route Controlled Quantities of Radioactive Materials as defined in 49 CFR part 173.403." Currently the rules reference the April 1, 2015, edition of the out-of-service criteria and, through this final rule, FMCSA incorporates the April 1, 2016, edition. 81 FR 39587-39590.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules. 80 FR 78292-78416.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016 (The effective date of this rule is September 30, 2016, except for §§ 365.T106, 368.T3, and 390.T200, which are effective from December 12, 2015 through September 29, 2016. The effective dates of the rule published at 78 FR 52608 (August 23, 2013) are delayed until September 30, 2016. The withdrawal of Instruction #1 from the correction published at 78 FR 63100 (October 23, 2013) is effective October 21, 2015.). FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: October 4, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49556.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47822.

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Effective date: March 16, 2016. FMCSA extends the compliance date by which motor carriers of passengers operating CMVs under a lease or interchange agreement are subject to the FMCSA final rule published May 27, 2015, for one year, to January 1, 2018. The Agency received numerous petitions for reconsideration of the final rule and based upon a review of the petitions, determined that the compliance date should be extended to provide sufficient time to address the issues raised by the petitioners. The Agency is adding a temporary section to its regulations to inform the public of this extension. There will no longer be a need for the section on the compliance date after January 1, 2018, thus the temporary section will be in effect only from March 16, 2016 through January 1, 2018. 81 FR 13998-13400.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules. 80 FR 78292-78416.

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Effective date: January 29, 2016. FMCSA adopts regulations that prohibit motor carriers, shippers, receivers, or transportation intermediaries from coercing drivers to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in violation of certain provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs)—including drivers' hours-of-service limits; the commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations; drug and alcohol testing rules; and the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMRs). In addition, the rule prohibits anyone who operates a CMV in interstate commerce from coercing a driver to violate the commercial regulations. This rule includes procedures for drivers to report incidents of coercion to FMCSA, establishes rules of practice that the Agency will follow in response to reports of coercion, and describes penalties that may be imposed on entities found to have coerced drivers. This rulemaking is authorized by section 32911 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP–21) and the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 (MCSA), as amended. 80 FR 74695-74710.

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Effective date: FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: December 21, 2015. The FMCSA announces a 120-day grace period during which Medical Examiners may use either the current or the newly revised versions of the Medical Examination Report (MER) Form and Medical Examiner's Certificate (MEC). This period is from December 22, 2015, until April 20, 2016. This action is being taken to ensure that Medical Examiners have sufficient time to become familiar with the new forms and to program electronic medical records systems. 80 FR 79273.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision.80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 80 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: July 28, 2016. FMCSA is correcting the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule, as revised on October 21, 2015. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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 October 21, 2015 final rule made slight revisions to the 2013 rule and delayed the effective dates of that rule. This final rule corrects the effective and compliance dates, revised in 2015, and corrects regulatory provisions that have not yet gone into effect, as well as several temporary sections that are in effect already, to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work. 81 FR 49553-49555.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA corrects an error in its June 7, 2016, final rule "Driving of Commercial Motor Vehicles: Use of Seat Belts." The amendatory language in the final rule inadvertently limited the applicability of the requirement for drivers to use their seat belts to operators of property-carrying vehicles. Today's correction fixes the error such that drivers of passenger-carrying vehicles will continue to be required to wear their seat belts. 81 FR 43957.

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Effective date: August 8, 2016. FMCSA revises the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) by requiring passengers in property-carrying commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to use the seat belt assembly whenever the vehicles are operated on public roads in interstate commerce. This rule holds motor carriers and drivers responsible for ensuring that passengers riding in the property-carrying CMV are using the seat belts required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs). 81 FR 36474.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA delays the effective and compliance dates for its August 23, 2013, Unified Registration System (URS) final rule. Because FMCSA changes the effective date (the actual date when the regulatory text that appears in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) will be changed) and makes technical corrections and conforming amendments to the 2013 regulatory text, the Agency has determined that it is in the best interest of the regulated entities, our State partners and the general public to present the full text of the sections affected. The 2013 URS final rule was issued to improve the registration process for motor carriers, property brokers, freight forwarders, Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs), hazardous materials safety permit (HMSP) 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. Today's final rule delays the implementation of the 2013 final rule in order to allow FMCSA additional time to complete the information technology (IT) systems work required to fully implement that rule. 80 FR 63695-63714.

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Effective date: October 24, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to allow the voluntary mounting of certain devices on the interior of the windshields of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), including placement within the area that is swept by the windshield wipers. Section 5301 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act directs the Agency to amend the FMCSRs to allow devices to be mounted on the windshield that utilize "vehicle safety technology," as defined in the Act. In addition, the section 5301 states that all windshield mounted devices/technologies with a limited 2-year exemption in effect on the date of enactment, shall be considered to meet the equivalent-or-greater safety standard required for the initial exemption. Promulgation of this final rule is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that does not require prior notice and public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 65568-65574.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: This notice makes corrections to a final rule published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2016, regarding amendments to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in response to several petitions for rulemaking and NTSB recommendations. The Agency makes several minor clerical corrections regarding the rear license plate lamp requirements and the periodic inspection requirements for antilock brake systems (ABS). 81 FR 60633-60634.

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Effective date: August 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Effective date: November 1, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) an exemption from the 30-minute rest break rule of the Agency's hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for certain commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The Agency denies SC&RA's further request for exemption from the 14-hour driving window of the HOS rules. All qualifying motor carriers and drivers operating mobile cranes with a rated lifting capacity of greater than 30 tons are exempt from the 30-minute break provision. FMCSA has analyzed the exemption application and public comments and has determined that the exemption, subject to the terms and conditions imposed, will achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent such exemption. 81 FR 75727-75729.

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September 30, 2016. This document revises the list of vehicles not originally manufactured to conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation. This list is published in an appendix to the agency's regulations that prescribe procedures for import eligibility decisions. The list has been revised to add all vehicles that NHTSA has decided to be eligible for importation since October 1, 2015, and to remove all previously listed vehicles that are now more than 25 years old and need no longer comply with all applicable FMVSS to be lawfully imported. NHTSA is required by statute to publish this list annually in the Federal Register. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: September 23, 2016. FMCSA announces its decision to grant ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor, LLC (ArcelorMittal) exemptions from the hours of service (HOS) and parts and accessories rules. One exemption will allow ArcelorMittal's employee-drivers with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) who transport steel coils between their production and shipping locations on public roads to work up to 16 hours per day and return to work with less than the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off duty. The other exemption will allow ArcelorMittal to use coil carriers that do not meet the "heavy hauler trailer" definition, height of rear side marker lights restrictions, tire loading restrictions, and the coil securement requirements. 81 FR 65574-65576.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: February 16, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to establish: Minimum performance and design standards for hours-of-service (HOS) electronic logging devices (ELDs); requirements for the mandatory use of these devices by drivers currently required to prepare HOS records of duty status (RODS); requirements concerning HOS supporting documents; and measures to address concerns about harassment resulting from the mandatory use of ELDs. The requirements for ELDs will improve compliance with the HOS rules.

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Effective date: October 2, 2015. FMCSA issues regulatory guidance concerning the editing of records created by automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs). The guidance makes clear that, within certain limits, a driver must be allowed to review his or her AOBRD records, annotate and correct inaccurate records, enter any missing information, and certify the accuracy of the information. The AOBRD must retain the original entries, and reflect the date, time, and name of the person making edits to the information. Drivers' supervisors may request that a driver make edits to correct errors, but the driver must accept or reject such requests. Driving time may not be edited except in the case of unidentified or team drivers, and when driving time was assigned to the wrong driver or no driver. All prior Agency interpretations and regulatory guidance on this subject, including memoranda and letters, may no longer be relied upon to the extent they are inconsistent with this guidance. 80 FR 59664-59665.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) adopts, as final, certain regulations required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) enacted on December 4, 2015. The statutory changes went into effect on October 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements. Adoption of these rules is a nondiscretionary, ministerial action that FMCSA may take without issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking and receiving public comment, in accordance with the good cause exception available to Federal agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). 81 FR 47714-47722.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) in response to several petitions for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and two safety recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Specifically, the Agency adds a definition of "major tread groove" and an illustration to indicate the location of tread wear indicators or wear bars on a tire signifying a major tread groove; revises the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the requirement for an operable rear license plate lamp on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present; amends the regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire; provides specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected; amends two appendixes to the FMCSRs to include provisions for the inspection of antilock braking systems (ABS) and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires, and motor coach passenger seat mounting anchorages; amends the periodic inspection rules to eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the annual inspection requirement through a violation–free roadside inspection; and amends the inspector qualification requirements as a result of the amendments to the periodic inspection rules. In addition, the Agency eliminates introductory regulatory text from an appendix to the FMCSRs because the discussion of the differences between the North American Standard Inspection out-of-service criteria and FMCSA's periodic inspection criteria is unnecessary. 81 FR 47722-47732.

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Effective date: July 22, 2016. FMCSA amends regulatory guidance, previously published in the Federal Register, regarding the periodic inspection of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register, FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to, among other things, eliminate the option for a motor carrier to satisfy the periodic (annual) inspection requirement through a violation-free roadside inspection. As a result of this amendment to the FMCSRs, certain regulatory guidance is amended to ensure consistency between the FMCSRs and the published guidance. 81 FR 47732-47733.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59075.

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Effective date: September 30, 2016. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections throughout. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. Further, this set of amendments removes all remaining instances of the term "common carrier" and "contract carrier" as required by the ICC Termination Act (ICCTA) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove obsolete provisions. 81 FR 68336-68359.

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Effective date: October 1, 2015. FMCSA amends its regulations by making technical corrections and ministerial corrections throughout title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subtitle B, chapter III. The Agency is making minor changes to correct errors and omissions, ensure conformity with Office of the Federal Register style guidelines, update cross references, restore an inadvertent deletion of the reference to an Underwriters Laboratories' standard, and improve clarity and consistency of certain regulatory provisions. This rule does not make any substantive changes to the affected regulations, except to remove one obsolete provision. 80 FR 59065-59076.

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Changes effective March 6, 2015. (80 FR 168-188) - PHMSA is amending the Federal pipeline safety regulations to incorporate by reference new, updated or reaffirmed editions of the voluntary consensus standards that are applicable to pipelines subject to the requirements of the Federal pipeline safety regulations. This final rule also makes non-substantive editorial corrections clarifying regulatory language in certain provisions. These changes are minor and do not require pipeline operators to undertake any significant new pipeline safety initiatives.

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Changes effective August 6, 2015. (80 FR 46847–46848) – PHMSA published in the Federal Register of January 5, 2015 (80 FR 168), a document containing revisions to the Pipeline Safety Regulations.

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Changes effective October 1, 2015. (80 FR 12762-12780) – PHMSA is amending the pipeline safety regulations to make miscellaneous changes that update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments address several subject matter areas including the performance of post-construction inspections, leak surveys of Type B onshore gas gathering lines, qualifying plastic pipe joiners, regulation of ethanol, transportation of pipe, filing of offshore pipeline reports, and calculation of pressure reductions for hazardous liquid pipeline anomalies.

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Changes effective August 16, 2016. (81 FR 54512-54514) – PHMSA is issuing this advisory bulletin to all owners and operators (operators) of hazardous liquid, carbon dioxide, and gas pipelines, as defined in 49 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 192 and 195 to clarify the regulatory requirements that may vary depending on the operational status of a pipeline. Further, this advisory bulletin identifies regulatory requirements operators must follow for the abandonment of pipelines. Pipeline owners and operators should verify their operations and procedures align with the regulatory intent of the defined terms as described under this bulletin. Congress recognized the need for this clarification in its Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016.

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Changes effective January 1, 2016. (80 FR 43854-43866) - Pursuant to the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2006, this final rule establishes review criteria for State excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs as a prerequisite for PHMSA to conduct an enforcement proceeding against an excavator in the absence of an adequate enforcement program in the State where a pipeline damage prevention violation occurs. This final rule amends the pipeline safety regulations to establish the following: Criteria and procedures for determining the adequacy of State pipeline excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs; an administrative process for making State adequacy determinations; the Federal requirements PHMSA will enforce in States with inadequate excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs; and the adjudication process for administrative enforcement proceedings against excavators where Federal authority is exercised. The development of the review criteria and the subsequent determination of the adequacy of State excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs is intended to encourage States to develop effective excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs to protect the public from the risk of pipeline ruptures caused by excavation damage and allow for Federal administrative enforcement action in States with inadequate enforcement programs.

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No changes to Parts 201 (Uniform System of Accounts Prescribed For Public Utilities and Licensees Subject to the Provisions of the Federal Power Act), and 260 (Statements and Reports (Schedules)), which are specifically referenced in WAC 480-90-203, WAC 480-90-244, WAC 480-90-252 and WAC 480-90-268. WAC 480-90-999(1) adopts the entirety of Title 18 – Conservation of Power and Water Resources, so the effective date has been updated to the most recent version.

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Copies of Title 18 Code of Federal Regulations are available from the U.S. Government Publishing Office in Washington, D.C., or online at http://www.gpo.gov/, and from various third-party vendors. It is also available for inspection at the commission branch of the state library.

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The electronic copy is available for purchase at NARUC website. A print copy is available for inspection at the commission branch of the state library. No change since October 2007.

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Changes effective March 11, 2015. (80 FR 58633-58635) - PHMSA published a final rule amending the pipeline safety regulations to make miscellaneous changes that update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These amendments address several subject matter areas including the performance of post-construction inspections, leak surveys of Type B onshore gas gathering lines, qualifying plastic pipe joiners, regulation of ethanol, transportation of pipe, filing of offshore pipeline reports, and calculation of pressure reductions for hazardous liquid pipeline anomalies, and components fabricated by welding. This rule responds to petitions for reconsideration of the final rule. 

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Changes effective January 18, 2017. (81 FR 91860-91872) - This interim final rule (IFR) revises the Federal pipeline safety regulations to address critical safety issues related to downhole facilities, including wells, wellbore tubing, and casing, at underground natural gas storage facilities. This IFR responds to Section 12 of the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2016, which was enacted following the serious natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon facility in California on October 23, 2015. This IFR incorporates by reference two American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practices (RP): API RP 1170, "design and Operation of Solution-mined Salt Caverns used for Natural Gas Storage," issued in July 2015; and API RP 1171, "Functional Integrity of Natural Gas Storage in Depleted Hydrocarbon Reservoirs and Aquifer Reservoirs," issued in September 2015.

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Changes effective January 1, 2016. (80 FR 43854-43866) - Pursuant to the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety (PIPES) Act of 2006, this final rule establishes review criteria for State excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs as a prerequisite for PHMSA to conduct an enforcement proceeding against an excavator in the absence of an adequate enforcement program in the State where a pipeline damage prevention violation occurs. This final rule amends the pipeline safety regulations to establish the following: Criteria and procedures for determining the adequacy of State pipeline excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs; an administrative process for making State adequacy determinations; the Federal requirements PHMSA will enforce in States with inadequate excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs; and the adjudication process for administrative enforcement proceedings against excavators where Federal authority is exercised. The development of the review criteria and the subsequent determination of the adequacy of State excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs is intended to encourage States to develop effective excavation damage prevention law enforcement programs to protect the public from the risk of pipeline ruptures caused by excavation damage and allow for Federal administrative enforcement action in States with inadequate enforcement programs.

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No changes to Parts 201 (Uniform System of Accounts Prescribed For Public Utilities and Licensees Subject to the Provisions of the Federal Power Act).

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Amends 18 CFR Part 260 (Statements and Reports (Schedules)), Effective December 2, 2015, which are specifically referenced in WAC 480-90-203, WAC 480-90-244, WAC 480-90-252 and WAC 480-90-268. WAC 480-90-999(1) adopts the entirety of Title 18 – Conservation of Power and Water Resources, so the effective date has been updated to the most recent version.

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The NEC addresses the installation of electrical conductors, equipment, and raceways; signaling and communications conductors, equipment, and raceways; and optical fiber cables and raceways in commercial, residential, and industrial occupancies.

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Copies of Title 18 Code of Federal Regulations are available from the U.S. Government Publishing Office in Washington, D.C., or online at http://www.gpo.gov/, and from various third-party vendors. It is also available for inspection at the commission branch of the state library.

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The electronic copy is available for purchase at NARUC website. A print copy is available for inspection at the commission branch of the state library. No change since October 2007.

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Errata 70-17-2, 70-17-3 and 70-17-4 include corrections to a number of errors in the 2017 edition of National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 70, National Electrical code.

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ANSI C12.1 – 2016 is available at American National Standards Institute website http://webstore.ansi.org/ (PDF) or at IHS Standards Store website https://global.ihs.com/ (PDF and print).

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Updates the text to be consistent with other Adoption by reference chapters.

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Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), Title II, Sections 201 and 210 – Effective August 8, 2005.

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No changes since last amendment in 2005.

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No Changes

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This standard covers the general parameters and characteristics associated with telephone loops from the subscriber signaling and analog voice frequency interface to the local Class 5 switch interface. It includes only those business and residential lines in the North American public switched network where no special performance requirements are involved. This standard provides common denominators for subscriber line performance, independent of facility types, construction processes or equipment, and circuit provisioning methods. IEEE 820-2005 is still the latest version for loop performance.1

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Even though the FCC has recently decided to change the accounting rules related to WAC 480-120-359 effective January 1, 2018, UTC Staff recommends relying on the October 1, 2016, version of the related CFR at this time. However, by the time the next edition of the CFR is published this recent action (explained in FCC Order 17-15 and adopted on February 23, 2017) should be considered during the next annual review. This will give the parties time to understand the impacts and adjust to the subsequent federal-state joint board's recommendation(s). Additionally, to be consistent, the retention and preservation of records in 47 CFR Parts 42 and 54 related to WAC 480-120-349 should also be reflecting and relying on the October 1, 2016, edition of the related CFRs, at this time, as well.

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Although the FCC has updated its rules referenced in WAC 480-120-202 after October 1, 2016, UTC Staff recommends relying on the October 1, 2016, edition because the FCC's privacy rules extending into the realm of broadband regulation (explained in FCC Order 16-148 and released on November 2, 2016) are not yet ripe for intrastate consideration. Any interested party wishing to synchronize the WAC with the CFR beyond this date (on this topic) must bring forth a separate rulemaking due to the substantive nature and comprehensive basis of the pending regulations (which are also subject to the ongoing appeals process). Additionally, to be consistent, the local number portability administration with certain qualifications and additions in 47 CFR Part 52 (related to WAC 480-120-146) should also be reflecting and relying on the October 1, 2016, edition.

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The website address is further specified in WAC 480-123-999 and the date of reference is now January 1, 2017.

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The updates to Chapter 480-123 WAC that were made in Docket UT-131239 did not attempt to specify adoption for reference edition(s) regarding the 47 CFR Part 54 citations. Therefore, at this time we seek to establish the references (which have since been updated) to be consistent with our adoption for references proposed above in WAC 480-120-999, also for use in WAC 480-123-999, which is the October 1, 2016, edition.