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In March of 2020, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an emergency declaration, exempting motor carriers and drivers providing direct relief related to the COVID-19 outbreaks from many of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). While temporary, the declaration has been extended multiple times.
Scope
Transportation operations are critical to restock store shelves, move critical equipment and supplies to where they are needed, keep critical supply chains open and moving, maintain essential services, and ensure that the right people are in the place where they are needed. The emergency exemption provides hours-of-service relief to qualifying motor carriers supporting pandemic relief efforts.
The latest extension continues to offer relief from the hours-of-service limits in 49 CFR 395.3. This means eligible drivers are not required to have a minimum amount of rest and may drive after the normal 11-hour driving limit, 14-hour duty limit, and/or 60/70-hour weekly limit. They must be in compliance, however, with all other federal safety requirements related to driver qualification, vehicle inspections and maintenance, drug and alcohol testing, licensing, cargo securement, etc. They also must log their time as they normally would, whether using paper logs, electronic logs, or short-haul time records.
Regulatory citations
- 49 CFR Part 390 — General Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations
- 49 CFR 390.23 — Emergency Declarations — Relief from regulations
- 49 CFR Part 395 — Hours of Service of Drivers.
Key definitions
- Direct assistance: Direct assistance means transportation and other relief services provided by a motor carrier or its drivers related to the immediate restoration of essential services, such as medical care, or
essential supplies such as food. The term is generally defined in 49 CFR 390.5T. As the term relates to COVID-19, the term includes transportation to meet immediate needs for:
- Livestock and livestock feed;
- Medical and sanitation supplies, vaccines, and related products and equipment for the testing, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, and for community safety, sanitation, and prevention of community transmission of COVID-19;
- Food, paper products, and other groceries that are needed for the emergency restocking of distribution centers or stores;
- Gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and ethyl alcohol; an
- Supplies to assist individuals impacted by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., building materials for individuals displaced or otherwise impacted as a result of the emergency).
Direct assistance ends when a driver or commercial motor vehicle (CMV) is used in interstate commerce to transport cargo or provide services that are not in support of emergency relief efforts or when the motor carrier dispatches a driver or CMV to another location to begin operations in commerce.
Summary of requirements
To be eligible for the exemption, the transportation must be both:
- Of qualifying commodities and
- Incident to the immediate restoration of those essential supplies.
A driver cannot, nor can a carrier allow, a driver to operate while ill or fatigued — or likely to become ill or fatigued — per 49 CFR 392.3.
Drivers and carriers are subject to the following restrictions and conditions:
- Motor carriers that operate under the terms of the Emergency Declaration need to report within five days after the end of each month their reliance on the declaration. Carriers are to access the “Emergency Declaration Reporting” tool under the “Available FMCSA Systems” section on the Portal website;
- Motor carriers or drivers currently subject to an out-of-service order are not eligible for the relief granted by the Emergency Declaration until they have met the applicable conditions for its rescission and the order has been rescinded by FMCSA in writing.
- When a driver is moving from emergency relief efforts to normal operations a 10-hour break is required when the total time a driver operates conducting emergency relief efforts, or a combination of emergency relief and normal operations, equals 14 hours.