FMCSA’s Unified Carrier Registration System Begins in October
After eighteen long years, the FMCSA’s Unified Registration System website will finally open for business on October 23, 2015. The new Unified Registration System will allow the Agency to maintain more accurate information about the entities it regulates. All new motor carrier applications and updates to existing records will go through this new online system.
Originally mandated by Congress in the ICC Termination Act of 1995, the URS will streamline manual processes, saving time and money for the FMCSA. The Agency estimates that currently 16% of all new registrations are submitted using paper applications. By combining multiple registration processes and forms into a single online procedure, the URS will save taxpayers an estimated $9 million.
New applicants will be given an inactive USDOT number until it is determined that they comply with regulatory requirements. MC, MX, and FF numbers will no longer be issued. The USDOT number will be the sole identifier for commercial vehicles. (However it will not be a requirement to remove MC numbers from trucks.)
The FMCSA currently has an entire department dedicated to coordinating vehicle tags, names, and DOT numbers. The near 700,000 motor carriers in the database is an overinflated total. The new method will aid in identifying “chameleon carriers,” the reincarnated trucking companies who negatively impact the shipping and trucking industry.
The biennial update filing schedule will continue as is and all updates will need to be done electronically at their website.
The one-number system and its reduction in paperwork will prove more efficient for the FMCSA and its regulated entities. For more on this subject, go to http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/ final-rule-unified-registration-system.
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