Uniform Registration System postponed
On Oct. 21, 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced in the Federal Register the postponement and phasing in of its Uniform Registration System (URS). The agency had published the final URS rule in 2013, and the rule has been in the works, more or less, for nearly two decades. When finally in…
On Oct. 21, 2015, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced in the Federal Register the postponement and phasing in of its Uniform Registration System (URS). The agency had published the final URS rule in 2013, and the rule has been in the works, more or less, for nearly two decades. When finally in effect, URS will replace several existing FMCSA systems, including those for registering the authority of regulated motor carriers, the issuance of DOT numbers, and the filing of entities’ insurance coverage and agents for service of process.
The recent notice says that most of the URS rule won’t be effective until Sept. 30 or Dec. 31, 2016. However, new applicants for motor carrier authority or DOT numbers are to begin using the URS’s new online Form MCSA-1 on Dec. 12, 2015.
Important Note – The URS is not the UCR
Despite the similarity in names, the URS is not the Uniform Carrier Registration Agreement (UCRA/UCR), under which motor carriers and other entities pay annual fees to states. There is no postponement for the payment of the 2016 UCR fees. Fees are due Dec. 31, 2015, and are payable now, most easily through the national UCR system maintained by the Indiana Department of Revenue online.
This information was provided by Bib Pritcher from the State Laws Newsletter.