The end of 2021 is right around the corner. Have you met all of your annual compliance requirements?
With the busy holiday season almost upon us – and less than two months until 2022 – now is the time to review your compliance and safety requirements to ensure you have everything in order before the New Year.
Here are a few of the deadlines that you need to be aware of:
#1: Annual DOT Clearinghouse Queries
Every year, you’re required to run a Clearinghouse query on all of your DOT-regulated drivers. This query can be either a full or a limited query and must be run at least once every 12 months. Because the first annual deadline was in January, many companies will find that they need to run this query on their drivers within the next few months to stay compliant.
An important reminder: if you do run a limited query and it comes back with a “hit” stating that information exists on your driver in the Clearinghouse, you’ll need to run a full Clearinghouse query on that driver within 24 hours. If you cannot get electronic driver consent and run the query in that timeframe, they’ll need to be pulled from safety-sensitive functions until you’re able to run that query.
#2: Annual Unified Carrier Registration
If you’re planning to operate as an interstate carrier in 2022, you’ll need to purchase your Unified Carrier Registration for the upcoming year. This registration must be completed by December 31, 2021 in order to avoid enforcement action as of January 1.
The cost of filing your UCR varies depending on the number of commercial motor vehicles your company operates. You can learn more about these fees, and take care of your filing electronically here.
#3: Annual Motor Vehicle Report
Every year you must run an updated motor vehicle report on your drivers to ensure they are qualified to continue driving a commercial motor vehicle – and that there are no safety issues you need to be aware of.
This new motor vehicle report should be placed in the driver’s driver qualification file to replace the prior year’s MVR.
Keep in mind, that while these are the three big compliance deadlines that are looming on the horizon, that they are just a few of the many compliance requirements that motor carriers must meet annually. If you’d like to see a more comprehensive list of your DOT recordkeeping requirements – along with retention requirements – please click here.
Or, give us a call at (860) 815-0764 to discuss an automated solution that will manage all of these requirements for you on an ongoing basis.
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