It is too soon to gauge the impact of last week's court ruling on the electronic onboard recorder rule, but David Parker, chairman of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, sees it as an opportunity.

At a meeting yesterday in Alexandria, Va., Parker said the court's decision gives committee members breathing room to do more work on complex technical issues that have been difficult to resolve.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit said the rule, which is scheduled to take effect next June, does not do enough to prevent harassment of drivers. It sent the rule back to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for review, suggesting that the agency describe the specific steps it will take to prevent harassment.

At the very least this suggests the possibility that the agency will have a hard time getting fixes in place before the June deadline, although agency officials at this point will only say that they are considering their options.

The advisory committee, a panel of 19 officials from the industry, the enforcement community and labor and safety advocacy groups, has been working at the agency's request on recommendations for EOBR standards and had intended to complete work on those recommendations.

But in light of the court's ruling, the committee has decided to take more time. It will meet again in October to discuss technical issues, and then prepare a final report for the agency in December, Parker said.

"We don't know at this point if the agency will have to reopen the rulemaking as a result of the circuit court decision," he said. "But if that has to happen, we want to take advantage of that rulemaking to address these issues."

If, on the other hand, the rulemaking proceeds, the committee will try to address the issues through technical amendments to the rule, he said.

Parker said he did not want to promote speculation about the date, but added: "A reasonable person would have to say that there's going to have to be some adjustments."

The committee is in the midst of work on a series of technical recommendations having to do with such key issues as data security, the transfer of data from the onboard recorder to the inspecting officer, and certification of the recording devices.

Look for continuing coverage this week.