The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a final rule that reduces annual registration fees collected the Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) Plan and Agreement for the 2018, 2019, and subsequent registration years.

FMCSA said that to ensure that fee revenues do not exceed the statutory maximum and to account for the excess funds held in the depository, for the 2018 registration year, the fees will be cut below the current level by approximately 9.10% to ensure that fee revenues do not exceed the statutory maximum, and to account for the excess funds held in the depository.

For the 2019 registration year and subsequent years, the fees will be reduced below the current level by approximately 4.55% to ensure the fee revenues in that and future years do not exceed the statutory maximum.

The UCR Act, established in 2005, requires motor carriers involved in interstate commerce, and other businesses subject to The Act, to submit annual fees based on fleet size to supplement funding for state highway motor carrier registration and safety programs.  

The UCR Plan is the organization of state, federal and industry representatives responsible for developing, implementing and administering the UCR Agreement. The fee reduction for 2018 was based on a recommendation from the UCR Board of Directors, following several years of higher than expected collections.  

“We’re pleased with the outcome of FMCSA’s rulemaking on this matter,” said UCR Board Chair Avelino Gutierrez, director of transportation for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.  “And pleased that we could help deliver a cost reduction for our carrier partners.” 

The Indiana Department of Revenue, which operates the national UCR online registration system on behalf of the UCR Board of Directors, expects to be ready to handle registrations on Jan. 5.  Carriers based in any state may use the Indiana site to register. Several other states maintain their own UCR systems; at least some of these may require a few days beyond Jan. 5 before they accept 2018 registrations. 

State enforcement of the UCR registration requirements commonly begins on January 1 each year. Since the 2018 registration had to be delayed several months, however, the UCR Board is requesting states not to enforce until 90 days after the fees go into effect; that is, not until April 5, 2018. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has adopted this position.