As part of the Trump Administration’s regulatory reform efforts, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has released several final rules eliminating or revising regulations that the agency believes no longer provide any safety benefit.

Roadside Inspection Report Filing. FMCSA released a final rule to revise the requirement that motor carriers and intermodal equipment providers sign and return a completed roadside inspection form to the issuing state agency.

Not all state agencies require the return of these reports, and the FMCSA acknowledges that requiring motor carriers and intermodal equipment providers to submit these reports to a state that does not require, or even request, the return of the form creates an unnecessary burden. Through this change, completed forms will only be returned to those states that request them.

This action is in response to a petition for rulemaking from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.

Under the new rule, the regulation at 49 CFR 396.9(d)(3)(ii) is revised to require only that a signed inspection form be returned to the issuing state agency if that agency requests the form’s return. The requirement that the motor carrier or intermodal equipment provider retain a copy at their principal place of business remains unchanged except for a clarifying cross-reference to section 396.9(d)(3)(i).

Self-Reporting of Violations. FMCSA has removed the requirement for CDL drivers to self-report motor vehicle violations to their state of domicile. The agency explained that with the implementation of the exclusive electronic exchange (EEE) of violations between state Drivers Licensing Agencies (SDLAs) in 2024, self-reporting by the drivers is no longer necessary.

Under federal law enacted in 1986, states must report CDL holders’ out-of-state traffic convictions to their licensing states within 10 days of the conviction. In addition, CDL holders are required to report these same out-of-state traffic convictions to their licensing states within 30 days of the conviction.

Congress later enacted a provision directing the FMCSA to develop a uniform system for the state-to-state electronic transmission of out-of-state CDL holders’ traffic conviction information. FMCSA subsequently issued regulations implementing that statutory requirement at  49 CFR 384.209, which requires states to report out-of-state CDL holders’ traffic convictions to their licensing states as a minimum requirement of maintaining a certified CDL program.

As a result, drivers self-reporting their ot-of-state violations became redundant, and the FMCSA has eliminated this requirement effective July 22, 2026.

Requirement to Keep ELD Manual in Vehicle. FMCSA published a final rule eliminating the need for motor carriers to keep a copy of their Electronic Logging Device operator’s manual in the commercial motor vehicle.

The FMCSA notice stated, “Drivers are required to understand the operation of the ELD on the vehicle to ensure the accuracy of their electronic records of duty status and to present this information during inspections by enforcement officials. There is no readily apparent benefit to continuing to require that the user’s manual be in the CMV given the use of ELDs since December 2019.”

Commentors on the proposed rule noted that ELDs routinely have an electronic version of the user’s manual built into the device. The agency noted that the availability of electronic versions of ELD user’s manuals makes the requirement for a paper manual redundant. Drivers are already required under section 395.24(d) to demonstrate the ability to operate the device upon request of an enforcement officer so they should not need to use the ELD user manual.