The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has published a proposed rule to codify the English language proficiency (ELP) driver qualification requirement as an out-of-service violation.

The rulemaking would align the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations with the current enforcement tolerances in the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria issued by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) as amended on April 19, 2026. That revision changed the ELP violation from a civil penalty to an OOS violation, except in the border commercial zones between the U.S. and Mexico and gave guidance to federal and state enforcement officials on how to categorize operations in the commercial zones.

On October 25, 2025, CVSA submitted a petition for rulemaking requesting that FMCSA amend the FMCSR by requiring that noncompliance with the ELP requirements in 49 CFR §391.11(b)(2) result in a driver being placed OOS. This proposed rule is in response to that petition.