UCR Registration Delayed Again
UCR Registration Delayed Again
At a meeting by telephone on October 26, 2017, the board of directors of the Unified Carrier Registration program once again delayed the opening of UCR registration for 2018. As many of our readers will know, UCR registration for a year generally begins on October 1 of the year prior. This year, however, a significant decrease in UCR fees is anticipated – somewhat more than 9 percent, compared to the fees that have been in place since 2010. The federal statute under which UCR is established requires a formal rulemaking by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in order to set new fees for the program. That rulemaking is taking longer than the board anticipated. Back in September the board delayed the 2018 registration year a month, until November 1, 2017 (see the SLN of 9/22/2017), but has now been forced to do so again, this time without a definite date assigned. However, FMCSA’s rulemaking is in the final stages, and is expected to be completed very soon. In the meantime, the national UCR registration system operated for the program by the state of Indiana (at www.ucr.in.gov) is not accepting 2018 registrations, and the board has requested all the UCR participating states not to accept UCR registrations either. Enforcement of UCR requirements for a given year commonly begins January 1 of that year, but the UCR board has also requested the participating states not to being enforcement in 2018 until 90 days following the completion of FMCSA’s rulemaking setting the new, lower 2018 fees. We’ll keep you posted.
Written and edited by Robert C. Pitcher, American Trucking Associations