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Regulatory Guidance

Welcome to the FMCSA Guidance Portal. This web portal is a searchable, indexed database that contains and links to all guidance documents in effect from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The guidance documents lack the force and effect of law, unless expressly authorized by statute or incorporated into a contract.

To comment on any guidance document, or to request issuance, reconsideration, modification, or rescission of any guidance document, please identify the guidance document in your request and send it to: FMCSAguidance@dot.gov. NOTE: The FMCSAguidance mailbox is not intended to serve as a mailbox for general inquiries. For inquiries that go beyond the limited purpose of the FMCSAguidance mailbox, please call FMCSA's Information Line (800-832-5660) or visit FMCSA's "Contact Us" page to send your inquiry to the appropriate mailbox.

Subject Agency Identifier Topic Issued Date
If the vehicle does not track engine hours, can the record begin with “0?” FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ25 Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service – Technical Specifications
How should the Time Zone Offset from UTC handle daylight savings time? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ26-RESCINDED ELD Guidance
Would server‐based events (e.g., edits and assignment of unassigned events) generate a different sequence ID than that generated by the ELD? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ27 Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service – Technical Specifications
In a portable device platform, should the event identifier sequence number be associated with the portable device or the vehicle’s black box? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ28 Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service – Technical Specifications
When an existing record becomes inactive and its replacement record becomes active or inactive‐ change‐requested, is it acceptable that the replacement record has the same sequence ID as the record it replaces? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ29 Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service – Technical Specifications
If you are creating an application (app) to be used on a smartphone or tablet, do you have to verify and list all the devices that the app works on? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ90(2017-09-01)-CORR1 ELD Guidance
How will FMCSA ensure that the ELD data is transferred securely? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ33 Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service – Technical Specifications
How should an ELD respond to battery issues, such as an ELD battery dying due to high temperatures or when charge power runs out? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ32 Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service – Technical Specifications
Would it be acceptable for the data transfer to be initiated by the electronic logging device (ELD) but relayed through and communicated to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Service from the provider’s backend? FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ66(2017-09-01)-CORR1 ELD Guidance
If a multi-function portable device is used for the front end of the electronic logging device (ELD) (i.e., user may be in a global positioning system [GPS] application and need to switch back to the ELD application), does this count as a click in the... FMCSA-HOS-ELD-TECH-395-FAQ67(2017-09-01)-CORR1 ELD Guidance