Overview

On January 14, 2014, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a final rule to extend the requirement that interstate drivers subject to the commercial driver’s license (CDL) or the commercial learner’s permit (CLP) regulations and the Federal physical qualification requirements retain 
paper copies of their medical examiner’s certificate in their possession when operating a commercial motor vehicle until January 30, 2015. Interstate motor carriers are also required to retain copies of their drivers’ medical examiner’s certificates in their driver qualification files. 

The extension of this transition date was needed to ensure that all State driver licensing agencies (SDLAs) are able to post the driver’s self-certification and the medical examiner’s certificate information on the Commercial Driver’s License Information System (CDLIS) driver record. 

The purpose of extending the requirement for drivers to carry hard-copies of their medical examiner’s certificate is to ensure that drivers are not improperly cited for not being medically qualified because the State may not have posted the information to the driver record so that it can be viewed through 
CDLIS. 

A driver or carrier is considered in compliance if they either (1) live in a State that is fully compliant and the medical examiner’s certificate information is available electronically, or (2) the driver or carrier provides a hard copy of the medical examiner’s certificate. 
 
No other compliance dates were changed as a result of the Federal Register.