49 U.S.C. § 13902 — Registration of motor carriers

(a) Motor Carrier Generally. (1) In general: Except as otherwise stated, the Secretary of Transportation must register a person to provide transportation under subchapter I of chapter 135 as a motor carrier using its own, rented, or leased vehicles, but only if the Secretary decides the person: (A) is willing and able to follow (i) this part and the Secretary's and Board's regulations, (ii) safety regulations, (iii) employer and employee duties under section 31135, (iv) safety fitness requirements under section 31144, (v) accessibility requirements for over-the-road buses under 49 CFR part 37, subpart H, and (vi) minimum financial responsibility requirements under sections 13906, 31138, and 31139; (B) has gotten a USDOT number under section 31134; (C) has disclosed any common ownership, management, control, or family relationship with any other motor carrier, freight forwarder, broker, or applicant, if that relationship existed in the 3 years before applying; and (D) has passed the written proficiency exam, once the Secretary creates one under the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act of 2012. (2) Additional registration requirements for household goods motor carriers: Beyond (1), the Secretary may register a household goods motor carrier only after it: (A) shows it's part of an arbitration program and gives a copy of that program's notice, as section 14708(b)(2) requires; (B) identifies its tariff and gives a copy of the notice that the tariff is available for inspection, as section 13702(c) requires; and (C) passes a Secretary-created proficiency exam showing it knows and intends to follow federal consumer-protection, estimating, consumer-rights, and liability-limitation laws. (3) Consideration of evidence; findings: The Secretary must consider, and where relevant make findings on, any evidence that a registrant can't meet the requirements in (1), or in (1) and (2) for household goods carriers. (4) Withholding: If the Secretary decides a registrant can't meet those requirements, the Secretary must withhold registration. (5) Limitation on complaints: The Secretary may only hear complaints about a registration if they claim the registrant is failing, or will fail, to follow this part, the Secretary's or Board's regulations (including bus accessibility rules), safety regulations, or the safety-fitness or financial-responsibility rules in (1). For household goods carriers, complaints can also claim a failure to meet (2). (6) Separate registration required: A motor carrier can't broker transportation unless it has also separately registered as a broker. (b) Motor Carriers of Passengers. (1) Registration of private recipients of governmental assistance: The Secretary must register a private recipient of government assistance to provide charter passenger transportation if it meets (a)(1)'s requirements — unless the Secretary finds, based on evidence from an objector, that the transportation isn't in the public interest. (2) Registration of public recipients of governmental assistance: (A) Charter transportation: The Secretary must register a public recipient for charter transportation if it meets (a)(1) and either (i) no other passenger carrier, besides another public-assistance recipient, is willing to provide the service, or (ii) the service will happen entirely within the area where the recipient already runs regular mass transit. (B) Regular-route transportation: Similarly, the Secretary must register a public recipient for regular-route transportation if it meets (a)(1), unless an objector's evidence shows it isn't in the public interest. (C) Treatment of certain public recipients: Any public recipient providing or seeking to provide passenger transportation under subchapter I of chapter 135 is treated, for this part, as anyone else seeking that authority. (3) Intrastate transportation by interstate carriers: A registered passenger motor carrier may also run a regular route entirely within one state, if that route is part of a route where it also provides interstate transportation. (4) Preemption of state regulation regarding certain service: No state, subdivision, or multi-state agency may make or enforce a law regulating pickup and delivery of express packages, newspapers, or mail in a commercial zone if the shipment has moved, or will move, by bus in intrastate commerce, and — if it's in a city within that zone — the city is served by a regular-route passenger carrier under subchapter I of chapter 135. (5) Jurisdiction over certain intrastate transportation: Subject to section 14501(a), intrastate transportation authorized under this subsection is treated as being under subchapter I of chapter 135's jurisdiction, until the carrier sets up its own state-law rates, rules, and practices — but no later than 30 days after the carrier starts that in-state service. (6) Special operations: This subsection doesn't apply to a regular route run entirely in one state that counts as a "special operation." (7) Suspension or revocation: The Secretary can suspend or revoke intrastate authority under this subsection at any time, under section 13905. (8) Definitions: (A) "Public recipient of governmental assistance" means any state; any municipality or subdivision; any public agency or instrumentality of states or their subdivisions; any Indian tribe; or any entity owned or controlled by one of those, that received government help buying or running a bus, before, on, or after January 1, 1996. (B) "Private recipient of government assistance" means anyone else who received such a subsidy in that same time frame. (c) Restrictions on Motor Carriers Domiciled in or Owned or Controlled by Nationals of a Contiguous Foreign Country. (1) Prevention of discriminatory practices: If the President, or a delegate, decides a neighboring country's practice unfairly burdens U.S. transportation companies trying to operate there, the President or delegate may (A) try to fix it through talks, or (B) despite any other law, suspend, modify, or restrict — including geographically — the U.S. operations of that country's carriers. (2) Equalization of treatment: Any fix under (1)(A) should try to match, as closely as possible, the burden that country places on U.S. companies. (3) Removal or modification: The President or delegate may undo or change an action under (1)(A) if that's consistent with U.S. trade-agreement obligations or transportation policy. (4) Protection of existing operations: Until the President or delegate makes a decision under (1) or (3), this subsection doesn't affect (A) existing operations of that country's carriers in the U.S.-Mexico border commercial zones as they existed on December 31, 1995, or (B) existing restrictions on those carriers under the Bus Regulatory Reform Act of 1982. (5) Publication; comment: Unless quick action is needed, the President must publish any decision under (1) or (3) in the Federal Register, with the facts behind it and any proposed action, and let the public comment. (6) Delegation to secretary: The President may hand this authority to the Secretary, who must consult other agencies as needed and may issue regulations to enforce it. (7) Civil actions: The Secretary or Attorney General may sue in federal court to enforce this subsection or a related regulation or order, and the court may grant relief, including an injunction. (8) Limitation on statutory construction: This subsection doesn't excuse any foreign motor carrier from following all applicable fitness, safety, financial-responsibility, and federal highway-use-tax laws. (d) Transition Rule. (1) In general: Until the rulemaking required by section 13908 is finished, the Secretary may register someone (A) as a motor common carrier if they would have gotten a common-carrier certificate under the old law on December 31, 1995, or (B) as a motor contract carrier if they would have gotten a contract-carrier permit that same day. (2) Definitions: "Motor common carrier" and "motor contract carrier" here mean what they meant under the old section 10102 as of December 31, 1995. (3) Termination: This subsection stops applying on the "transition termination date." (e) Penalties for Failure To Comply With Registration Requirements: On top of other penalties: (1) Out-of-service orders: If an inspection shows a carrier is operating without registration, or beyond its registration's scope, the Secretary may order it out of service, then must give it a chance for review under section 554 of title 5 — but that review must happen within 10 days of the order. (2) Permission for operations: A carrier domiciled in a country subject to action under (c)(1)(A) or (c)(1)(B) must keep proof of its registration in the vehicle while operating. The Secretary must not let such a vehicle operate in interstate commerce without a copy of its registration on board. (f) Modification of Carrier Registration. (1) In general: Starting on the transition termination date, the Secretary (A) may no longer register carriers as "motor common carrier" or "motor contract carrier," (B) must register them simply as "motor carriers," and (C) must issue each one a certificate specifying whether it may carry people, household goods, other property, or any mix. (2) Pre-existing certificates and permits: The Secretary must relabel any earlier certificate or permit as a "motor carrier certificate of registration." After the transition date, holders of a relabeled certificate may provide both contract carriage, as section 13102(4)(B) defines it, and transportation that meets section 13710(a)(1)'s terms. The Secretary can't treat holders differently based on whether they would have been called a "common" or "contract" carrier under the old law. (3) Transition termination date defined: This means the first January 1st more than 12 months after the Unified Carrier Registration Act of 2005 became law. (g) Motor Carrier Defined: In this section and sections 13905 and 13906, "motor carrier" includes foreign motor private carriers. (h) Update of Registration. (1) In general: The Secretary must require registrants to update their registration within 30 days of a change in address, other contact information, officers, process agent, or other key information the Secretary identifies. (2) Motor carriers of passengers: Passenger carriers must also update information like vehicle numbers, annual mileage, and who's responsible for federal safety compliance, every quarter for their first 2 years of registration. (i) Registration as Freight Forwarder or Broker Required: A registered motor carrier (1) may only transport property using (A) its own owned or leased vehicles, or (B) interchange arrangements under Secretary regulations, if the carrier that started the shipment actually moves the cargo at some point and stays liable for the cargo and for paying the other carriers involved; and (2) may not arrange transportation beyond that unless it's separately registered as a freight forwarder or broker under section 13903 or 13904. (j) Mexico-Domiciled Motor Carriers: Despite anything else in this section, if an order under section 324(a) of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act requires it, the Secretary must deny or limit registration requests, or cap how many Mexico-domiciled cargo carriers can register to operate beyond the U.S.-Mexico border municipalities and their commercial zones, as directed.