49 U.S.C. § 31137 — Electronic logging devices and brake maintenance regulations

(a) Use of Electronic Logging Devices. Within one year after the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act of 2012 became law, the Secretary had to issue regulations requiring commercial vehicles in interstate commerce, driven by drivers subject to federal hours-of-service and duty-status rules, to carry an electronic logging device — to improve compliance with those hours-of-service rules — and ensuring that the device is not used to harass the driver.

(b) Electronic Logging Device Requirements. These regulations must require the device to accurately record a driver's hours of service; record the vehicle's location; resist tampering; and either sync with the engine or be able to tell when the vehicle is operating. They must let law enforcement access the device's data during roadside inspections. Except for the exception in (b)(3), the rules apply to a vehicle starting two years after the final regulations are published. The regulations must also set performance standards defining a standard user interface for drivers and law-enforcement review; a secure process for uniquely identifying drivers, and for standardized data access, and for transferring data when drivers switch vehicles, storing data for a carrier, and transferring data for law enforcement; a security standard, using a method endorsed by a recognized standards group, to keep the devices and their parts tamper-resistant; and a way to identify every driver subject to the hours-of-service rules. There is one exception: a carrier transporting a motor home or recreation-vehicle trailer as a "driveaway-towaway operation" can let its drivers use either a paper duty-status form or an electronic logging device.

(c) Certification Criteria. The regulations must set criteria and a process for certifying that a device meets these performance standards. A device that is not certified this way cannot be used as acceptable evidence of hours-of-service and duty-status compliance.

(d) Additional Considerations. In writing these regulations, the Secretary must consider whether they can reduce or drop the requirement to keep paper backup records, if the device's data replaces that paperwork without weakening the Secretary's ability to audit hours-of-service compliance, and must consider what privacy protections are needed for the personal data these devices collect.

(e) Use of Data. The Secretary can only use information from these devices to enforce the Secretary's own motor carrier safety rules, including hours-of-service rules. The Secretary must set up measures to keep personal data confidential when it is disclosed during enforcement, and must make sure enforcement staff only use the data to check hours-of-service compliance.

(f) Definitions. An "electronic logging device" is a device that can accurately and automatically record a driver's hours of service and duty status, and meets the Secretary's regulatory requirements. "Tamper resistant" means resistant to letting anyone make the device record the wrong date, time, or location for a change in a driver's on-duty status, or later change the record it already created.

(g) Brakes and Brake Systems Maintenance Regulations. The Secretary must keep regulations with improved standards or methods for properly maintaining and inspecting commercial vehicle brakes and brake systems. At a minimum, these regulations must set minimum training requirements and qualifications for the employees who maintain and inspect brakes.