Changes to FMCSA ELD Manufacturer Self-Certification Process

In an article published yesterday by Overdrive, Todd Dills reported that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) would be “standing up vetting process for ELD certification” after much public scrutiny over the self-certification process. What exactly does this mean and how is it going to impact drivers and fleets?

ELD Self Certification Process
Let’s start the at beginning. There seems to be little knowledge across the industry on how exactly an ELD becomes a registered ELD with the FMCSA under the mandate. It isn’t as simple as just adding your product to the website – providers are building completely new products from scratch, updating existing product offerings, and scaling their organizations to meet the demand. There’s a lot involved!

On February 16, only 60 days after the final ELD Rule was published, the FMCSA began allowing manufacturers to register and certify that their product meets the extensive technical specifications required to be a compliant ELD.

This certification process puts the onus on the ELD manufacture to self-certify that their product is compliant under “penalty of perjury”. There is no vetting done by the FMCSA outside of the initial registration – the FMCSA doesn’t test these products in detail to certify their compliance. As someone purchasing an ELD, you are taking the word of the ELD manufacturer that they’ve build a product that meets technical specification and has been thoroughly tested. 

In order to be considered ELD compliant, the manufacturer must verify that their ELD:

• Meets extensive technical specifications
• Is self-certified as compliant by the provider; and
• Is registered with the FMCSA

What’s Wrong with Self-Certification?
Although many industry associations supported the self-certification process, the Ohio Trucking Association (OTA) opposed it. As outlined in the final ELD Rule (page 249), the OTA stated self-certification “would expose carriers to considerable risk. If a device is later held to be non-compliant, the carrier would have a fleet of vehicles that might need to be taken off the road”. This, along with other comments, has led to the public scrutiny of this process.

The Registered ELD List
Only three providers have self-certified and listed their ELDs on the FMCSA’s Registered ELD page since it went live in February. You’ll note that no market leaders have listed their products yet. In the Overdrive article, they reported that an official speaking on behalf of the FMCSA said
“the agency has began reviewing these product registrations, contacting each company to request further required documentation”.