Pilot Project on NAFTA Trucking Provisions; Commercial Driver's License Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Mexico

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Since entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mexico on November 21, 1991, on the equivalency of a Mexican Licencia Federal de Conductor (LF) and a commercial driver's license (CDL) issued in the United States, the U.S. motor carrier safety regulations have recognized the LF as equivalent to a CDL. As the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) explained in its Federal Register notice of April 13, 2011 (the April Notice), proposing the requirements for the United States-Mexico cross border long-haul trucking pilot program, the Secretary of Transportation will accept only three areas of Mexican regulation as being equivalent to U.S. regulations. One of those areas is the reciprocal recognition of the LF and the CDL. In the Agency's July 8, 2011, Federal Register notice (the July Notice), however, FMCSA recognized concerns about the on-going acceptance of the existing CDL MOU and committed to site visits at Mexican driver training, testing, and licensing locations prior to beginning the pilot program to review Mexico's on-going compliance with the terms of the current MOU. The Agency agreed to post reports of these visits on the FMCSA pilot program Web site