The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has opened Registration for motor carriers and drivers to participate in the agency’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse.  The clearinghouse final rule goes into effect on January 6, 2020.

On and after that date, all companies that use drivers who have a Commercial Driver’s License or a Commercial Learner’s Permit must do four things:

1. Register with the FMCSA to use the clearinghouse.  Registration is now available on the FMCSA website.
2. Upload information to the Clearinghouse on any drug or alcohol violations by any CDL driver that your company uses.
3. Query the Clearinghouse for drug or alcohol violations by any prospective CDL driver that your company is considering hiring or contracting to use to operate a commercial motor vehicle. 
4. Companies must also annually query the database for information about all current CDL drivers they use.

Motor carrier companies will have to register with the clearinghouse in order to upload information about an employee driver’s positive tests or refusals to take a test and query the system for current or prospective drivers.  A company may use a Consortium/Third Party Administrator (C/TPA) to access the clearinghouse database on behalf of the company.

Drivers must also register with the clearinghouse to provide electronic consent to the company seeking information regarding the driver, and to review the accuracy of any information in the queried driver’s clearinghouse record.