Regulations Amending the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations and a Related Amendment (Miscellaneous Program): SOR/2020-240

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 154, Number 24

Registration
SOR/2020-240 November 3, 2020

MOTOR VEHICLE TRANSPORT ACT

P.C. 2020-849 October 30, 2020

Whereas, pursuant to subsection 16.1(1) footnote a of the Motor Vehicle Transport Act footnote b, the Minister of Transport has consulted with the provinces affected by the annexed Regulations;

Therefore, Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport, pursuant to subsection 16.1(1)footnote a of the Motor Vehicle Transport Act footnote b, makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations and a Related Amendment (Miscellaneous Program).

Regulations Amending the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations and a Related Amendment (Miscellaneous Program)

Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations

1 Subsections 1.1(2) to (4) of the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations footnote 1 are repealed.

2 Section 10 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

10 If a driver who has, at the request of the motor carrier by whom the driver is employed or otherwise engaged, spent time travelling as a passenger, by any mode of transportation, to the destination at which the driver will begin driving takes 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time before beginning to drive, the time spent as a passenger shall be counted as off-duty time.

3 Paragraph 79(c) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

4 (1) Paragraph 91(1)(b) of the French version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) Paragraph 91(1)(e) of the French version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(3) Paragraph 91(3)(e) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Regulations Amending the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations (Electronic Logging Devices and Other Amendments)

5 Subsection 37(4) of the French version of the Regulations Amending the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations (Electronic Logging Devices and Other Amendments) footnote 2 is amended by replacing the paragraph 91(1)(f) that it enacts with the following:

Coming into Force

6 These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

As a result of amendments to the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations (the Regulations) on June 12, 2019, the need for a number of minor technical amendments to these Regulations has been identified. Some regulatory provisions were identified as either vague or misaligned with the Hours of Service Standard 9 (Standard 9) under the National Safety Code (NSC) for motor carriers, or a duplication with the Technical Standard (TS) for Electronic Logging Device (ELD) published by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA). In addition, the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) has requested a clarification in the Regulations.

Standard 9

It is important that the Regulations align with the NSC’s Standard 9 to promote consistency and avoid confusion within the provincial enforcement community. The enforcement community identified an inconsistency between the prescribed driver repositioning provision in the Regulations with the NSC’s Standard 9. The Regulations provide an exception where the time spent repositioning a driver can be recorded as off-duty rather than on-duty time, but only if the repositioning is done in a commercial vehicle, whereas the Standard 9 exception provides more flexibility by allowing the repositioning to occur in any mode of transportation (e.g. ferry, rail, transit, car or air) and not just in commercial vehicles.

Technical Standard for Electronic Logging Device

The TS is incorporated by reference in the Regulations. Some needed modifications to the TS were identified (e.g. correcting references and Coordinated Universal Time [UTC] time zone offset values), but could not be corrected by the CCMTA before the Regulations were published. As a result, the correct references and numbers were addressed through modified interpretation provisions set out in subsections 1.1(2) to 1.1(4) of the Regulations to provide further clarification and ensure consistency. The CCMTA has now made the changes to the TS, making these provisions in the Regulations redundant.

Clarifications

The SCC advised Transport Canada that the process to accredit certification bodies (any person or body that wishes to be accredited to certify an Electronic Logging Device) needs to be clarified to focus the certification bodies’ methodology on “testing” rather than “certification,” as prescribed in the Regulations. This clarification is crucial to better reflect an accurate testing protocol.

Objective

The objectives of the Regulations Amending the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations (hereinafter referred to as “the amendments”) are to

Description and rationale

There are five non-substantive amendments to improve clarity and consistency in the Regulations:

The amendments are expected to benefit certification bodies and ELD providers, motor carriers and drivers, and the enforcement community by eliminating the confusion caused by some vague wording and discrepancies. No additional costs will be imposed on the regulated community, as these amendments are housekeeping in nature.

One-for-one rule and small business lens

The one-for-one rule does not apply to these amendments, as there is no change in administrative costs or burden to businesses.

The small business lens does not apply, as the amendments do not carry any cost impacts for small businesses.

Contact

Jean-Michel Roy
Acting Manager
Standards and Regulations
Multimodal and Road Safety Programs
Transport Canada
Telephone: 343‑542‑8928
Email: Regulationsclerk-ASFB-Commisauxreglements@tc.gc.ca