Regulatory Guidance: Clarification of Reissuance Dates

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Published

June 20, 2023

Issuing agencies

Transportation DepartmentFederal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Abstract

On March 3, 2020, the Department announced the availability of a regulatory guidance portal to provide public access to the Department's guidance documents. This notice clarifies the reissuance date of FMCSA guidance published in FMCSA's guidance portal ("Guidance Portal" or "Portal") as of March 3, 2020. This notice also clarifies the reissuance dates for guidance posted between March 4 and June 27, 2020, during the "grace period."

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 117 (Tuesday, June 20, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 117 (Tuesday, June 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39904-39906]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13033]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Regulatory Guidance: Clarification of Reissuance Dates

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department
of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Regulatory guidance; notice of reissuance dates.

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SUMMARY: On March 3, 2020, the Department announced the availability of
a regulatory guidance portal to provide public access to the
Department's guidance documents. This notice clarifies the reissuance
date of FMCSA guidance published in FMCSA's guidance portal (``Guidance
Portal'' or ``Portal'') as of March 3, 2020. This notice also clarifies
the reissuance dates for guidance posted between March 4 and June 27,
2020, during the ``grace period.''

DATES: This clarification of prior reissuance dates is applicable on
June 20, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Anna Winkle, Attorney-Advisor,
Office of Chief Counsel, FMCSA, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC
20590-0001; 202-366-5257; <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#61000f0f004f16080f0a0d0421050e154f060e17"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0869666669267f616663646d486c677c266f677e">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Executive Order (E.O.) 13891 and the Announcement of the DOT and FMCSA
Guidance Portals

On March 3, 2020, the Department announced the availability of a
portal for regulatory guidance (85 FR 12663). As explained in the
introductory text on the DOT Guidance Portal, each operating
administration maintains a guidance portal available through a link on
the DOT Guidance Portal website.\1\ The guidance portals were
originally established to comply with section 3(a) of E.O. 13891,\2\
which required each Federal agency to establish or maintain on its
website a single, searchable, indexed database that contains or links
to all guidance documents in effect from that agency or its components.
While E.O. 13891 has since been revoked,\3\ it provides context, along
with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum \4\
implementing the Order, for the efforts FMCSA undertook to
comprehensively review its existing guidance in establishing its
Guidance Portal.
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\1\ <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/guidance/operating-administration-guidance-portals">https://www.transportation.gov/guidance/operating-administration-guidance-portals</a>. FMCSA's Guidance Portal may also be
accessed through a direct link: <a href="http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/guidance">www.fmcsa.dot.gov/guidance</a>.
\2\ See ``Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency
Guidance Documents.'' 84 FR 55235 (Oct. 15, 2019), available at:
<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/10/15/2019-22623/promoting-the-rule-of-law-through-improved-agency-guidance-documents">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/10/15/2019-22623/promoting-the-rule-of-law-through-improved-agency-guidance-documents</a>.
\3\ See E.O. 13992, ``Revocation of Certain Executive Orders
Concerning Federal Regulation.'' 86 FR 7049 (Jan. 25, 2021),
available at: <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/25/2021-01767/revocation-of-certain-executive-orders-concerning-federal-regulation">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/25/2021-01767/revocation-of-certain-executive-orders-concerning-federal-regulation</a>.
\4\ See M-20-02, ``Guidance Implementing Executive Order 13891,
Titled `Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance
Documents,' '' (Oct. 31, 2019) available at: <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/M-20-02-Guidance-Memo.pdf">https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/M-20-02-Guidance-Memo.pdf</a>.
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The E.O. and implementing memorandum required in part that Federal
agencies establish the database mandated by the E.O. no later than
February 28, 2020, and permitted agencies a grace period, through June
27, 2020, to reinstate any existing guidance documents not posted by
the initial deadline without the need to conduct a formal good faith
cost estimate or otherwise review the guidance in accordance with
newly-required approval procedures prior to posting it to the relevant
database (e.g., the FMCSA Guidance Portal). The E.O. also required each
agency to comprehensively review its guidance documents, rescind those
it determined should no longer be in effect, and prohibited agencies
from either retaining in effect any guidance document not posted to the
database or issuing a guidance document without including it in the
database. See 84 FR 55236.

FMCSA's Reissuance of Existing Guidance

FMCSA conducted an extensive review of its guidance in response to
the requirement in E.O. 13891 to post current guidance and rescind
outdated guidance. When FMCSA published current guidance to FMCSA's
Portal, including guidance with a specific expiration date identified
in the Federal Register notices,\5\ FMCSA effectively

[[Page 39905]]

reissued the guidance. The date the Department announced the
availability of the regulatory guidance portals, March 3, 2020, is
therefore the reissuance date for all guidance FMCSA published in the
Portal as of that date. Guidance documents with previously identified
expiration dates are identified as follows:
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\5\ In both Federal Register notices, FMCSA referenced section
5203 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (Pub.
L. 114-94, 129 Stat. 1312, 1535, Dec. 4, 2015). This section does
not require that an expiration date be added to guidance but rather
instructs, in part, that not later than 5 years after the date on
which a guidance document is published or during a regular review,
FMCSA reissue an updated version of any guidance document for which
it was not practicable to incorporate into its regulations. Sec.
5203(a)(3)-(4).

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Applicability/
FMCSA Guidance Portal unique Federal Register expiration dates
identifier(s) notice issuing the in Federal
guidance Register notice
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FMCSA-HOS-AG-395.1-Q34, FMCSA- 83 FR 26374 (June Applicable June 7,
HOS-AG-395.1-Q35, FMCSA-HOS-AG- 7, 2018). 2018; Expires
395.1-Q36, and FMCSA-HOS-AG- June 7, 2023.
395.1-Q37.
FMCSA-HOS-395.8-Q26............. 83 FR 26377 (June Applicable on June
7, 2018). 7, 2018; Expires
June 7, 2023.
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Guidance documents that were posted to the Portal by the initial
OMB deadline (February 28, 2020) were publicly reissued on March 3,
2020; however, FMCSA's Guidance Portal will continue to provide the
original ``issued date'' unless substantive updates were subsequently
made to the existing guidance. FMCSA believes this approach provides
continuity and minimizes risk of confusion as compared with adding new
issuance dates each time a guidance document is reissued.

Reissuance Dates of Grace Period Guidance

This notice also clarifies the reissuance dates of the 53 ``grace
period'' guidance documents, which are the existing guidance documents
FMCSA posted to the Guidance Portal between March 4 and June 27, 2020--
the grace period established by the OMB implementing memorandum. As
with the guidance posted to the Portal by February 28, 2020, the
original ``issued date'' of all grace period guidance documents remains
the same unless substantive updates were made to the existing guidance.
However, since the guidance was not in fact posted to the Portal by
February 28, 2020, the reissuance dates are the dates they were posted
to the Portal, as follows:

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Unique identifier Issued date Reissuance date
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FMCSA-CDL-383.133-Q001............ 3/1/2019 6/25/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.600-Q007........... 3/1/2020 6/25/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.603-Q001........... 3/1/2019 6/25/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.603-Q002........... 3/1/2019 6/25/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.603-Q004........... 3/1/2019 6/25/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.605-Q005........... 3/1/2019 6/25/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.605-Q010........... 3/1/2019 6/25/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.605-Q015........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.605-Q017........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.605-Q018........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.605-Q023........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.703-Q009........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.707-Q008........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.707-Q022........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.719-Q011........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.719-Q012........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.719-Q013........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.721-Q014........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380.721-Q016........... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380-Appendix-Q003...... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380-Appendix-Q019...... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380-Appendix-Q020...... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380-Appendix-Q021...... 3/1/2019 6/26/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380-Appendix-Q024...... 3/1/2019 6/27/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380-Appendix-Q025...... 3/1/2019 6/27/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-380-Q026............... 2/4/2020 6/27/2020
FMCSA-ELDT-383.73-Q006............ 3/1/2019 6/27/2020
FMCSA-FR-78FR25782.2013.05.02..... 5/2/2012 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ001............ 4/15/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ002............ 4/15/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ003............ 4/15/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ004............ 4/15/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ005............ 4/15/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ006............ 4/18/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ007............ 4/15/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ008............ 4/15/2018 6/23/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ009............ 4/15/2018 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ010............ 4/15/2018 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ011............ 4/15/2018 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ012............ 4/15/2018 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ013............ 4/15/2018 6/29/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ014............ 4/15/2018 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ015............ 4/15/2018 6/24/2020

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FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ016............ 3/19/2020 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ017............ 3/19/2020 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ018............ 3/19/2020 6/25/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ019............ 3/19/2020 6/25/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ020............ 3/19/2020 6/25/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ021............ 3/19/2020 6/25/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ022............ 3/19/2020 6/25/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ023............ 3/25/2020 6/25/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-FAQ024............ 3/5/2020 6/24/2020
FMCSA-RG-390.23-Q004.............. 2/28/2020 6/23/2020
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Robin Hutcheson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2023-13033 Filed 6-16-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P

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