Title 49

SECTION 385.11

385.11 Notification of safety fitness determination.

§ 385.11 Notification of safety fitness determination.

(a) The FMCSA will provide a motor carrier written notice of any safety rating resulting from a compliance review as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days after the review. The notice will take the form of a letter issued from the FMCSA's headquarters office and will include a list of FMCSR and HMR compliance deficiencies which the motor carrier must correct.

(b) If the safety rating is “satisfactory” or improves a previous “unsatisfactory” safety rating, it is final and becomes effective on the date of the notice.

(c) In all other cases, a notice of a proposed safety rating will be issued. It becomes the final safety rating after the following time periods:

(1) For motor carriers transporting hazardous materials in quantities requiring placarding or transporting passengers by CMV - 45 days after the date of the notice.

(2) For all other motor carriers operating CMVs - 60 days after the date of the notice.

(d) A proposed safety rating of “unsatisfactory” is a notice to the motor carrier that the FMCSA has made a preliminary determination that the motor carrier is “unfit” to continue operating in interstate commerce, and that the prohibitions in § 385.13 will be imposed after 45 or 60 days if necessary safety improvements are not made.

(e) A motor carrier may request the FMCSA to perform an administrative review of a proposed or final safety rating. The process and the time limits are described in § 385.15.

(f) A motor carrier may request a change to a proposed or final safety rating based upon its corrective actions. The process and the time limits are described in § 385.17.

[65 FR 50934, Aug. 22, 2000, as amended at 75 FR 17241, Apr. 5, 2010; 77 FR 28450, May 14, 2012]

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