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Border Checklist
Here are the rules for Mexican carriers crossing the border.
The rules that apply to U.S. companies also apply to Canadian and Mexican companies when they operate in the U.S.
FMCSA will conduct a safety examination of each Mexican applicant. Applicants with three or fewer trucks need not be examined on site, but 50% of all examinations must be done on-site in Mexico.
• The safety exam will verify the company's performance data and safety management program, including drug and alcohol testing and hours of service. It also will verify insurance coverage, driver qualifications and operating history. It will include an interview with company management, and it will verify the company's maintenance system.
• If the company passes the safety exam, it gets a conditional operating authority for 18 months. In that period, the agency will conduct a full-fledged compliance review, before the company can get permanent authority. Again, half of all compliance reviews must be conducted on-site in Mexico — and all companies with more than four trucks that did not get onsite safety exams must get onsite compliance reviews.
• While they are operating under conditional authority, all long-haul Mexican trucks will have to display a valid Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance sticker. CVSA sets cooperative truck inspection standards in the U.S., Canada and, now, Mexico. Mexican carriers will have to maintain the CVSA clearance for 36 months after they get permanent authority.
• Inspectors will verify the licenses of all long-haul drivers pulling hazmats or undergoing a full CVSA inspection. They will verify the licenses of half of all other long-haul drivers.
• Each Mexican carrier will get a DOT number.
• All trucks crossing the border will be weighed. By the end of the year, the 10 busiest border crossings will have weigh-in-motion systems. Standard scales will be used at other crossings.
• Mexican trucks can only cross where and when a safety inspector is on duty.
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