OTTAWA, (Jan. 11, 2005) — A proposed rule that sparked skepticism from both sides of the border has been quietly withdrawn by U.S. regulators, the Canadian Trucking Alliance is reporting.

The CTA says that the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration dropped a plan that would have required all commercial vehicles operating on U.S. highways to bear a manufacturer’s label certifying compliance with U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

While there still has not been has been an official comment from FMCSA on its intentions for the proposed rule, the Office of Management and Budget has reported that on December 9, 2004, the rule was “withdrawn by agency.”

The controversial rule, first proposed in 2002, has been called misguided and onerous from trucking industry and government organizations on both sides of the border, including the CTA, the American Trucking Associations, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the Government of Canada and a variety of other organizations.

In its response to the proposal more than two years ago, CTA stated that the requirement would place an impossible burden on Canadian motor carriers, since the vast majority of vehicles in this country carry a Canadian safety certification.

While the U.S. and Canadian safety standards are very similar, the proposed rule would not have recognized the validity of a Canadian label. This would have required all Canadian vehicles operating internationally to be returned to the original manufacturer or importer for retroactive certification of compliance with the U.S. FMVSS — a rule that the CTA says is impossible for Canadian carriers to comply with.

The groups also pointed out to FMCSA that the mere presence of a label affixed by the OEM provided no guarantee whatsoever that the vehicle was still in a safe operating condition. That kind of assurance can only come from an on-road inspection to verify the vehicle’s current mechanical condition.

“It is beyond our comprehension how a point so apparently self-evident could have been overlooked by those who proposed this rule,” CTA chief David Bradley said in a release. “For a vehicle that has been on the road for any length of time, a manufacturer’s sticker is largely irrelevant from a safety standpoint. Moreover, compliance with this rule would not only have been difficult, but impossible for the vast majority of Canadian trucking companies.”

The CTA is warning that the matter could still resurface when Congress resumes deliberations on multi-year highway funding, as the Senate version of the transportation reauthorization bill also contains wording that would impose a vehicle labeling requirement. However, for now the CTA is hoping that lawmakers will follow FMCSA’s “common-sense approach and let the issue drop entirely.”