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Oct 19, 2011 3:30 PM

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has been conducting site visits of Mexican driver training, testing, and licensing locations as part of the cross-border trucking program. Details of those site visits are posted on the FMCSA pilot program Web site at The Agency agreed to post reports of these visits on the FMCSA pilot program Web site at http:/www.fmcsa.dot.gov/intl-programs/trucking/Trucking-Program.aspx.

Since entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mexico on November 21, 1991, on the equivalency of a Mexican Licencia Federal de Conductor (LF) and a commercial driver's license (CDL) issued in the United States, the US motor carrier safety regulations have recognized the LF as equivalent to a CDL.

As the FMCSA explained in its Federal Register notice of April 13, 2011, proposing the requirements for the United States-Mexico cross border long-haul trucking pilot program, the Secretary of Transportation will accept only three areas of Mexican regulation as being equivalent to US regulations. One of those areas is the reciprocal recognition of the LF and the CDL.

In the Agency's July 8, 2011, Federal Register notice, however, FMCSA recognized concerns about the on-going acceptance of the existing CDL MOU and committed to site visits at Mexican driver training, testing, and licensing locations prior to beginning the pilot program to review Mexico's on-going compliance with the terms of the current MOU. The Agency agreed to post reports of these visits on the FMCSA pilot program Web. The Agency also added copies of the 1991 MOU regarding CDL reciprocity to the docket for the pilot program.