Senior Reporter
FMCSA to Accept Mexican Commercial Vehicle Inspections
U.S. federal trucking regulators have announced they are accepting the official Mexican standard for annual commercial vehicle inspections of Mexico-domiciled motor carriers by authorities in that country.
“The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has reviewed Mexico’s pass-fail criteria for the specific vehicle components and systems examined as during the mandatory vehicle inspection and determined that Mexico’s inspection program is comparable to, or as effective as, FMCSA’s requirements,” said an FMCSA announcement scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on March 16.
The posting said that on Jan. 19, 2015, Mexico’s equivalent for the Department of Transportation published its official standard, known as NOM-68, in the Official Gazette, Mexico’s equivalent of the Federal Register.
The posting said that beginning May 19, 2015, Mexico-domiciled motor carriers must take their vehicles to a Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes-approved inspection center for a mandatory vehicle inspection. The inspections must be performed once every year, and on the months set on the inspection calendar, the Mexican official posting said.
“FMCSA acknowledges that Mexico’s compliance date for certain vehicle safety systems and components, such as anti-lock braking systems, differs from the U.S. requirements,” FMCSA said. “However, the agency does not believe the differences in the compliance dates for such systems is a sufficient basis for considering Mexico’s annual inspection standards to be substantively different.”
