After months of speculation about just what Canadian regulators would do with respect to the June 12, 2021, enforcement date for Canada's version of the electronic logging device mandate, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra today announced an intent to work with industry and others on details of a "progressive enforcement period" to begin with "education and awareness" exclusively.
Alghabra, however, did emphasize the need for as much as speed as is possible for carrier implementation. That's wholly dependent on Canada's ELD registry of third-party certified devices, which continue to feature not a single device, with the deadline little more than three months away.
Mike Millian, head of the Canadian Private Motor Truck Council and among the more vocal of critics of the mandate timeline given the slow rollout of the registry, signaled that "no penalties to carriers at the start of the mandate" is "great news for the industry, and a position the PMTC has been very vocal in pursuing for many months now."
Millian added that "our only concern has been enough time for our members, and the rest of the industry, to be able to transition with an adequate list of certified devices to choose from. This announcement alleviates a lot of those concerns."
Alghabra also emphasized the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial trucking operators and underscored the importance of all involved, noting that "truckers and other commercial operators deserve our thanks and appreciation for delivering essential services to Canadians – without them, we can’t beat this pandemic."
The Canadian ELD mandate took a decidedly different approach to device certification than the U.S. mandate, which required only that providers attest to their own devices' compliance with the regulation's extensive device specifications. Canada opted for a third-party certification requirement for any provider looking to get their device approved to be listed on the Canadian registry -- U.S. carriers entering Canada, like Canadian carriers, will be required to use a Canadian certified device while in the nation.
Read more about the Canadian mandate, with the caveat that these reports were written before this news of the enforcement delay, via these links:
