Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of an Approved Information Collection Request: Designation of Agents, Motor Carriers, Brokers and Freight Forwarders

AGENCY:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its review and approval and invites public comment. FMCSA requests approval to renew an ICR titled “Designation of Agents, Motor Carriers, Brokers and Freight Forwarders,” which is used to provide registered motor carriers, property brokers, and freight forwarders a means of meeting process agent requirements.

DATES:

We must receive your comments on or before December 16, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0152 using any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
• Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
• Mail: Docket Operations; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
• Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see the Public Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov,, and follow the online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street address listed above.

Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov,, as described in the system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy.

Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the “help” section of the Federal eRulemaking Portal website. If you want us to notify you that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or postcard, or print the acknowledgement page that appears after submitting comments online. Comments received after the comment closing date will be included in the docket and will be considered to the extent practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Lorenzo Allen, Office of Registration and Safety Information, Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-385-2465; email: Lorenzo.allen@dot.gov. Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Designation of Agents, Motor Carriers, Brokers and Freight Forwarders.

OMB Control Number: 2126-0015.

Type of Request: Renewal of a currently-approved information collection.

Respondents: Motor carriers, freight forwarders and brokers.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 39,047.

Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.

Expiration Date: January 31, 2020.

Frequency of Response: On occasion. Form BOC-3 must be filed by all motor carriers, freight forwarders and brokers when the transportation entity first registers with the FMCSA. All brokers must make a designation for each State in which it has an office or in which contracts are written. Subsequent filings are made only if the motor carrier, broker or freight forwarder changes process agents.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 6,508 hours [39,047 respondents × 10 minutes per response].

Background

The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) is authorized to register motor carriers under the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 13902; freight forwarders under the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 13903; and property brokers under provisions of 49 U.S.C. 13904. These persons may conduct transportation services only if they are registered pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 13901. The Secretary delegated authority pertaining to these registration requirements to FMCSA in 49 CFR 1.73(a)(5).

Registered motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders must designate an agent on whom service of notices in proceedings before the Secretary may be made (49 U.S.C. 13303). Registered motor carriers must also designate an agent for every State in which they operate and traverse in the United States during such operations, agents on whom process issued by a court may be served in actions brought against the registered motor carrier (49 U.S.C. 13304, 49 CFR 366.4T). Every broker shall make a designation for each State in which its offices are located or in which contracts are written (49 U.S.C. 13304, 49 CFR 366.4T). Regulations governing the designation of process agents are found at 49 CFR part 366. This designation is filed with FMCSA on Form BOC-3, “Designation of Agents for Service of Process.” The program decrease in annual burden hours from 18,395 to 6,508 is due to revised estimates of the number of respondents and responses. Previous estimates were based on 2014 data. Current estimates are based on May 2019 Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) and Safety Measurement System (SMS) data snapshots.

Public Comments Invited:

You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the FMCSA to perform it's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for the FMCSA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected information.