Effective today, non-compliance with Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 391.11(b)(2) is now a driver out-of-service violation, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance\u2019s (CVSA) North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, which are the criteria that commercial motor vehicle enforcement personnel utilize to identify violations during an inspection that prohibit a driver from operating a commercial motor vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CFR 391.11(b)(2)<\/a>, \u201cGeneral qualifications of drivers,\u201d states that a driver must be able to read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria has been amended to state that drivers who cannot satisfy the English language proficiency requirements of \u00a7 391.11(b)(2), as per the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration\u2019s (FMCSA) Enforcement Guidance Memo MC-SEE-2025-0001<\/a>, will be declared out of service. The printed version of CVSA’s North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria is updated on April 1 of each year. Although the English language proficiency out-of-service violation takes effect on June 25, it will not be listed in the printed version of out-of-service criteria until the April 1, 2026, edition is released. However, it is important to understand that the requirement to comply with \u00a7 391.11(b)(2) is currently in effect, and failure to comply will result in the driver being placed out of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, all applicable inspection procedures have been updated to add a note to the \u201cGreet and Prepare the Driver\u201d step of the inspection process to reference FMCSA Enforcement Guidance Memo MC-SEE-2025-0001, which provides federal guidance to roadside inspection personnel on how to assess and enforce the English language proficiency requirements in \u00a7 391.11(b)(2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n CVSA\u2019s membership consists of commercial motor vehicle safety enforcement officials in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The English language proficiency regulation is a U.S. requirement. It does not apply in CVSA\u2019s other member countries \u2013 Canada and Mexico. However, drivers and motor carriers from other countries operating in the U.S. need to comply with these requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motor carriers and drivers may visit FMCSA\u2019s website<\/a> for guidance and information on the English language proficiency roadside assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pursuant to the April 28\u00a0Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America\u2019s Truck Drivers Executive Order<\/a>, on May 1, the CVSA Board of Directors\u00a0voted<\/a>\u00a0to add non-compliance with \u00a7 391.11(b)(2) to the CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, effective June 25. This revision to the out-of-service criteria was approved by the board under an emergency provision within the CVSA Bylaws, which allows the board to vote on a change to the out-of-service criteria without a vote by Class I Members, which is the usual process for changes to the criteria. The board utilized the emergency bylaw provision to meet the executive order\u2019s 60-day deadline. Non-Compliance with English Language Proficiency Regulation Takes Effect as an Out-of-Service Driver Violation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Effective today, non-compliance with Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 391.11(b)(2) is now a driver out-of-service violation, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance\u2019s (CVSA) North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, which are the criteria that commercial motor vehicle enforcement personnel utilize to identify violations during an inspection that prohibit a driver from operating a commercial motor vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CFR 391.11(b)(2)<\/a>, \u201cGeneral qualifications of drivers,\u201d states that a driver must be able to read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria has been amended to state that drivers who cannot satisfy the English language proficiency requirements of \u00a7 391.11(b)(2), as per the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration\u2019s (FMCSA) Enforcement Guidance Memo MC-SEE-2025-0001<\/a>, will be declared out of service. The printed version of CVSA’s North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria is updated on April 1 of each year. Although the English language proficiency out-of-service violation takes effect on June 25, it will not be listed in the printed version of out-of-service criteria until the April 1, 2026, edition is released. However, it is important to understand that the requirement to comply with \u00a7 391.11(b)(2) is currently in effect, and failure to comply will result in the driver being placed out of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, all applicable inspection procedures have been updated to add a note to the \u201cGreet and Prepare the Driver\u201d step of the inspection process to reference FMCSA Enforcement Guidance Memo MC-SEE-2025-0001, which provides federal guidance to roadside inspection personnel on how to assess and enforce the English language proficiency requirements in \u00a7 391.11(b)(2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n CVSA\u2019s membership consists of commercial motor vehicle safety enforcement officials in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The English language proficiency regulation is a U.S. requirement. It does not apply in CVSA\u2019s other member countries \u2013 Canada and Mexico. However, drivers and motor carriers from other countries operating in the U.S. need to comply with these requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motor carriers and drivers may visit FMCSA\u2019s website<\/a> for guidance and information on the English language proficiency roadside assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pursuant to the April 28\u00a0Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America\u2019s Truck Drivers Executive Order<\/a>, on May 1, the CVSA Board of Directors\u00a0voted<\/a>\u00a0to add non-compliance with \u00a7 391.11(b)(2) to the CVSA North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria, effective June 25. This revision to the out-of-service criteria was approved by the board under an emergency provision within the CVSA Bylaws, which allows the board to vote on a change to the out-of-service criteria without a vote by Class I Members, which is the usual process for changes to the criteria. The board utilized the emergency bylaw provision to meet the executive order\u2019s 60-day deadline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In May, CTA surveyed carrier members to gauge their potential concern with the US English proficiency rules. One-in-five trucking companies indicated some of their drivers might struggle to comply with English language proficiency (ELP) requirements in the US, according to about 100 carriers who responded to the survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FMCSA<\/a> is the lead federal government agency responsible for regulating and providing safety oversight of commercial motor vehicles. FMCSA’s mission is to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses. CVSA<\/a> is a nonprofit organization whose members are commercial motor vehicle safety officials who enforce the federal regulations. CVSA’s mission is to improve commercial motor vehicle safety and enforcement by providing guidance, education and advocacy for enforcement and industry across North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Effective today, non-compliance with Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 391.11(b)(2) is now a driver out-of-service violation, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance\u2019s (CVSA) North American Standard Out-of-Service…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2498,703,970],"class_list":["post-9011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-border-customs","tag-english-language-proficiency","tag-out-of-service","tag-us-regulations"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9012,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9011\/revisions\/9012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}