UPDATE 1/17/17: The FMCSA announced that it is temporarily putting on hold the effective date for EXISTING carriers and brokers to begin using the new Unified Registration System. The agency has not yet set a new effective date. For more information, see Final Stage of MC Number Rule Suspended.
Today the FMCSA announced that it will again delay implementation of its Unified Registration System (URS). This new registration system will do away with MC numbers, relying on USDOT numbers as the sole identifier for carriers, brokers and other entities required to register with the FMCSA.
WHEN MC NUMBERS GO AWAY
After the URS takes effect, DAT customers will still be able to look up potential business partners by their MC numbers. If a carrier or broker is a DAT customer, simply look them up in the the DAT Directory. Brokers can access full information on ALL carriers by using DAT CarrierWatch.
The new implementation date for existing carriers and brokers will be January 14, 2017 — that’s three-and-a-half months later than the previously targeted date of September 30, 2016. (A chart listing new compliance dates for each entity can be found on the Transportation Intermediaries Association website.)
A memo issued by FMCSA stated: “Additional time is needed due to added complexities encountered when the Agency converted to cloud-based systems and also due to the logistics of transferring millions of records.”
For additional information about the URS, including questions and answers, see my previous blog post about the subject: MC Numbers Going Away—But Not So Soon.
