Reminder - Preparing for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse

U.S. Department of Transportation sent this bulletin at 12/17/2019 10:00 AM EST

- Reminder -

Changes to the Data Required on the Federal Drug Testing Custody and Control Form and the Alcohol Testing Form Required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Beginning January 6, 2020

To ensure you are prepared on January 6, 2020, when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse) becomes operational, we want to remind you about an upcoming change related to recording information on the Federal Drug Testing Custody and Control Form (CCF) and Alcohol Testing Form (ATF).

What Changed?

The current versions of the CCF and ATF specifically permit the use of either the driver’s social security number (SSN) or employee identification number (EIN) when completing the CCF or ATF. However, effective January 6, 2020, FMCSA is requiring that the commercial driver’s license number (CDL) must be used instead of the SSN or EIN when FMCSA-covered drivers’ positive drug or alcohol test results are reported to the Clearinghouse.

Therefore, Employers, Consortia/Third Party Administrators (C/TPAs), Collection Sites, Laboratories, and Medical Review Officers (MROs) may want to ensure that their respective data systems can accommodate a donor identification number of up to 25 alphanumeric characters.

What does this mean for Employers, C/TPAs, Collectors and Alcohol Technicians?

In accordance with 49 CFR 382.123(b), the person completing the CCF or the ATF must annotate the driver’s CDL number and State of Issuance in Step 1, Section C of the CCF or Step 1B of the ATF for each FMCSA-regulated test.
If the employer or C/TPA does not provide the CDL and the State of Issuance, then the collector or alcohol technician should ask the driver for this information at the collection site.
Even if the CDL number and State of Issuance is not listed on the CCF, the collector must send the controlled substance test specimen to the laboratory for testing.

What does this mean for Laboratories?

Laboratories who receive a CCF that indicates this is a FMCSA-regulated urine specimen but does not have the driver’s CDL number listed in Step 1 C should process the urine specimen without delay, and send the results to the MRO.

What does this mean for the MRO?

When the MRO receives a laboratory-confirmed positive drug test result for a FMCSA-regulated employee, and the CCF is without the driver’s CDL number and State of Issuance listed, the MRO should contact the driver, driver’s employer or designated employer representative to obtain it. The MRO will report the verified positive test result in the Clearinghouse.

For additional information, please visit https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This guidance is not legally binding in its own right and will not be relied upon by the Department as a separate basis for affirmative enforcement action or other administrative penalty. Conformity with this guidance (as distinct from existing statute and regulations, including 49 CFR Parts 40 and 382) is voluntary only. Nonconformity with this guidance will not affect rights and obligations under existing statutes and regulation.

Drug Clearinghouse Looming, Owner-operators Express Frustration, Lack of Awareness

December 10, 2019 - Overdrive Online | Written by James Jaillet

Many owner-operators, though technically not required to do anything before the looming Jan. 6 deadline, are in some ways unaware of, and unprepared for, the new CDL Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse rule that takes effect in less than a month.

FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse

Query Plan Details

Query plans will be available for purchase on the Clearinghouse website in fall 2019.

FMCSA has released the query plan options for employers of CDL drivers. The query plan information is in the attached factsheet, it is also available for download on the Clearinghouse website. Query plans will be available for purchase fall 2019.

Expanded Clearinghouse FAQs from FMCSA

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has enhanced and expanded the FAQs on the Clearinghouse website. Visit the new FMCSA FAQs page to access more than 50 questions and answers. You can search or filter to find specific information.

Some topics include General Information, Registration, Security, Queries and Consent Requests, Reporting Violations, Return-to-Duty, and Cross-Border Transportation.

DOT Publishes Drug Testing Rule

Today, April 23, 2019, the Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule that makes minor technical corrections to the OST, FAA, FTA, and PHMSA regulations governing drug testing for safety-sensitive employees to ensure consistency with the recent amendments made to the Department of Transportation’s regulation, “Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs,” which added requirements to test for oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone to DOT-regulated drug testing programs. The changes to the Department’s regulation make it necessary to refer to these substances, as well as the previously covered drugs morphine, 6-acetylmorphine, and codeine, by the more inclusive term “opioids,” rather than “opiates.” This rule amends the term in the FAA, FTA, and PHMSA regulations to ensure that all DOT drug testing rules are consistent with one another and with the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. In addition, this rule makes a conforming amendment to include the term “opioids” in the wording of the Department’s annual information collection requirement and clarifications to section 40.26 and Appendix H regarding the requirement for employers to follow the Department’s instructions for the annual information collection.

To learn more about this final rule, visit www.transportation.gov.