Win-Win for government and trucking industry, according to CTA
OTTAWA — Member jurisdictions of the International Registration Plan (IRP) recently approved changes that will simplify compliance for motor carriers and clarify record keeping responsibilities.
With the support of industry associations in both Canada and the United States, several provisions under the Plan regarding audits and carrier record-keeping requirements have been revised.
Ron Lennox, vice president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), says the changes will benefit motor carriers by providing more flexibility in record-keeping, restrict jurisdictions from penalizing for records that have already been audited, and give much better guidance on what electronic records are acceptable. Additionally, there will no longer be an IRP-prescribed format for IRP record keeping, freeing registrants to use their own record keeping systems and vehicle tracking technology.
For states and provinces, the changes will lend clarity to auditing standards and should therefore help auditors to accurately assess motor carriers.
All 10 Canadian provinces were among the 43 jurisdictions that voted for the amendments.
By urging their IRP administrators to vote for the amendment, the provincial trucking associations and their member carriers were instrumental in helping to get the changes passed.
“CTA commends the jurisdictions who voted in favour of the changes aimed at clarifying IRP’s audit and record-keeping provisions,” said CTA’s CEO, David Bradley. “We also wish to acknowledge the role of provincial trucking associations in encouraging their respective governments to support the reforms.”