385.11—Notification of safety rating and safety fitness determination.
(a)
The FMCSA will provide a motor carrier written notice of any safety rating resulting from a compliance review as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 days after the review. The notice will take the form of a letter issued from the FMCSA's headquarters office and will include a list of FMCSR and HMR compliance deficiencies which the motor carrier must correct.
(b)
If the safety rating is “satisfactory” or improves a previous “unsatisfactory” safety rating, it is final and becomes effective on the date of the notice.
(c)
In all other cases, a notice of a proposed safety rating will be issued. It becomes the final safety rating after the following time periods:
(1)
For motor carriers transporting hazardous materials in quantities requiring placarding or transporting passengers by CMV—45 days after the date of the notice.
(d)
A proposed safety rating of “unsatisfactory” is a notice to the motor carrier that the FMCSA has made a preliminary determination that the motor carrier is “unfit” to continue operating in interstate commerce, and that the prohibitions in § 385.13 will be imposed after 45 or 60 days if necessary safety improvements are not made.
(e)
A motor carrier may request the FMCSA to perform an administrative review of a proposed or final safety rating. The process and the time limits are described in § 385.15.
(f)
A motor carrier may request a change to a proposed or final safety rating based upon its corrective actions. The process and the time limits are described in § 385.17.
(g)
If a motor carrier is subject to a remedial directive and proposed determination of unfitness under subpart J of this part, the notice of remedial directive will constitute the notice of safety fitness determination. If FMCSA has not issued a notice of remedial directive and proposed determination of unfitness under subpart J of this part, a notice of a proposed or final safety rating will constitute the notice of safety fitness determination.
[65 FR 50934, Aug. 22, 2000, as amended at 75 FR 17241, Apr. 5, 2010]