The U.S. Department of Transportation last month published temporary regulations providing for security checks of Canadian truck and rail operators carrying explosives to the United States. Under the interim final rule issued by Transportation Security Administration, explosives carriers must register with Transport Canada, which will conduct checks to ensure that the carriers and their customers are legitimate entities and that the drivers pose no security concerns.
Transport Canada will then forward lists of approved carriers, shippers and drivers to TSA, which will make additional checks as appropriate and forward the lists to the U.S. Customs Service. Customs will allow Canadian explosives carriers to enter the United States only if the carrier, shipper and operator are on the approved list.
The interim final rule was required by the Safe Explosives Act, which was enacted in November 2002. The law added a number of categories of persons who may not lawfully transport explosives in interstate or foreign commerce without DOT authority, and one of those categories was nonresident aliens.
David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, said that he was pleased with the stopgap measure. “Two weeks ago CTA alerted officials of the Canadian government on implications of new rules under the U.S. Safe Explosives Act that would have shut out Canadian drivers from hauling explosives to or from the United States effective January 24,” said Bradley. “Actions were taken swiftly by the trucking industry and Canadian and U.S. government officials to help resolve the matter.”
The U.S. DOT is also working with the Mexican government to create a similar security system and plans to adapt rules to include Mexican explosives carriers soon.
For a copy of the rule, visit this site and search Docket No. 14421.
