A follow-up audit on U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking provisions found that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration took recommended actions to improve border safety, but still needed to enhance certain areas of documentation.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General found that FMCSA continually took actions to address six of eight of its August 2007 recommendations for improving the border safety program, but needed to enhance the consistency of information reported to the Mexican Conviction Database (MCDB) and its capacity to perform safe and efficient bus inspections at border crossings. DOT-OIG said FMCSA concurred with the report’s recommendations for improvement and provided appropriate planned actions and target completion dates.
DOT-OIG’s report on FMCSA’s implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement’s cross-border trucking provisions, issued Aug. 17, was required by DOT’s Appropriations Act of 2002. DOT-OIG said reports requested by the House or Senate Committees on Appropriations must be withheld from public distribution for a period of 15 days as directed in the committee report accompanying the annual appropriations act for DOT. In compliance with this requirement, DOT-OIG made the report available on its website on Sept. 2. To view a PDF of the full report, click here.
Progress hasn’t been made in resuming the cross-border trucking program, but the Senate will consider a long-term transportation funding bill that provides funds for it if congressional concerns are met. President Obama and Mexico President Calder
