June 17, 2019 – Canada’s long-awaited electronic logging device (ELD) rule has been published, which the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) says will catapult Canada ahead of the U.S. in terms of safety and compliance. The made-in-Canada regulation requires third-party device certification, something the U.S. did not pursue, and a detail the Canadian trucking industry lobbied to have included. In the U.S., devices are self-certified, which has led to the arrival in the market of ELDs that can be modified or tampered with. The rule was announced by government and industry officials at a press briefing at Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) headquarters on June 13. Officials said the new rule will be introduced nationally as soon as possible. By June 2021, third-party-certified ELDs will have to be used by all truck drivers currently required to maintain a logbook. The announcement was greeted with enthusiasm by industry associations. The hours-of-service rules themselves will not be changed; they’ll simply have to be recorded using an ELD. Canaan Transport’s trucks are already compliant with the new standards. The final rule also accelerates the implementation timeframe, from the initially proposed four years, to two. But unlike in the U.S., existing automatic on-board recording devices will not be grandfathered.