This week, commercial vehicle drivers are to be placed out-of-service for failure to meet English language proficiency (ELP) standards.

Effective , non-compliance with existing federal regulations requiring ELP for commercial vehicle drivers is an out-of-service violation, according to guidance issued by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) in May.

NEWS: @SecDuffy has announced new guidelines to enhance enforcement of English proficiency for commercial truckers.

Under @POTUS' leadership, we're improving highway safety by ensuring every driver is qualified and proficient in English—our national language.

Starting June 25,… pic.twitter.com/LmvCDaflMN

— U.S. Department of Transportation (@USDOT) May 20, 2025

The CVSA added “English Proficiency” to the agency’s North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria following a White House Executive Order (EO) calling for increased enforcement of federal English-language requirements for truck drivers. The EO called for agencies to rescind a 2016 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) memo that directed law enforcement not to place truck drivers out-of-service for ELP violations.

Starting on June 25, to avoid being placed out-of-service, drivers must be able to read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records, officials say.

The FMCSA recently issued guidance for law enforcement and safety officers on how to determine whether a commercial vehicle driver is proficient in the English language during the roadside or weigh station inspections. The agency laid out the following two-step language assessment process:

From the FMCSA:

“This policy advises FMCSA personnel to initiate all roadside inspections in English. If the inspector’s initial contact with the driver indicates that the driver may not understand the inspector’s initial instructions, the inspector should conduct an ELP assessment in order to evaluate the driver’s compliance with 49 CFR § 391.11(b)(2). 

The inspector should evaluate the driver’s ability to respond sufficiently to official inquiries and directions in English, as required by 49 CFR § 391.11(b)(2)

Because the driver interview is a means of establishing the driver’s ability to respond to official inquiries by speaking English sufficiently, the inspector should inform the driver that the driver should respond to the inspector in English. Tools to facilitate communication such as interpreters, I-Speak cards, cue cards, smart phone applications, and On-Call Telephone Interpretation Service should not be used during the driver interview, as those tools may mask a driver’s inability to communicate in English.

If the inspector determines the driver is unable to respond to official inquiries in English
sufficiently, it is the policy of FMCSA that the inspector cite the driver for a violation of 49 CFR § 391.11(b)(2).

There is no need to progress to Step 2 if the inspector determines that the driver is unable to respond sufficiently to official inquiries as outlined in Step 1 of the ELP Assessment.

The inspector should evaluate the driver’s ability to understand sufficiently United States highway traffic signs by conducting a Highway Traffic Sign Assessment to include highway traffic signs that conform to the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) and electronic-display changeable (a.k.a. “dynamic”) message signs the driver may encounter while operating a commercial motor vehicle.”

Officers are instructed to document evidence to support the ELP violation, “including the driver’s responses or lack thereof” and place the driver immediately out-of-service for violation of English language requirements, and “when warranted, initiating an action to disqualify the driver from operating commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce.”

Authorities are providing leniency for drivers operating commercial zones along the U.S.-Mexico border, noting that these drivers should be cited for ELP violations but not placed out-of-service or disqualified from operating commercial vehicles.