Forwarder group against FMCSA intermediary rule

   The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America has taken issue to a recently proposed regulation by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that would broaden the definition of transportation intermediary.
   Under the new regulation, the NCBFAA said, intermediaries could now be defined as everything from customs brokers to NVOCCs, which would then make those parties subject to regulation by the FMCSA. The group explained that under the rule, the regulatory body could see   NCBFAA members as employers of trucking companies, requiring them to toe the line in regard to trucking regulations.  
   “Such a circumstance would prevent an NCBFAA member from replacing an [hours of service]-limited driver because the FMCSA could construe it to be ‘coercion’ of an HOS limited driver who refuses to violate the agency’s safety rules,” the group said in a statement. “Such inability to replace an ineligible driver would bring commerce to a halt. The NCBFAA’s view is that members hire the trucking company, not the driver, and responsibility for monitoring compliance with [regulations] falls on the trucking company.”