The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has announced it will not enforce the reporting or registration requirements of the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation for drayage or high priority fleets until a waiver determination is issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). This does not apply to state and local government fleets because CARB does not need a waiver for those vehicles.

CARB approved the ACF regulation in April 2023, but the waiver request was submitted to the US EPA on November 17, 2023. The regulation took effect January 1, 2024.

Waivers can typically take somewhere between 9 to 12 months to process due to the need for technical review and a public comment period. No time frame has been given by the federal agency for when this request may be granted. But, we do know that the agency is currently sitting on a backlog of requests for clean air rule approvals.

CARB stated that it would reserve the right to enforce the ACF in full once the waiver is granted or determined to be unnecessary, including requiring the removal of any non-compliant vehicles added to a fleet after January 1, 2024. Therefore, the agency is encouraging affected fleets to voluntarily report and comply while the waiver request is pending.

You can review the agency’s notice for more details.