ason McDaniel
Key Highlights
- The GHOSTRUCK Act mandates that only North American-based personnel can edit electronic logging device records.
- The legislation preserves driver approval over any changes to their duty status logs, ensuring final oversight remains with the driver.
- Foreign dispatchers and personnel are explicitly prohibited from manipulating driver logs under the new bill.
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The GHOSTRUCK Act, supported by NTTC and other trucking organizations, seeks to close loopholes allowing foreign-based personnel to manipulate electronic logging device records, thereby enhancing highway safety and driver accountability.
National Tank Truck Carriers supports the GHOSTRUCK Act—the new bipartisan “Guarding Hours-of-Service Oversight and Stopping Tampering by Remote Unofficial Carrier Keeper” legislation designed to strengthen the integrity of electronic logging device (ELD) records and improve highway safety by closing a loophole that allows foreign-based personnel to manipulate driver logs.
The GHOSTRUCK Act was introduced by U.S. Representatives Greg Steube (R-Fla.) and Dave Taylor (R-Ohio).
Ryan Streblow, NTTC president and CEO of NTTC, emphasized the critical nature of the bill for the tank truck industry.
“Safety is at the heart of everything we do at National Tank Truck Carriers,” Streblow said in a news release. “The GHOSTRUCK Act strengthens the integrity of the hours-of-service system by ensuring that edits to electronic logging device records are made only by authorized personnel physically located in North America and remain subject to driver approval.
“Accountability in driver records is essential to maintaining compliance, protecting drivers from undue pressure, and ensuring that commercial motor vehicles operate safely on our nation’s highways.”
According to a report from Bulk Transporter’s affiliate publication, FleetOwner, the legislation addresses growing concerns that overseas dispatchers are altering driver logs while remaining beyond the reach of U.S. accountability and enforcement measures. Current federal law does not explicitly prohibit foreign-based personnel from editing or annotating these records, a gap that proponents say allows for the falsification of logs and the overworking of drivers.
The GHOSTRUCK Act would mandate that any edits or annotations to an ELD record be made only by a carrier, dispatcher, or driver physically located in North America. Critically, the bill preserves the requirement that all edits remain subject to driver approval, ensuring the driver maintains final say over their record of duty status.
Steube noted that the act is necessary because foreign actors have been found falsifying driver logs to avoid accountability when tragedies occur on American roads. Beyond NTTC, the bill has garnered broad industry support from other trucking organizations, including American Trucking Associations, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, and the Truckload Carriers Association.
“Foreign dispatchers should not be able to manipulate trucking safety records from halfway around the world and put American lives at risk,” Steube said in a release. “Reports have exposed how overseas actors are falsifying driver logs, overworking truckers beyond safe limits, and avoiding accountability when tragedies occur.
“The GHOSTRUCK Act closes this loophole and helps keep our roads safe.”
