On November 13, 2017, the DOT Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy and Compliance issued a final rule which harmonizes 49 CFR Part 40 with the revised Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Mandatory Guidelines established for drug & alcohol testing of federal employees.

The new Part 40 rules become effective on January 1, 2018. We have been waiting for this since DHHS began their new procedures for federal employees in October.

Highlights of the Part 40 rule changes include:

• The opiate testing panel has been reclassified as opioid. It includes semi-synthetic opioids in addition to heroin, morphine, and codeine.
• MDA has been added as an initial test analyte. MDEA has been removed as a confirmatory test analyte.
• Key personnel such as specimen collectors, BATs, MROs, SAPs, etc. are required to subscribe to the ODAPC list-serve as of 1/1/2018. Just go ahead and do it now: https://www.transportation.gov/odapc/ListServe_Notices.
• There are some revisions to MRO procedures contained in Subpart G of Part 40.
• Submission of blind specimens will no longer be required as of January 1, 2018.
• Part 40.193 has been changed to require collectors to discard the initial “suspect specimen” in the event a 2^nd collection under direct observation is discontinued because of an insufficient specimen (shy bladder) or the donor leaves the collection site.
• Three new fatal flaws in the UDS collection process have been added: (1) there is no CCF; (2) two separate collections were performed using one CCF; and (3) there was no specimen submitted to the laboratory with the CCF (in cases where a specimen was collected).

Now that DOT has published a final rule to harmonize Part 40 with the HHS rules, employers and service agents are authorized to use the new Custody & Control Form for DOT collections effective 1/1/18 or when it becomes available from your laboratory. All service providers, laboratories, and employers must begin using the new CCF after June 30, 2018.

You can find the text of the final rule on the ODAPC website at https://www.transportation.gov/odapc/frpubs.