TCA says such financial reporting to DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) is a holdover from the days when the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) strictly regulated the rates of motor carriers. The era of the government's regulation of rates for property carriers, however, ended in the mid-1990s when Congress terminated the ICC and eliminated virtually all of the agency's economic regulatory powers.
"BTS' reporting requirement is especially onerous because it infringes on the privacy rights of privately held carriers," said TCA president Bob Hirsch. "No other industry in America is subject to similar public financial reporting requirements."
While public financial reporting is expected for publicly held companies, Hirsch said that DOT's requirements obligate privately held motor carriers to report financial data that is normally considered confidential and thereby unjustifiably exposes such carriers to the eyes of the world, including competitors, trade unions and other driver organizations.
"Customarily a private company's finances will be known only to itself, its accountant, the tax collector and maybe a banker or two," Hirsch added.
TCA's petition contends that BTS' reporting requirements impose an unreasonable and unnecessary burden on motor carriers operating under today's regulatory and market conditions.
