FMCSA Clearinghouse Registration & Query Management
The FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse is the federal database of verified drug and alcohol program violations. Under Clearinghouse II, employers must register, query every CDL driver before operation and at least annually, and report violations within three business days.
Who must comply
All employers of CDL drivers operating commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce must comply with the Clearinghouse under 49 CFR 382.701.
Owner-operators are both employer and driver and must designate a consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) to manage their queries.
What MCS does
MCS registers your authority, runs pre-employment full queries, schedules and runs the required annual query for every driver, and manages consent and violation reporting end-to-end.
We act as your C/TPA interface so queries, consents, and reporting happen on schedule without manual tracking.
Clearinghouse II
The updated rule requires a full query (with driver consent) for every pre-employment check and an annual query for every driver — limited queries alone no longer satisfy the annual requirement.
Return-to-duty drivers must be queried monthly until they complete the follow-up testing plan.
Frequently asked
A limited query checks for any violation without consent; a full query returns the details and requires driver consent. Clearinghouse II requires a full query pre-employment and annually.
Within three business days of the employer or consortium learning of a positive test or refusal under 49 CFR 382.705.