When to use the electronic logbook or not?
Concerns:
- Quebec regulations related to the DCE
- Exemption from the 160km Radius
- DCE Exemptions
The driver must complete an activity report in which all activities are recorded, whether or not they are required to do so using an electronic logging device.
Electronic Logging Device (DCE)
The operator is required to ensure that each heavy vehicle under their responsibility is equipped with an electronic logging device certified by Transport Canada that meets the requirements of the technical standard, except in the following cases:
- The vehicle is under a lease contract of no more than 30 days that is not an extended or renewed lease contract;
- The vehicle is a model year prior to 2000;
- The vehicle is driven within a 160 km radius from the driver's base and the driver returns to their base every day;
- The driver of the vehicle traveling within a 160 km radius of their base cannot return on the same day due to poor traffic conditions.
- The vehicle is driven to be delivered:
- Either to the owner's base as a result of a transfer of ownership, - or to its lessee, - or to its lessor during a lease contract or at its expiration, - or to a branch of a vehicle rental company for inventory adjustment;
- The vehicle driven to be delivered to one of the above recipients is neither loaded nor attached;
- The vehicle driven to be delivered to one of the above recipients transports one or more vehicles that are part of the delivery, by the piggyback method; the vehicle is driven within 5 days of its delivery as a result of a transfer of ownership and is neither attached nor loaded;
- The vehicle is a new vehicle that is driven to be delivered to a company for completion of its manufacture or to be made compliant with its intended use, or which is driven to be returned to its owner after such an operation;
The driver who occasionally travels beyond the 160 km radius
Source: Hours of Service and Rest Guide p.59
A driver who occasionally travels beyond the 160 km radius must complete an activity report for each day when this is the case. Their vehicle must also be equipped with a DCE if it does not meet the exemption conditions for using such a device. If they were not required to do so immediately before starting the day, they must record, in the activity report, the number of hours of rest and work accumulated for each of the days when they were not required to complete such a report during the preceding 14 days.
In summary: When the driver travels within a 160km radius and returns to their base every day for 8 hours of rest, they are not required to record their activity reports in a DCE. They can use a simplified register or a detailed register.
DCE Information Kit
The operator ensures that each heavy vehicle they operate and which is equipped with an electronic logging device has on board an information kit that includes an up-to-date version of the following documents:
- An instruction manual;
- An instruction sheet for the driver describing the data transfer methods supported by the electronic logging device and the procedure for generating data related to their working hours and transferring it to a peace officer;
- An instruction sheet for the driver describing the actions to be taken in case of failure of the electronic logging device;
- Paper-based activity report forms in sufficient quantity to allow the driver to record their activities for at least 15 days.
Recommendation: If the manual and sheets are in electronic format, it would be advisable to keep them on a device other than the DCE, as in case of DCE failure, they would become inaccessible.
Order your DCE kit by clicking here. (The DCE kit does not include paper activity reports)