The partial exemption from regulation under the provisions of 49 U.S.C. subtitle IV, part B of the casual, occasional, and reciprocal transportation of passengers by motor vehicle in interstate or foreign commerce for compensation as provided in 49 U.S.C. 13506(b) be, and it is hereby, removed to the extent necessary to make applicable all provisions of 49 U.S.C. subtitle IV, part B to such transportation when sold or offered for sale, or provided or procured or furnished or arranged for, by any person who sells, offers for sale, provides, furnishes, contracts, or arranges for such transportation for compensation or as a regular occupation or business.

[32 FR 20036, Dec. 20, 1967. Redesignated at 61 FR 54708, Oct. 21, 1996, as amended at 62 FR 15421, Apr. 1, 1997]

The exemption set forth in 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(1) shall not be construed as being inapplicable to motor vehicles being used at the time of operation in the transportation of schoolchildren and teachers to or from school, even though such motor vehicles are employed at other times in transportation beyond the scope of the exemption.

[36 FR 9022, May 18, 1971, as amended at 62 FR 15421, Apr. 1, 1997]

As used in the regulations in this part, the following terms shall have the meaning shown:

(a) Cooperative association. The term “cooperative association” means an association which conforms to the following definition in the Agricultural Marketing Act, approved June 15, 1929, as amended (12 U.S.C. 1141j):

As used in this Act, the term cooperative association means any association in which farmers act together in processing, preparing for market, handling, and/or marketing the farm products of persons so engaged, and also means any association in which farmers act together in purchasing, testing, grading, processing, distributing, and/or furnishing farm supplies and/or farm business services. Provided, however, That such associations are operated for the mutual benefit of the members thereof as such producers or purchasers and conform to one or both of the following requirements:

First. That no member of the association is allowed more than one vote because of the amount of stock or membership capital he may own therein; and

Second. That the association does not pay dividends on stock or membership capital in excess of 8 per centum per annum.

And in any case to the following:

Third. That the association shall not deal in farm products, farm supplies and farm business services with or for nonmembers in an amount greater in value than the total amount of such business transacted by it with or for members. All business transacted by any cooperative association for or on behalf of the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof shall be disregarded in determining the volume of member and nonmember business transacted by such association.

Associations which do not conform to such definition are not eligible to operate under the partial exemption of 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(5).

(b) Federation of cooperative associations. The term “federation of cooperative associations” means a federation composed of either two or more cooperative associations, or one or more farmers, which federation possesses no greater powers or purposes than a cooperative association as defined in paragraph (a) of this section. Federations of cooperative associations which do not conform to such definition are not eligible to operate under the partial exemption of 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(5).

(c) Member. The term “member” means any farmer or cooperative association which has consented to be, has been accepted as, and is a member in good standing in accordance with the constitution, bylaws, or rules of the cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations.

(d) Farmer. The term “farmer” means any individual, partnership, corporation, or other business entity to the extent engaged in farming operations either as a producer of agricultural commodities or as a farm owner.

(e) Interstate transportation. The term “interstate transportation” means transportation by motor vehicle in interstate or foreign commerce subject to the FMCSA's jurisdiction as set forth in 49 U.S.C. 13501.

(f) Member transportation. The term “member transportation” means transportation performed by a cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations for itself or for its members, but does not include transportation performed in furtherance of the nonfarm business of such members.

(g) Nonmember transportation. The term “nonmember transportation” means transportation performed by a cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations other than member transportation as defined in paragraph (f) of this section.

(h) Fiscal year. The term “fiscal year” means the annual accounting period adopted by the cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations for Federal income tax reporting purposes.

(i) Recreational activities. The term “recreational activities” means activities consisting of an outdoor experience or excursion typically of a physical or athletic nature which require transportation for the sole purpose of moving customers to another location or locations where the outdoor experience or excursion will take place and collecting those customers to transport them back to the place of initial boarding or another outpost of the motor carrier. Recreational activities include but are not limited to hiking, biking, horseback riding, canoeing, whitewater rafting, water trails, tubing, skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, hunting, fishing, mountain climbing, swimming, and off-highway vehicle driving and riding. The term does not include any activity:

(1) for which the activity offered or sold is occurring simultaneously with the transportation; or

(2) for which the transportation is the primary service offered for sale.

[43 FR 2397, Jan. 17, 1978, as amended at 45 FR 45524, July 3, 1980; 47 FR 13353, Mar. 30, 1982; 47 FR 15142, Apr. 8, 1982; 66 FR 49870, Oct. 1, 2001; 89 FR 13997, Feb. 26, 2024]

Interstate transportation performed by a cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations for nonmembers who are not farmers, cooperative associations, or federations of associations or the United States Government for compensation, (except transportation otherwise exempt under subtitle IV, part B, chapter 135 of title 49 of the United States Code) shall be limited to that which is incidental to its primary transportation operation and necessary for its effective performance. It shall in no event exceed 25 percent of its total interstate transportation services in any fiscal year, measured in terms of tonnage. A cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations may transport its own property, its members' property, property of other farmers and the property of other cooperatives or federations in accordance with existing law, except where the provisions of § 372.111 may be applicable to the limit on member/nonmember transportation.

(a) The phrase “incidental to its primary transportation operation and necessary for its effective performance” means that the interstate transportation of the cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations for nonmembers as described above is performed with the same trucks or tractors employed in a prior or subsequent trip in the primary transportation operation of the cooperative association or federation, that it is not economically feasible to operate the trucks or tractors empty on return trips (outbound trips in cases where the primary transportation operation is inbound to the association or federation), and that the additional income obtained from such transportation is necessary to make the primary transportation operation financially practicable. Transportation for nonmembers as described above performed by a cooperative or federation through the use of trucks or tractors trip-leased for one-way movements with the cooperative association or federation acting as leasee, is not incidental and necessary;

(b) The base tonnage to which the 25-percent limitation is applied is all tonnage of all kinds transported by the cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations in interstate or foreign commerce, whether for itself, its members or nonmembers, for or on behalf of the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, and that performed within the exemption provided by 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(5).

[43 FR 2397, Jan. 17, 1978, as amended at 43 FR 21894, May 22, 1978; 45 FR 45524, July 3, 1980; 62 FR 49940, Sept. 24, 1997; 66 FR 49870, Oct. 1, 2001; 78 FR 58478, Sept. 24, 2013]

(a) Overall limitation of nonmember transportation. No cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations may engage in nonmember interstate transportation for compensation in any fiscal year which, measured in terms of tonnage, exceeds its total interstate member transportation in such fiscal year.

(b) Records of interstate transportation when nonmember transportation is performed. Any cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations performing interstate transportation for nonmembers shall prepare and retain for a period of at least two years written records of all interstate transportation performed for members and nonmembers. These records shall contain:

(1) The date of the shipment,

(2) The names and addresses of the consignor and consignee,

(3) The origin and destination of the shipment,

(4) A description of the articles in the shipment,

(5) The weight or volume of the shipment,

(6) A description of the equipment used either by unit number or license number and, in the event this equipment is nonowned, the name and address of its owners and drivers,

(7) The total charges collected,

(8) A copy of all leases executed by the cooperative association or federation of cooperative associations to obtain equipment to perform transportation under 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(5),

(9) Whether the transportation performed is:

(i) Member transportation,

(ii) Nonmember transportation for nonmembers who are farmers, cooperative associations, or federations thereof,

(iii) Other nonmember transportation, and if of class (iii), how the transportation was incidental and necessary as defined in § 372.109(a).

[43 FR 2397, Jan. 17, 1978, as amended at 45 FR 45524, July 3, 1980; 62 FR 38036, July 16, 1997; 62 FR 49940, Sept. 24, 1997]

Transportation by a motor vehicle designed or used to transport not fewer than 9, and not more than 15, passengers (including the driver), whether operated alone or with a trailer attached for the transport of recreational equipment, is exempted from regulation promulgated pursuant to Part B of Title 49 U.S.C. subtitle IV if:

(a) the motor vehicle is operated by a person that provides recreational activities;

(b) the transportation is provided within a 150 air-mile radius of the location at which passengers initially boarded the motor vehicle at the outset of the trip; and

(c) in the case of a motor vehicle transporting passengers over a route between a place in a State and a place in another State, the person operating the motor vehicle is lawfully providing transportation of passengers over the entire route in accordance with applicable State law.

[89 FR 13997, Feb. 26, 2024]

49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(6) provides an exemption from regulation for motor vehicles used in carrying ordinary livestock, fish, and unmanufactured agricultural commodities. Certain specific commodities have been statutorily determined to be non-exempt. Administrative Ruling No. 133, which is reproduced below, is a list of those commodities that are non-exempt by statute.

Administrative Ruling No. 133 List of Commodities That Are Not Exempt by Statute Under 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(6) Animal fats Butter Canned fruits and vegetables Carnauba wax as imported in slabs or chunks Cattle, slaughtered Charcoal Cheese Coal Cocoa beans Coffee, beans, roasted, or instant Copra meal Cotton yarn Cottonseed cake or meal Diatomaceous earth Dinners, frozen Feeds: Alfalfa meal Alfalfa pellets Beet pulp Bran shorts Copra meal Corn gluten Distilled corn grain residues, with or without solubles added Fish meal Hominy feed Middlings Pelletized ground refuse screenings Wheat bran Wheat shorts Fertilizer, commercial Fish: Canned or salted as a treatment for preserving Cooked or partially cooked fish or shrimp, frozen or unfrozen Hermetically sealed in containers as a treatment for preserving Oil from fishes Preserved, or treated for preserving, such as smoked, salted, pickled, spiced, corned or kippered Flagstone Flaxseed meal Flour Forest products: Resin products, such as turpentine Fruits and Berries: Bananas, fresh, dried, dehydrated, or frozen Canned Frozen Hulls of oranges after juice extractions Juice, fruit, plain or concentrated Pies, frozen Preserved, such as jam Purees, strawberry and other, frozen Grains: Oils extracted from grain Popcorn, popped Rice, precooked Wheat germ Gravel Hair, hog or other animal, product of slaughter of animal Hay, sweetened with 3 percent molasses by weight Hemp fiber Hides, green and salted Insecticides Limestone, agricultural Livestock: Monkeys Race horses Show horses Zoo animals Lumber, rough sawed or planed Maple syrup Meal: Alfalfa Copra Cottonseed Fish Flaxseed Linseed Peanut Soybean Meat and meat products, fresh, frozen or canned Milk and Cream: Chocolate Condensed Sterilized in hermetically sealed cans Molasses Nuts (including peanuts): Peanut meal Roasted or boiled Oil, mint Oil, extracted from vegetables, grain, seed, fish or other commodity Pelts Pies, frozen Pigeons, racing Pulp, beet Pulp, sugar cane Rock (except natural crushed, vesicular rock to be used for decorative purposes) Rubber, crude, in bales Rubber, latex, natural, liquid, from which water has been extracted and to which ammonia has been added Sand Seeds: Oil extracted from seeds Skins, animal Soil, potting Soil, top Soup, frozen Sugar Sugar cane pulp Sugar raw Syrup, cane Syrup, maple Tea Tobacco: Cigars and cigarettes Homogenized Smoking Top Soil Trees: Sawed into lumber Vegetables: Candied sweet potatoes, frozen Canned Cooked French fried potatoes Oil, extracted from vegetables Soup, frozen Soybean meal Wool imported from a foreign country Wool tops and noils Wool waste (carded, spun, woven, or knitted) Wool yarn Note 1:

Under 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(6)(D), any listed fish or shellfish product that is not intended for human consumption is exempt.

Note 2:

Under 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(6)(E), any listed livestock feed, poultry feed, agricultural seeds, or plants that are transported to a site of agricultural production or to a business enterprise engaged in the sale to agricultural producers of goods used in agricultural production is exempt

[53 FR 17707, May 18, 1988, as amended at 62 FR 15421, Apr. 1, 1997]

(a) Passengers having an immediately prior or subsequent movement by air. The transportation of passengers by motor vehicle is transportation incidental to transportation by aircraft provided (1) that it is confined to the transportation of passengers who have had or will have an immediately prior or immediately subsequent movement by air and (2) that the zone within which motor transportation is incidental to transportation by aircraft, except as it may be individually determined as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, shall not exceed in size the area encompassed by a 25-mile radius of the boundary of the airport at which the passengers arrive or depart and by the boundaries of the commercial zones (as defined by the Secretary) of any municipalities any part of whose commercial zones falls within the 25-mile radius of the pertinent airport.

(b) Substituted motor-for-air transportation due to emergency conditions. Transportation of passengers by motor vehicle is transportation incidental to transportation by aircraft if it constitutes substituted motor-for-air service performed at the expense of the air carrier in emergency situations arising from the inability of the air carrier to perform air transportation due to adverse weather conditions, equipment failure, or other causes beyond the control of the air carrier.

(c) Individual determination of exempt zones. Upon its own motion or upon petition filed by any interested person, the Secretary may in an appropriate proceeding, determine whether the area within which the transportation by motor vehicle of passengers having an immediately prior or subsequent movement by air must be performed, in order to come within the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section, should be individually determined with respect to any particular airport or city served by an airport, and whether there should be established therefor appropriate boundaries differing in extent from this defined in paragraph (a)(2) of this section.

(d) Exempt zones and operations—(1) Dulles and Baltimore-Washington International Airports. The transportation by motor vehicle, in interstate or foreign commerce, of passengers, having an immediately prior or subsequent movement by air, between Dulles International Airport, near Chantilly, Va., and Baltimore-Washington International Airport, near Baltimore, Md., is partially exempt from regulation under 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(8)(A).

(2) Savannah, Ga., Airport. The transportation by motor vehicle, in interstate or foreign commerce, of passengers, having an immediately prior or subsequent movement by air, between Savannah, Ga., Airport and all points on Hilton Head Island, SC, is partially exempt from regulation under 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(8)(A).

(3) Chicago O'Hare International Airport (Chicago, Ill.). The transportation by motor vehicle, in interstate or foreign commerce, of passengers, having an immediately prior or subsequent movement by air, between O'Hare International Airport, at Chicago, Ill., on the one hand, and, on the other, points in Indiana on and north of U.S. Highway 30 and on and west of Indiana Highway 49, is partially exempt from regulation under 49 U.S.C. 13506(a)(8)(A).

[32 FR 20036, Dec. 20, 1967, as amended at 37 FR 5252, Mar. 11, 1972; 42 FR 10003, Feb. 18, 1977; 42 FR 15705; Mar. 23, 1977; 62 FR 15421, Apr. 1, 1997; 78 FR 58478, Sept. 24, 2013]