The U. S. Department of Transportation announced July 31 that it is issuing several rules to update its drug and alcohol testing requirements. These new rules supplement the department's new drug and alcohol testing procedures, which were published in December 2000 and become effective Aug. 1, 2001.

The first of these rules is a set of technical amendments clarifying or correcting a number of details in the regulation published last December. The amendments emphasize the obligation of participants to start using a new, simpler drug testing collection form, but provide a three-month period during which the uncorrected use of the old form will not cause tests to be canceled. The rule also states "validity testing" of urine specimens will remain voluntary until the Department of Health and Human Services publishes a final rule governing laboratory procedures for validity testing.

Each of the department's operating administrations is publishing a "conforming" rule to make its own drug and alcohol testing requirements fully consistent with the DOT rules. Previously, for example, each operating administration rule contained return-to-duty procedures for employees who had tested positive for drugs or alcohol. Those requirements now are consolidated in the new department-wide rule. In order to avoid duplication, the operating administrations' amendments will delete the return-to-duty provisions from their rules. The conforming rules of the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Transit Administration were issued July 31. The rules for the Federal Motor Carrier Administration, Research and Special Programs Administration and U.S. Coast Guard will be issued soon.