IFTA changes final for ELD/GPS electronic records

The International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) has finalized changes to requirements for electronic records to tightly define what data elements are required and what formats are acceptable.

For distance records produced by a vehicle tracking system that utilizes latitudes and longitudes (ELDs and GPS), a record must be created and maintained at a minimum every 10 minutes when the vehicle’s engine is on. This action is even more stringent than recent changes for electronic records under the International Registration Plan (IRP), which require a minimum record creation rate of every 15 minutes while the engine is on.

Mirroring changes under IRP, electronic records under IFTA must be accessible in an electronic spreadsheet format such as XLS, XLSX, CSV, or delimited text file. Formats from a vehicle tracking system that provides a static image such as PDF, JPEG, PNG, or Word are not acceptable.

The effective date for the changes – January 1, 2024 – also aligns with changes recently finalized by IRP.