Issue 1, 2018

22 Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch Do You Know What the Difference is Between Interstate Commerce and Intrastate Commerce? ARE YOU SURE? By Gregg Dal Ponte, OTA Director of Regulatory Compliance If you perform trade, traffic, or transportation exclusively in your business’s domicile state, this (most likely) is considered intrastate commerce. If your trade, traffic, or transportation is one of the following, this is considered interstate commerce (Source 49 CFR 390.5): ` ` Between a place in a state and a place outside of such state (including a place outside of the United States), such as goods sent by rail from an Oregon manufacturer to a plant in another state. ` ` Between two places in a state through another state or a place outside of the United States such as goods sent by truck from Portland to Rainier, Oregon, via Interstate 5 through Washington. ` ` Between two places in a state as part of trade, traffic, or transportation originating or terminating outside the state or the United States such as a shipment arriving in Portland by rail from Seattle, Washington and then transported by truck from Portland to a destination in Oregon. T his sounds simple enough, but it can be more complicated than you think. How about the example of a wheat farmer that hauls wheat grain from his fields in central Oregon to the elevator in Biggs, Oregon? You might be surprised that this short movement of harvested wheat from the farmers field to a grain elevator all within Oregon is properly considered interstate commerce. Why? Interstate commerce is determined by the essential character of the movement, manifested by the shipper’s fixed and persistent intent at the time of shipment, and is ascertained from all the facts and circumstances surrounding the transportation. When the intent of the transportation being performed is interstate in nature, even when the route is within the boundaries of a single state, the driver and CMV are subject to the FMCSRs. How does this apply to our example of the wheat farmer? The wheat harvested in the fields of central Oregon moves to the grain elevator at Biggs, Oregon, along the Columbia River. The wheat in the grain elevator then is accumulated and placed on barges to be shipped to the Port of Portland where it will be loaded onto containers and placed in ocean going vessels to be shipped to Japan where it