# the motor vehicle record received from each driver's licensing authority to the annual driver record inquiry, the note relating to the annual review of the driver's driving record, the medical examiner's certificate, any medical variance issued by FMCSA, and the note relating to verification of medical examiner listing on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners — How long federal regulations require records to be kept: retention periods, what starts the clock, and who they bind

For the motor vehicle record received from each driver's licensing authority to the annual driver record inquiry, the note relating to the annual review of the driver's driving record, the medical examiner's certificate, any medical variance issued by FMCSA, and the note relating to verification of medical examiner listing on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners, regulation is 49 CFR 391.51; regulator / programme is FMCSA; retention period is may be removed from a driver's qualification file three years after the date of execution; when the clock starts is the date of execution; who it binds is each motor carrier, recorded from its source on 2026-08-11.

- **Regulation:** 49 CFR 391.51 _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Regulator / programme:** FMCSA _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Record type:** the motor vehicle record received from each driver's licensing authority to the annual driver record inquiry, the note relating to the annual review of the driver's driving record, the medical examiner's certificate, any medical variance issued by FMCSA, and the note relating to verification of medical examiner listing on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners
- **Retention period:** may be removed from a driver's qualification file three years after the date of execution _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **When the clock starts:** the date of execution _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Who it binds:** each motor carrier

## What the source says

> ( d ) The following records may be removed from a driver's qualification file three years after the date of execution:

## Source

- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-391/subpart-F/section-391.51

Last verified: 2026-08-11. Review by: 2027-08-11.
Part of [How long federal regulations require records to be kept: retention periods, what starts the clock, and who they bind](https://referencesource.org/record-retention-periods-federal/).