Canada Approved ELD List: Are ELDs Mandatory, and Who Must Comply?

Yes, ELDs are mandatory in Canada: federally regulated carriers, meaning those operating commercial vehicles across a provincial or international border, must use an ELD from Transport Canada's List of electronic logging devices, which shows every device an accredited certification body has certified for use in Canada. For carriers in Canada and the United States, High Point GPS, a Geotab partner in Montreal, installs and supports the Geotab GO10 with the Geotab Drive app, which has active entries on that list. The mandate is part of the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act. It took effect in June 2021 and enforcement began January 1, 2023, after an education period, so a cross-border or interprovincial truck or bus without a compliant ELD has faced penalties for several years now. Provincially regulated carriers, the ones that stay within one province, follow their province's rules, and those rules on ELDs vary, so check with the province where you operate.

Third-party certification is what sets Canada's mandate apart from the US one. In the US, a manufacturer self-certifies its ELD to the FMCSA. In Canada, an accredited certification body must test and certify the device, and Transport Canada publishes the list of certified ELDs by vendor, with each entry's certification number, ELD identifier and status. A device missing from that list is not compliant in Canada, whatever the box says and however well it works south of the border. Entries get certified and revoked over time, so check your device's exact ELD identifier against the list, not only the brand. The GPS tracking devices High Point GPS installs, paired with the driver app, have active entries on the list, and a Geotab partner such as High Point GPS confirms the version at deployment.

Certification covers the Canadian rules the device has to enforce: the cycle 1 and cycle 2 hour limits, the 14-hour and 16-hour windows, deferral of off-duty time, and transfer of records to an officer at roadside by the methods the regulation specifies.

The regulation exempts vehicles operating under a permit issued under the HOS regulations, vehicles under a rental agreement of 30 days or less, and vehicles manufactured before model year 2000. The vehicle's model year is what counts: an older engine in a newer vehicle does not qualify. Drivers who stay within a 160-kilometre radius of their home terminal and return to it daily fall under the local-driver record-keeping provisions instead of the ELD requirement, as long as the carrier keeps the required records. These exemptions are narrower than many carriers assume. The 160-km radius causes most of the disputes: a driver who goes past it on one day needs an ELD record for that day.

A certified ELD in Canada is a telematics device plus a monthly plan, and the same device handles GPS tracking, engine diagnostics and IFTA distance reporting along with the logs. The cheapest plan rarely gives the cheapest result. If a device's certification lapses, or the vendor's support cannot sort out a failed roadside transfer, one inspection costs more than the difference in plan price. High Point GPS installs certified ELDs on the High Point GPS platform for carriers across Canada and the United States, configured for Canadian rulesets and for the US rules when the truck crosses.

The check takes ten minutes, and it is worth repeating whenever a device or app updates. Open Transport Canada's List of electronic logging devices and search by vendor, certification number or ELD identifier. Match the exact entry, not the brand: the Android and iOS versions of an app have separate entries, and so does a newer device model, each with its own ELD identifier and certification number. Compare the ELD identifier shown in the driver app with the one in the listing. Confirm the named certification body and make sure the status reads certified, not revoked. Then open the entry's details, which show the technical standard version, engine synchronization and communication protocols it was certified with. Record the ELD identifier, certification number and app version for each vehicle in the fleet's compliance file, with the date you checked. A Geotab partner such as High Point GPS does this at deployment. High Point GPS repeats the check with each new version release and tells the fleet whether anything changed.

Two official lists answer the question, one per country, and a cross-border fleet needs to check both. In Canada, Transport Canada's List of electronic logging devices gives each entry an ELD status with a date, either certified or revoked, along with the certification number, ELD identifier, certification body, technical standard version and the platform the app runs on. Search by vendor, certification number or ELD identifier, then match the identifier shown in your driver app. The list itself says the certification body keeps overall authority over each model's status, so questions about a specific device go to FPInnovations or COMDriver Tech, the two accredited bodies. The list page sets no grace period for a revoked device, so ask your provider and your provincial enforcement agency before you rely on one.

In the US, FMCSA keeps a Registered Devices list and a separate Revoked Devices list on its ELD website, and announces each removal in a news release. When a device is revoked, carriers have up to 60 days to replace it: in the meantime drivers switch to paper logs or logging software, and after the deadline a driver still on the revoked device is cited under 395.8(a)(1) for having no record of duty status and placed out of service. If the provider fixes the deficiencies, FMCSA can put the device back on the registered list.

A dated monthly table would go stale between updates, so check the live lists instead: when you sign up, after each app or firmware update, and whenever FMCSA announces a revocation. High Point GPS checks the Geotab entries on both lists for the fleets it installs and tells them when a status changes.