Data / Federal rules / 2026-04337
Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs: Substance Abuse Professional and the Return-to-Duty Process
The Transportation Department published this final rule in the Federal Register on March 4, 2026.
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What the agency says
The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is the `gatekeeper' for the Department of Transportation's return-to-duty process (RTD). As the `gatekeeper', the SAP has a crucial role to play in recommending the level of treatment an employee may need in their path to returning to performing a safety-sensitive function after violating the DOT's drug and alcohol testing regulations. Given this critical role, the Department is publishing this notification in response to several SAP/ RTD-related issues that the Department has recently become aware of, to remind DOT-qualified SAPs to follow all the RTD process procedures in the drug and alcohol testing regulation (49 CFR part 40) and to remind DOT-regulated employers of the SAP responsibilities and RTD process.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2026-04337
- Type
- Final rule
- Action
- Notification: The Do's and Don'ts for the Substance Abuse Professional and the Return-to-Duty Process in the U.S. Department of Transportation Drug and Alcohol Testing Program
- Agency
- Transportation Department
- Published
- March 4, 2026
- Dates
- March 4, 2026.
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 49 CFR 40
- Pages
- 3
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Everything from the Transportation Department · Published in March 2026
Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.