California Air Resources Board

Overview

The purpose of this guidance is to provide vehicle owners subject semi-annual testing information on how to comply with Clean Truck Check.

Key highlights from this guidance are:

• Vehicles subject to Clean Truck Check must be reported in CTC-VIS and compliant before they may operate on California public roads and highways. Annual compliance fees for each year will be due upon the vehicle’s compliance deadline.
  • A full overview may be found here. Compliance Requirements Overview | Español | ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
• California registered vehicles compliance deadlines will be based on the vehicles’ DMV registration expiration date. Vehicles subject to semi-annual testing will be required to demonstrate compliance every six months.
• Vehicles registered outside of CA and CA Exempt vehicles will have for their compliance deadlines which is based on the last digit of their Vehicle Identification Number. See Table II. Vehicles subject to semi-annual testing will be required to submit emissions testing every six months.
• Compliance demonstration will require the payment of the annual compliance fee and the clearance of any outstanding enforcement violations for the vehicle in question.
• Emissions compliance testing requirements are effective starting on October 1, 2024. All compliance deadlines starting on January 1, 2025 and later will require a passing compliance test to be submitted as part of their compliance demonstration. Emissions compliance testing must be performed by a CARB credentialed tester and passing tests may be submitted by the tester up to 90 days prior to the vehicle’s compliance deadline to allow time for any necessary repairs.
  • For example, a vehicle with a compliance deadline of February 1, 2025 may submit a passing emissions compliance test as early as November 3, 2024. 
• Non-compliance may result in DMV registration blocks and other enforcement action.

Vehicles Affected by this Guidance

Nearly all diesel and alternative fuel heavy-duty trucks, buses, and other vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating over 14,000 pounds that operate in California are subject to the compliance deadlines mentioned above. Affected vehicles include hybrid trucks and buses, commercial vehicles, privately-owned vehicles, government vehicles, and vehicles registered outside of California. For information on vehicles that are exempt from Clean Truck Check, please refer to the Fact Sheet: Compliance Requirements Overview | Español | ਪੰਜਾਬੀ

A. California Registered Vehicles

Compliance deadlines for California registered vehicles are based on their DMV registration expiration dates and every six months thereafter. Compliance Deadlines may be found in the vehicle’s CTC-VIS account. 

• Motor homes not for recreational use or emergency occupancy (e.g. commercial use motor homes) must follow these compliance requirements. 
  • For California Motor homes (including recreational and emergency use motor homes) and Agricultural vehicles please refer to the following guidance Agricultural vehicles, California Motorhomes Annual Clean Truck Check  Requirements

Table I: Compliance Deadlines for California Registered Vehicles

Vehicles are required to ensure that they have paid their annual compliance fee and have no outstanding enforcement violations as part of their compliance demonstration.
While you do not have a 2024 deadline for your emissions test, you may submit Clean Truck Check emissions tests up to 90 calendar days prior to the vehicle's compliance deadline. 

B. Non-California Registered Vehicles and DMV Exempt Plated Vehicles

Non-California registered vehicles include vehicles registered in other states and countries, as well as federal vehicles not registered in any DMV jurisdiction. DMV exempt plated vehicles include California local and state government vehicles exempt from DMV re-registration requirements.

These vehicles’ compliance deadlines are based on the last number of the vehicle’s vehicle identification number (VIN). To identify when your non-California registered/exempt plated vehicle’s deadline is, please refer to Table II below. These vehicles will have reoccurring compliance deadlines every six months. Compliance Deadlines may be found in the vehicle’s CTC-VIS account.

Table II: Compliance Deadlines for Non-California Registered and DMV Exempt Plated Vehicles

As with CA registered vehicles, non-CA registered vehicles are required to ensure that they have paid their annual compliance fee and have no outstanding enforcement violations as part of their compliance demonstration.

While you do not have a 2024 deadline for your emissions test, you may submit Clean Truck Check emissions tests up to 90 calendar days prior to the vehicle's compliance deadline. 

In the VIN-based compliance schedule, a vehicle’s compliance testing deadline falls on last day of the compliance deadline month shown in Table II.