As stipulated in FMCSA rule §382.701 Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse In lieu of a full query, an employer may obtain the individual driver's consent to conduct a limited query to satisfy the annual query requirement. The limited query will tell the employer whether there is information about the individual driver in the Clearinghouse but will not release that information to the employer. The individual driver may give consent to conduct limited queries that are effective for more than one year.

If the limited query shows that information exists in the Clearinghouse about the individual driver, the employer must conduct a full query, within24 hours of conducting the limited query. If the employer fails to conduct a full query within 24 hours, the employer must not allow the driver to continue to perform any safety-sensitive function until the employer conducts the full query and the results confirm that the driver's Clearinghouse record contains no prohibitions. The driver needs to register in the Clearinghouse and provide consent in the Clearinghouse for the full query to be fulfilled. If the driver fails to register and consent for the full query, the employer must not allow the driver to continue to perform any safety-sensitive function until the employer is able to conduct the full query and the results confirm that the driver's Clearinghouse record contains no prohibitions.

Drivers that do not intend to apply for employment with any other company in another safety-sensitive function and also have no drug or alcohol violations; do not need to register in the Clearinghouse.