Interstate commerce regulations are the federal rules that govern business activity crossing state lines: how goods move, how they’re sold, how workers are paid, and how companies compete. Congress draws its authority from Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution,1Legal Information Institute. Commerce Clause and it has used that authority to create a layered system of agency rules covering trucking, hazardous materials, food safety, product safety, sales tax collection, wages, and antitrust. The same framework limits what individual states can do to interfere with out-of-state business. If you ship, sell, employ, or transport across a state border, some part of this system almost certainly applies to you.
Which Federal Agencies Regulate Interstate Business
Several agencies share the work, and most cross-border businesses deal with more than one.
The Federal Trade Commission enforces the ban on “unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 45 – Unfair Methods of Competition Unlawful Violations of FTC orders or of practices the agency has formally identified as prohibited can bring civil penalties above $50,000 per violation, adjusted annually for inflation.3Federal Trade Commission. Notices of Penalty Offenses
The Securities and Exchange Commission polices the interstate sale of stocks, bonds, and other securities and requires truthful disclosures to investors. Criminal securities fraud carries up to 25 years in federal prison.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 1348 – Securities and Commodities Fraud
The Department of Transportation handles the physical movement of freight and passengers through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency sets emission standards for commercial vehicles under the Clean Trucks Plan, tightening pollutant limits through model year 2032.5U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Regulations for Smog, Soot, and Other Air Pollution from Commercial Trucks and Buses
The Consumer Product Safety Commission watches consumer goods in interstate commerce for safety hazards. It typically negotiates voluntary recalls with manufacturers, but can impose civil fines and refer cases to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution if a company refuses to cooperate.6U.S. Government Accountability Office. What Is the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and How Does It Protect Consumers from Hazards?
Rules for Motor Carriers Operating Across State Lines
If you move property or passengers between states with commercial vehicles, several requirements apply before you haul your first load.
Every interstate carrier needs a USDOT number. That number is the identifier the government uses to track your safety record across audits, compliance reviews, crash investigations, and roadside inspections.7Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Do I Need a USDOT Number New carriers also enter an 18-month monitoring period under the New Entrant Safety Assurance Program, and FMCSA typically conducts a safety audit within the first 12 months to confirm basic compliance.8Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. FMCSA New Entrant Brochure
Most interstate carriers must also register annually under the Unified Carrier Registration program. The 2026 fees scale by fleet size:
- 0–2 vehicles: $46
- 3–5 vehicles: $138
- 6–20 vehicles: $276
- 21–100 vehicles: $963
- 101–1,000 vehicles: $4,592
- 1,001+ vehicles: $44,836
Motor carriers, freight forwarders, brokers, and leasing companies all owe the fee, though brokers and leasing companies pay the smallest bracket regardless of fleet size.9Federal Register. Fees for the Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement
Drivers face strict Hours of Service limits. A property-carrying driver cannot drive more than 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and cannot drive at all beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty.10eCFR. 49 CFR 395.3 – Maximum Driving Time for Property-Carrying Vehicles Violations can put a driver out of service on the spot. Exceeding the driving limit by more than three hours triggers the maximum penalties.
Insurance minimums are also federally set. Non-hazardous property carriers must carry at least $750,000 in public liability coverage. Carriers hauling explosives, poison gas, or radioactive materials need $5,000,000.11Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Insurance Filing Requirements Proof of coverage must stay on file with the federal government; a lapse means you cannot legally haul freight across state lines.
Hazardous Materials: Registration and Incident Reporting
Shipping or transporting hazardous materials adds requirements on top of standard carrier rules. Anyone who ships, carries, or offers hazmat for transport must register annually with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. For the 2025–2026 registration year, small businesses pay $275 and other registrants pay $2,600, each amount including a $25 processing fee.12Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. 2025-2026 Hazardous Materials Registration Information The fee is not prorated.
When something goes wrong in transit, reporting is quick and mandatory. Whoever has physical possession of the material must call the National Response Center within 12 hours of an incident that involves a death, a hospitalization, an evacuation of the public lasting an hour or more, closure of a major road or facility for an hour or more, or a significant release of a marine pollutant or radioactive material.13eCFR. 49 CFR 171.15 – Immediate Notice of Certain Hazardous Materials Incidents The rule also has a catch-all: if the situation looks dangerous enough that someone should know, you’re required to report it.
Sanitary Transport of Food
Food moving in interstate commerce follows its own sanitary transport rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act. Each link in the chain has assigned duties. Shippers must provide written instructions on vehicle cleanliness and temperature control. Loaders must verify that vehicles are free of pest contamination or residue from prior cargo before food goes on board. Carriers must train personnel on food safety risks and keep written cleaning and inspection procedures. Receivers must check that temperature-sensitive food wasn’t exposed to significant heat abuse in transit.14eCFR. 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart O – Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food All four parties must keep records of their procedures and specifications for at least 12 months.
Sales Tax on Out-of-State Sales
For decades, a state could not require a business to collect its sales tax unless the business had a physical presence there. The Supreme Court changed that in 2018 in South Dakota v. Wayfair, holding that states may impose sales tax collection duties on out-of-state sellers based on the volume of business alone.15Supreme Court of the United States. South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 585 U.S. ___ (2018) The South Dakota law upheld in the case applied to sellers with more than $100,000 in sales or 200 or more transactions in the state per year.
Every state that collects a sales tax has since adopted its own economic nexus rule, most using thresholds close to South Dakota’s. In practice, an online seller in one state may owe sales tax in dozens of others depending on where its customers live. The compliance burden sits with the seller: track sales by destination state, register with each state’s tax authority, and remit on each state’s schedule.
Twenty-four states participate in the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which standardizes definitions, tax rates, and filing procedures across members and lets you file in all member states through a single portal.16Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Streamlined Sales Tax Home California, New York, Texas, and Florida are not members, so the agreement covers only part of the country.
Wage and Hour Rules for Interstate Workers
The Fair Labor Standards Act covers employees who produce goods for interstate trade or handle goods that have moved across state lines.17eCFR. 29 CFR Part 779 – The Fair Labor Standards Act as Applied to Retailers of Goods or Services It sets the federal minimum wage and requires overtime at one and a half times the regular rate for hours worked past 40 in a week. An employer who violates these rules owes the workers their unpaid wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, effectively doubling the tab.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S.C. 216 – Penalties Willful or repeated violations carry an additional civil penalty of $2,515 per violation as of 2025, adjusted annually.19U.S. Department of Labor. Civil Money Penalty Inflation Adjustments
Worker classification is a common trip hazard, especially in trucking. The Department of Labor applies an “economic reality” test to decide whether someone is an employee entitled to FLSA protections or an independent contractor who is not. Two factors sit at the core: how much control the company exercises over the work, and whether the worker has a genuine opportunity for profit or loss through their own initiative. Secondary factors include the skill required, the permanence of the relationship, and whether the work is integral to the company’s operations.20Federal Register. Employee or Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act The actual working relationship controls, not the label in the contract. Requiring compliance with federal safety rules like drug testing does not by itself make an owner-operator an employee. Controlling the schedule, forbidding work for competitors, and paying a flat rate regardless of efficiency starts to look much more like employment.
Antitrust and Merger Review
Federal antitrust law keeps the interstate market competitive. The Sherman Act makes it a felony to enter agreements that restrain trade. Price-fixing, bid-rigging, and dividing markets among competitors are the classic examples. A separate section targets monopolization through predatory tactics.21Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1 – Trusts, Etc., in Restraint of Trade Illegal; Penalty
Penalties are heavy. Corporations face fines up to $100 million per violation. Individuals can be fined up to $1 million and sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison. Courts can also impose fines above the statutory caps under the alternative fine statute if the gain from the violation or loss to victims was large enough.
Larger mergers and acquisitions face mandatory premerger review. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, transactions valued at $133.9 million or more in 2026 must be reported to the FTC and Department of Justice before closing, and a waiting period lets the agencies decide whether to challenge the deal.22Federal Trade Commission. New HSR Thresholds and Filing Fees for 2026 Failure to file draws penalties that can dwarf the filing fees.
What States Cannot Do
The Commerce Clause not only empowers Congress; it also limits the states. Under the Dormant Commerce Clause, a state cannot discriminate against out-of-state businesses or burden interstate trade more than the local benefit justifies, even when Congress has said nothing on the subject.
The clearest violations are protectionist. A state cannot tax only goods arriving from other states, grant tax credits available only to businesses using local products, or exempt local manufacturers from fees that out-of-state competitors must pay. Courts have struck down each of these arrangements.23Legal Information Institute. State Taxation and the Dormant Commerce Clause Maryland’s personal income tax scheme, which taxed income earned in other states without offering a full credit, was invalidated on this basis in 2015.
Facially neutral laws get evaluated under the Pike v. Bruce Church balancing test. A state regulation will be upheld “unless the burden imposed on such commerce is clearly excessive in relation to the putative local benefits.”24Justia Law. Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U.S. 137 (1970) A state can regulate for health and safety, but if the same goal could be achieved with less impact on interstate commerce, the more burdensome rule may not survive court review.25Legal Information Institute. Facially Neutral Laws and Dormant Commerce Clause
Congress has also preempted specific areas by statute. The most important for interstate carriers is the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which bars states from enacting or enforcing laws “related to a price, route, or service of any motor carrier” of property.26Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S.C. 14501 – Federal Authority Over Intrastate Transportation If a state or local government tries to dictate what a carrier charges, which routes it takes, or what services it offers, federal law blocks it.
The preemption is not absolute. States keep authority over motor vehicle safety, highway restrictions based on vehicle size or weight, hazardous cargo routing, and minimum insurance requirements. A state may enforce its own bridge weight limits or require insurance above the federal floor, but it cannot dictate which customers a carrier serves or cap freight rates. The line between a permissible safety regulation and an impermissible service regulation generates a steady stream of litigation, but the core economics of an interstate carrier sit with federal law, not with any single state.