For a new driver the first federal requirement is not a test but a course. § 380.609 requires an individual applying for the first time for a Class A or Class B commercial driver’s license, or upgrading to one, to complete driver training from a provider listed on the Training Provider Registry — and requires the same of anyone seeking a passenger, school bus or hazardous materials endorsement for the first time. The registry is the operative word: training from a provider who is not listed does not satisfy the rule, however good it is.

§ 380.605 fixes who this reaches. An entry-level driver is an individual who must complete the commercial driver’s license skills test requirements under § 383.71 before receiving a license for the first time, upgrading to a Class A or Class B license, or obtaining a hazardous materials, passenger or school bus endorsement for the first time. The definition expressly excludes individuals for whom a State waives the skills test under § 383.77, and individuals seeking to remove a restriction under § 383.135(b)(7). § 380.603 then applies the subpart to entry-level drivers intending to drive commercial motor vehicles as § 383.5 defines them, in interstate and/or intrastate commerce — note that reach, which follows the license rules rather than the safety regulations — and excepts drivers already outside the license requirements under § 383.3(c), (d) and (h), those applying for a restricted license under § 383.3(e) through (g), qualifying military personnel under § 383.77, and restriction removals.

One date decides whether any of this applies to a driver already working. Under § 380.603(b), drivers issued a Class A or Class B commercial driver’s license, or a passenger, school bus or hazardous materials endorsement, before February 7, 2022 are not required to comply with this subpart as to that license or endorsement. The exemption is specific to what you already hold: it does not carry across to a new class or a new endorsement obtained later, which brings you back inside the rule. What the test itself covers is Chapter 5.