The setting of trucking rates, which had been a matter between the individual trucker and the customer, gave way to the establishment of rate bureaus, which are owned and supported by all participating carriers. The bureaus researched and analyzed costs in order to establish competitive rates for the industry. By removing many of the ICC regulations, the bill made entrance into the industry easier for new trucking firms, gave individual truckers greater rate-setting powers, and ended some types of collective rate making. It loosened ICC powers over route setting and over the categories of commodities that may be hauled by individual trucking firms, particularly easing restrictions on food hauling. Its effects on consumer costs are still undetermined.
European countries differ in their approaches to regulating the trucking industry.
Great Britain, for example, has largely eschewed regulation, whereas the Netherlands partially regulates trucking, and Germany has full regulation of the type practiced in the United States before 1980. Truck weight and size limits on interstate highways have traditionally been regulated by the states. In 1983, however, the federal government enacted legislation that established the limits on interstate highways and on thousands of miles of local highways that serve as access to interstates or to major trucking terminals. In addition to increasing the weight and size limits of the trucks, the new law increased the national gasoline tax and various fees imposed on the trucking industry. The increased revenue was earmarked for construction and repair of highways.