Subpart 1.
Management of office.
In managing the office, a deputy registrar:
A. shall not delegate to another person the
authority or responsibility of operating the office; and
B. shall designate one contact person for the
office. The deputy registrar shall provide written notification to the
commissioner of the name of the contact person and of a change in the contact
person within ten days of the change. The contact person must be a person who
actively participates in the processing of transactions and who is in the
office on a full-time basis. The contact person shall act as a liaison between
the commissioner and the deputy registrar office to discuss and address
problems or questions that may arise on a daily basis.
Subp. 2.
Hours.
Deputy registrar offices must be open for business at least 40
hours during each week. However, legal holidays listed in Minnesota Statutes,
section
645.44,
subdivision 5, and holidays authorized under Minnesota Statutes, section
373.052,
subdivision 1, for county offices are included in the 40-hour
calculation.
Each deputy registrar shall provide the commissioner with an
accurate written schedule of the hours the office is open for business. A
written request for a change in office hours must be made to the commissioner
at least ten days before the change in hours. The commissioner must approve
changes in business hours before the hours become effective.
Subp. 2a.
Closure of office; variance
procedure.
An office must be open for at least 40 hours each week unless
the commissioner grants a variance to allow an office to be closed for a
specified period of time. To request a variance for closure of an office for
two days or more, the deputy registrar shall submit a written request on a form
prescribed by the commissioner. Under the variance procedure, the commissioner
shall consider the following factors before allowing an office to close:
A. reason the closure is requested;
B. length of time the closure is
requested;
C. day of the month and
time of the year that the closure is requested;
D. number of transactions that an office
processes on an annual basis and number of transactions that are processed at
the requested time of closure, if known;
E. ability to keep the office open with
current, additional, or temporary staff; and
F. number of variances granted that year.
The commissioner shall review the information submitted with
the variance request and grant or deny the variance within two business days
after receipt of the request.
If a variance is granted for closure of an office, the deputy
registrar must provide notice to the public at the deputy registrar office of
the dates and times of the office closure. If the office is to be closed for
four days or less, the deputy registrar must post notice in a conspicuous place
inside and outside the office for up to two consecutive weeks before closure.
If the office is to be closed for five or more days, the notice must be posted
at the office and also published in a qualified newspaper or on a radio station
in the county or city in which the office is located. The notice must be
published at least two weeks before the closing for two consecutive weeks, or a
shorter time as approved by the commissioner.
The notice of closure must contain the dates and times that the
office will be closed and the location and address of the nearest office where
alternative service can be obtained.
Subp. 2b.
Emergency and short-term
closure of office.
For requests of an office closure that is for one day or that
is due to an emergency situation, the deputy registrar must notify the
commissioner by telephone or other means at the earliest opportunity to request
a variance from the 40-hour work week. The commissioner must follow the
criteria in subpart
2a when deciding to grant or
deny the variance. If a variance is granted for closure of an office, the
deputy registrar must provide notice to the public, as soon as practicable, at
the deputy registrar office of the dates and times of the office closure. If
the closure of an office is for more than one day, the deputy registrar must
follow the variance procedures set forth in subpart
2a.
Subp. 3. [Repealed, 29 SR 97]
Subp. 4. [Repealed, 20 SR 2784]
Subp. 5.
Filing fees.
Filing fees are governed by the following requirements:
A. A deputy registrar shall charge and
receive the full filing fee specified by law. Rebates are prohibited.
B. No filing fee may be charged for a
document returned for a refund, correction of an error made by the department
or a deputy registrar, permanent surrender of a certificate of title, or
license plate for a motor vehicle.
C. A deputy registrar may not charge a
customer for long-distance telephone calls, unless:
(1) the charge is for the exact per-minute
charge of the telephone call and does not include any charges for other basic
or optional telephone services;
(2)
the long-distance telephone call was made at the request of the customer;
and
(3) the deputy registrar
maintains a record of the long-distance telephone calls made each day, which
includes the charges assessed and the name and address of the customer for whom
the telephone call was made.
Subp. 6.
Cash register.
A separate cash register or cash receptacle must be maintained
for deputy registrar funds. No other funds from other businesses may be kept
with deputy registrar funds, except:
A. funds from driver's license, Department of
Natural Resources, or county license bureau transactions, concerning which the
deputy registrar must be able to determine at all times which funds are
attributable to motor vehicle transactions and which funds are attributable to
driver's license, Department of Natural Resources, or county license bureau
transactions; or
B. funds from
other sources, other than those listed in item A, when the deputy registrar's
fee receipt system is able to differentiate funds from various sources and the
deputy registrar has received written approval from the commissioner to use
such a system.
Subp. 7.
Imprest cash.
A deputy registrar shall maintain a verifiable and identical
amount of start-up funds in the cash register or cash receptacle on a daily
basis. The deputy registrar shall inform the commissioner, in writing, of the
amount of money that will be used during the day for start-up funds. The amount
of the start-up funds must not be changed without prior written notification to
the commissioner.
Subp. 7a.
Credit card acceptance; general requirements.
A. A deputy registrar shall accept credit
cards and debit cards as a method of payment for motor vehicle transactions,
unless a variance is granted under subpart
7b. The commissioner shall
specify the types of credit and debit cards that the agent can accept for
payment.
B. Ordinarily, a deputy
registrar shall operate at least one card-processing terminal in the office at
which motor vehicle transactions are conducted. But a deputy registrar may
operate a point-of-sale information system, or other information system used to
process and manage business transactions, if:
(1) the convenience fee rate that is charged
to credit or debit card transactions is the same rate that all deputy
registrars charge for such transactions;
(2) the information system meets the
requirements of the state's credit card vendor;
(3) there is no cost to the commissioner for
the operation and maintenance of the deputy registrar's information system;
and
(4) the commissioner approves
the information system.
C. The commissioner shall:
(1) provide card-processing terminals at no
cost to the deputy registrar; and
(2) replace defective card-processing
terminals at no cost to the deputy registrar.
D. The deputy registrar shall provide the
technological infrastructure as specified in part
7406.0400, subpart 3a.
E. The commissioner shall provide the deputy
registrar with signage in an electronic media format that states:
(1) the types of credit cards that the deputy
registrar must accept for payment of a motor vehicle transaction; and
(2) a convenience fee is added to a
transaction paid by credit card or debit card.
A deputy registrar shall display this signage in a prominent
location within the public viewing area of the office.
F. A deputy registrar shall inform
a person who chooses to pay by credit card or debit card of the amount of the
convenience fee and shall obtain the person's consent to the convenience fee
before completing the transaction.
G. A deputy registrar is responsible for
chargebacks as specified in part
7406.0450, subpart 1a, item
C.
Subp. 7b.
Credit card acceptance; variance procedure.
A deputy registrar may apply to the commissioner for a variance
from the provision in subpart
7a requiring acceptance of
credit cards and debit cards. A variance to subpart
7a does not include a
variance to the technology requirements in part
7406.0400, subpart 3a. Application
for a variance may be made by submitting a written request to the commissioner
according to this subpart. The commissioner shall consider the following
factors when reviewing the request for a variance:
A. the deputy registrar's written statement
of reasons why credit card and debit card acceptance would impose serious
economic hardship;
B. bank
statements from the deputy registrar's office for the preceding three
months;
C. the average number and
average amount of motor vehicle transactions conducted in the deputy
registrar's office during the preceding year; and
D. additional information requested by the
commissioner or supplied by the deputy registrar.
Subp. 7c.
Credit card acceptance;
commissioner's review.
The commissioner shall review the deputy registrar's request
for a variance under subpart
7b and grant or deny it
within 30 calendar days of its receipt, or within 30 calendar days from the
date of the commissioner's request for additional information, whichever is
later. The commissioner shall give the deputy registrar written justification
for a decision to deny the variance. Failure of the deputy registrar to submit
the additional information requested under subpart
7b within 15 calendar days
of the request is cause for the commissioner to deny a request for a variance.
This procedure is not a contested case hearing as defined in Minnesota
Statutes, chapter 14.
Subp.
8.
Inventory to remain in office.
Unsold inventory that is assigned to a deputy registrar by the
commissioner must remain in the office, except in the following authorized
circumstances:
A. return of inventory
to the commissioner;
B. destruction
or removal of inventory that is obsolete; or
C. other removal or transfer of inventory
that is authorized by the commissioner such as approval to reassign inventory
to another office or approval to remove inventory through other means such as
through newly established technology.
Subp. 9.
Mail order transaction.
A deputy registrar may mail out inventory to customers upon
meeting the conditions in items A to E.
A. The deputy registrar shall provide written
notification to the commissioner that the office will provide mail service to
customers. Once written notification is provided to the commissioner, the
deputy registrar must accept and process all mail transactions that are ready
for issuance of inventory. Incomplete motor vehicle transactions that are
received by mail must follow the procedures in part
7406.0450, subpart
2a.
B. The deputy registrar shall maintain a
record of the inventory that was mailed and the name and address where the
inventory was mailed. The record may be maintained on the daily summary report
under part
7406.0450, subpart
2,
or other report maintained separately by the deputy registrar.
C. The inventory must be mailed under uniform
mailing standards as provided by the commissioner.
D. The deputy registrar must pay the
replacement cost of inventory if the inventory is lost in the mail or the
customer did not otherwise receive the inventory.
E. The deputy registrar shall mail the
inventory by at least first class United States mail, unless a request is made
by the customer for other special delivery services. The deputy registrar shall
incur the cost of mailing the inventory, unless the customer requests a special
delivery of the inventory. If the customer requests a special delivery of the
inventory, the deputy registrar may allow the customer to incur the cost of
those special delivery charges.
If a deputy registrar does not make a written request to
provide mail service to customers, the mail orders received by a deputy
registrar, including the filing fee, must be forwarded to the commissioner for
processing and mailing.
Subp.
10.
Registration stickers unaccounted for.
Registration stickers assigned to an office, except for the
month sticker, must be accounted for by issuance and money collected, by
affidavit of missing initial inventory, or by submitting the defective
registration sticker to the commissioner.
If a registration sticker is unaccounted for, the deputy
registrar is responsible for payment of the registration tax loss or
replacement cost for each registration sticker unaccounted for. The amount of
registration tax that a deputy registrar must pay is either the full, average,
or minimum registration tax as determined under items A and B.
A. A deputy registrar must pay the full
registration tax for the registration sticker if the commissioner has
sufficient cause to believe that the full amount of the registration tax was
paid for by the customer.
B. A
deputy registrar will have to pay the average or minimum registration tax or
replacement cost of the registration sticker after consideration of the
following factors by the commissioner:
(1)
timely notification to the commissioner, and to the law enforcement agency if
applicable, regarding the registration stickers unaccounted for;
(2) the investigation and follow-up measures
taken by the deputy registrar regarding the registration stickers unaccounted
for;
(3) the action taken by the
deputy registrar to recover the registration stickers and the number of
registration stickers that were recovered;
(4) the security measures that were in place
to protect the registration stickers;
(5) the value of the registration
stickers;
(6) the circumstances
under which the registration stickers became unaccounted for; and
(7) the results of any audit conducted by the
commissioner.
The commissioner shall notify a deputy registrar of the amount
of the full, average, or minimum average tax at the end of each fiscal year. If
the full registration tax is required to be paid by the deputy registrar, a
late deposit charge calculated under part
7406.0450 must also be paid by the
deputy registrar.
Subp. 11.
Other inventory or
state-issued property unaccounted for.
Inventory, other than registration stickers under subpart
10, and other state-issued
property provided to an office, must be accounted for by issuance and fees
collected, by affidavit of missing initial inventory, or by submitting the
defective inventory or state property to the commissioner.
If inventory or other state-issued property is unaccounted for,
other than stickers, the deputy registrar is responsible for the replacement
cost of the inventory or state property.