The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on October 11 issued an interim order (.pdf) that pushes back the new FAA drug & alcohol testing rule’s compliance date 10 days, to October 20. The court will use the 10-day extension to take a closer look at an ARSA “emergency motion to stay” filing, made this week, that asks for the compliance date to be pushed back nine months, until July 10, 2007.

ARSA’s filing–legally a “motion to stay”–was made with the intention of relieving industry from having to comply with the new regulation before the court ruled on ARSA’s pending lawsuit, filed March 10, asking the court to review the D&A rule. The FAA rejected an ARSA request for a nine-month extension, leading ARSA to file its motion to stay. The agency Wednesday said it would consent to the 10-day extension, clearing the way for the court to take the unusual step of issuing an interim order.

“The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the emergency motion for stay and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion,” the court said in its order.

ARSA will keep its members updated on the court’s actions.

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