October 23, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor is proposing in this document a new, additional safe harbor for the use of electronic media by employee benefit plans to furnish information to participants and beneficiaries of plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The proposal, if adopted, would allow plan administrators who satisfy specified conditions to provide participants and beneficiaries with a notice that certain disclosures will be made available on a website. Individuals who prefer to receive these disclosures on paper will be able to request paper copies and to opt out of electronic delivery entirely. The Department expects that the proposal, if adopted, would improve the effectiveness of the disclosures and significantly reduce the costs and burden associated with furnishing many of the recurring and most costly ERISA disclosures. This document also contains, in section D of the preamble, a Request for Information that explores whether and how any additional changes to ERISA's general disclosure framework, focusing on design, delivery, and content, may be made to further improve the effectiveness of ERISA disclosures.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposes to revise existing regulations that manage the quotas for controlled substances and the list I chemicals, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, held by DEA-registered manufacturers. This rule is being proposed to: Define the types of quotas, update the method to abandon quota, clarify the current language to ensure that both manufacturers and distributors are required to obtain certification of a buyer's quota, reduce overall inventories, formalize the existing practice of use-specific subcategories for individual manufacturing and procurement quotas, and modify existing deadlines to fix/issue quotas. The DEA is also amending certain regulations to implement updates to the Controlled Substances Act made by the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery Treatment for Patients and Communities Act. The DEA emphasizes that all of these revisions and amendments would apply to both bulk and dosage-form manufacturers, as well as importers of the list I chemicals ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine. The changes are necessary to reduce the potential for diversion, and would align regulations with current manufacturing business practices.