Employee Benefits Security Administration 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document sets forth supplemental views of the Department of Labor (Department) concerning the legal standards imposed by sections 402, 403 and 404 of Part 4 of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) with respect to voting of proxies on securities held in employee benefit plan investment portfolios, the maintenance of and compliance with statements of investment policy, including proxy voting policy, and the exercise of other legal rights of a shareholder. In this document, the Department withdraws Interpretive Bulletin 2008-2 and replaces it with Interpretive Bulletin 2016-1, which reinstates the language of Interpretive Bulletin 94-2 with certain modifications.

This document contains an amendment to a final regulation that describes how states may design and operate payroll deduction savings programs for private-sector employees, including programs that use automatic enrollment, without causing the states or private-sector employers to have established employee pension benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The amendment expands the final regulation beyond states to cover qualified state political subdivisions and their programs that otherwise comply with the regulation. This final rule affects individuals and employers subject to such programs.

This document contains a notice of pendency before the Department of Labor (the Department) of a proposed temporary individual exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The proposed temporary exemption, if granted, would affect the ability of certain entities with specified relationships to UBS AG (UBS) to continue to rely upon the relief provided by Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14.

This document contains exemptions issued by the Department of Labor (the Department) from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). This notice includes the following: 2016-10, Royal Bank of Canada, D- 11868; 2016-11, Northern Trust Corporation, D-11875; and, 2016-12, Extension of PTE 2015-15 involving Deutsche Bank AG, D-11879.

This document contains exemptions issued by the Department of Labor (the Department) from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). This notice includes the following: 2016-03, The Michael T. Sewell, M.D., P.S.C. Profit Sharing Plan, D-11813; 2016-04, Plumbers' Pension Fund, Local 130, U.A., D-11822; 2016-05, Sears Holdings 401(k) Savings Plan and the Sears Holdings Puerto Rico Savings Plan, D-11846 and D- 11847; 2016-06, Sears Holdings 401(k) Savings Plan and the Sears Holdings Puerto Rico Savings Plan, D-11851 and D-11852; 2016-07, Liberty Media 401(k) Savings Plan, D-11858; 2016-08, Baxter International Inc., D-11866; and 2016-09, Sears Holdings 401(k) Savings Plan and the Sears Holdings Puerto Rico Savings Plan, D-11871 and D- 11872.

This document describes circumstances in which state payroll deduction savings programs with automatic enrollment would not give rise to the establishment of employee pension benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). This document provides guidance for states in designing such programs so as to reduce the risk of ERISA preemption of the relevant state laws. This document also provides guidance to private-sector employers that may be covered by such state laws. This rule affects individuals and employers subject to such state laws.

This document contains proposed changes to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report forms, including the Form 5500, Annual Return/ Report of Employee Benefit Plan (Form 5500 Annual Return/Report), and the Form 5500-SF, Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan (Form 5500-SF). The annual returns/reports are filed for employee pension and welfare benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The proposed revisions in this Notice reflect efforts of the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (collectively Agencies) to improve employee benefit plan reporting for filers, the public, and the Agencies by modernizing financial information filed regarding plans; updating fee and expense information on plan service providers with a focus on harmonizing annual reporting requirements with the Department of Labor's final disclosure requirements enhancing mineability of data filed on annual return/reports; requiring reporting by all group health plans covered by Title I of ERISA, including adding a new Schedule J (Group Health Plan Information); and improving compliance under ERISA and the Code through selected new questions regarding plan operations, service provider relationships, and financial management of the plan. These revisions, which are being proposed in conjunction with a recompete of the ERISA Filing and Acceptance System (EFAST2) contract, if adopted, generally would apply for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2019. EFAST2 is expected to begin processing the Plan Year 2019 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report beginning January 1, 2020. The proposed revisions would affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, plan sponsors, administrators, and service providers to plans subject to annual reporting requirements under ERISA and the Code.

This document makes technical corrections to the Department of Labor's Best Interest Contract Exemption, which was published in the Federal Register on April 8, 2016. The Best Interest Contract Exemption allows certain persons that are fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) or the Internal Revenue Code (the Code), or both, by reason of providing investment advice, to receive compensation that may otherwise be prohibited. The corrections in this document fix typographical errors, make minor clarifications to provisions that might otherwise be confusing, and confirm insurers' broad eligibility to rely on the exemption, consistent with the exemption's clearly intended scope and the analysis and data relied upon in the Department's final regulatory impact analysis (RIA).

This document contains proposed regulations on the rules for expatriate health plans, expatriate health plan issuers, and qualified expatriates under the Expatriate Health Coverage Clarification Act of 2014 (EHCCA). This document also includes proposed conforming amendments to certain regulations to implement the provisions of the EHCCA. Further, this document proposes standards for travel insurance and supplemental health insurance coverage to be considered excepted benefits and revisions to the definition of short-term, limited- duration insurance for purposes of the exclusion from the definition of individual health insurance coverage. These proposed regulations affect expatriates with health coverage under expatriate health plans and sponsors, issuers and administrators of expatriate health plans, individuals with and plan sponsors of travel insurance and supplemental health insurance coverage, and individuals with short-term, limited- duration insurance. In addition, this document proposes to amend a reference in the final regulations relating to prohibitions on lifetime and annual dollar limits and proposes to require that a notice be provided in connection with hospital indemnity and other fixed indemnity insurance in the group health insurance market for it to be considered excepted benefits.

This document contains notices of pendency before the Department of Labor (the Department) of proposed exemptions from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). This notice includes the following proposed exemptions: D-11813, The Michael T. Sewell, M.D., P.S.C. Profit Sharing Plan (the Plan); D-11822, Plumbers' Pension Fund, Local 130, U.A. (the Plan or the Applicant); D-11858, Liberty Media 401(k) Savings Plan (the Plan); and, D-11866, Baxter International Inc. (Baxter or the Applicant).

This document contains amendments to prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs) 75-1, 77-4, 80-83 and 83-1. Generally, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) prohibit fiduciaries with respect to employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) from engaging in self- dealing, including using their authority, control or responsibility to affect or increase their own compensation. These exemptions generally permit fiduciaries to receive compensation or other benefits as a result of the use of their fiduciary authority, control or responsibility in connection with investment transactions involving plans or IRAs. The amendments require the fiduciaries to satisfy uniform Impartial Conduct Standards in order to obtain the relief available under each exemption. The amendments affect participants and beneficiaries of plans, IRA owners, and fiduciaries with respect to such plans and IRAs.

This document amends and partially revokes Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-24, an exemption from certain prohibited transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). The ERISA and Code provisions at issue generally prohibit fiduciaries with respect to employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) from engaging in self-dealing in connection with transactions involving these plans and IRAs. Non-fiduciary service providers also may not enter into certain transactions with plans and IRAs without an exemption. The amended exemption allows fiduciaries and other service providers to receive compensation when plans and IRAs purchase insurance contracts, ``Fixed Rate Annuity Contracts,'' as defined in the exemption, securities of investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as well as certain related transactions. The amendments increase the safeguards of the exemption. This document also contains the revocation of the exemption as it applies to plan and IRA purchases of annuity contracts that do not satisfy the definition of a Fixed Rate Annuity Contract, and the revocation of the exemption as it applies to IRA purchases of investment company securities. The amendments and revocations affect participants and beneficiaries of plans, IRA owners, and certain fiduciaries and service providers of plans and IRAs.

This document contains an exemption from certain prohibited transactions provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (the Code). The provisions at issue generally prohibit fiduciaries with respect to employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) from purchasing and selling investments when the fiduciaries are acting on behalf of their own accounts (principal transactions). The exemption permits principal transactions and riskless principal transactions in certain investments between a plan, plan participant or beneficiary account, or an IRA, and a fiduciary that provides investment advice to the plan or IRA, under conditions to safeguard the interests of these investors. The exemption affects participants and beneficiaries of plans, IRA owners, and fiduciaries with respect to such plans and IRAs.

This document contains a final regulation defining who is a ``fiduciary'' of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) as a result of giving investment advice to a plan or its participants or beneficiaries. The final rule also applies to the definition of a ``fiduciary'' of a plan (including an individual retirement account (IRA)) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code). The final rule treats persons who provide investment advice or recommendations for a fee or other compensation with respect to assets of a plan or IRA as fiduciaries in a wider array of advice relationships.