Employee Benefits Security Administration – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document proposes to extend the special transition period under sections II and IX of the Best Interest Contract Exemption and section VII of the Class Exemption for Principal Transactions in Certain Assets Between Investment Advice Fiduciaries and Employee Benefit Plans and IRAs. This document also proposes to delay the applicability of certain amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24 for the same period. The primary purpose of the proposed amendments is to give the Department of Labor the time necessary to consider possible changes and alternatives to these exemptions. The Department is particularly concerned that, without a delay in the applicability dates, regulated parties may incur undue expense to comply with conditions or requirements that it ultimately determines to revise or repeal. The present transition period is from June 9, 2017, to January 1, 2018. The new transition period would end on July 1, 2019. The proposed amendments to these exemptions would affect participants and beneficiaries of plans, IRA owners and fiduciaries with respect to such plans and IRAs.

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). If granted, these proposed exemptions allow designated parties to engage in transactions that would otherwise be prohibited provided the conditions stated there in are met. This notice includes the following proposed exemptions: D- 11869, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company; and D-11916, Russell Investment Management, LLC (RIM), Russell Investments Capital, LLC (RICap), and their Affiliates.

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: 2017-01, Rosetree & Company 401(k) Plan and Trust, D-11845; and 2017-02, Aon Pension Plan, D-11880.

The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting comments on the proposed extension of the information collection requests (ICRs) contained in the documents described below. A copy of the ICRs may be obtained by contacting the office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. ICRs also are available at reginfo.gov (https://www.reginfo.gov/public/ do/PRAMain).

This document contains notices of pendency before the Department of Labor (the Department) of proposed exemption 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 exemption: D-11845, Rosetree & Company 401(k) Plan and Trust.

This document extends for 60 days the applicability date of the final regulation, published on April 8, 2016, defining who is a ``fiduciary'' under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. It also extends for 60 days the applicability dates of the Best Interest Contract Exemption and the Class Exemption for Principal Transactions in Certain Assets Between Investment Advice Fiduciaries and Employee Benefit Plans and IRAs. It requires that fiduciaries relying on these exemptions for covered transactions adhere only to the Impartial Conduct Standards (including the ``best interest'' standard), as conditions of the exemptions during the transition period from June 9, 2017, through January 1, 2018. Thus, the fiduciary definition in the rule (Fiduciary Rule or Rule) published on April 8, 2016, and Impartial Conduct Standards in these exemptions, are applicable on June 9, 2017, while compliance with the remaining conditions in these exemptions, such as requirements to make specific written disclosures and representations of fiduciary compliance in communications with investors, is not required until January 1, 2018. This document also delays the applicability of amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24 until January 1, 2018, other than the Impartial Conduct Standards, which will become applicable on June 9, 2017. Finally, this document extends for 60 days the applicability dates of amendments to other previously granted exemptions. The President, by Memorandum to the Secretary of Labor dated February 3, 2017, directed the Department of Labor to examine whether the Fiduciary Rule may adversely affect the ability of Americans to gain access to retirement information and financial advice, and to prepare an updated economic and legal analysis concerning the likely impact of the Fiduciary Rule as part of that examination. The extensions announced in this document are necessary to enable the Department to perform this examination and to consider possible changes with respect to the Fiduciary Rule and PTEs based on new evidence or analysis developed pursuant to the examination.

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.