Employee Benefits Security Administration June 24, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor is reopening the comment period on proposed amendments to six class exemptions from prohibited transaction rules set forth in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (the Code). The exemptions are Prohibited Transaction Exemptions (PTEs) 75-1, 80-83, 81-8, 95-60, 97- 41 and 2006-16. The proposed amendments relate to the use of credit ratings in the conditions of these class exemptions. Section 939A of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires the Department to remove any references to or requirements of reliance on credit ratings from its class exemptions and to substitute standards of creditworthiness as the Department determines to be appropriate. This reopening of the comment period provides interested persons with the opportunity to submit additional comments on the proposed amendments due to the passage of time since the proposal was originally published in 2013. All comments received to date on the proposed amendments will be included in the public record and need not be resubmitted. The proposed amendments to the class exemptions would affect participants and beneficiaries of employee benefit plans and IRAs, fiduciaries of the plans and IRAs, and financial institutions that engage in transactions with, or provide services to, the plans and IRAs.