2017-14101: Request for Information Regarding the Fiduciary Rule and Prohibited Transaction Exemptions

Summary

The Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) is publishing this Request for Information in connection with its examination of the final rule defining who is a "fiduciary" of an employee benefit plan for purposes of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code, as a result of giving investment advice for a fee or other compensation with respect to assets of a plan or IRA (Fiduciary Rule or Rule). The examination also includes the new and amended administrative class exemptions from the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA and the Code that were published in conjunction with the Rule (collectively, the Prohibited Transaction Exemptions or PTEs). This Request for Information specifically seeks public input that could form the basis of new exemptions or changes/revisions to the rule and PTEs, and input regarding the advisability of extending the January 1, 2018, applicability date of certain provisions in the Best Interest Contract Exemption, the Class Exemption for Principal Transactions in Certain Assets Between Investment Advice Fiduciaries and Employee Benefit Plans and IRAs, and Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24.

The agency’s own summary, as published.

What this changes

Amends 3 parts of the Code of Federal Regulations — the standing rules this notice rewrites.

• 29 CFR 2509 Interpretive Bulletins Relating to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
• 29 CFR 2510 Definition of Terms Used in Subchapters C, D, E, F, G, and L of This Chapter
• 29 CFR 2550 Rules and Regulations for Fiduciary Responsibility