<nobr>Jul 14, 2011</nobr>

DOL Further Extends Fee Disclosure Applicability Dates

The Department of Labor on July 13 released a final rule that extends the applicability dates of the department's interim final rule concerning fiduciary-level fee disclosure by plan service providers and the final rule concerning participant-level fee disclosure to more closely align the initial compliance dates of the two rules.

DOL on June 1 released a proposal to extend from July 16, 2011, to January 1, 2012, the applicability date requiring plan service providers to disclose information about their fees and potential conflicts of interest to plan fiduciaries under section 408(b)(2) of ERISA. Under this final rule, the effective date for the interim final fiduciary-level fee disclosure rule is extended to April 1, 2012, three months later than earlier proposed.

DOL also amended the transitional rule of the final participant-level disclosure regulation to require that initial disclosures under section 404(c) be provided no later than the later of 60 days after the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after November 1, 2011, or 60 days after the effective date of the fiduciary-level fee disclosure rule. Thus, the deadline for calendar year plans is now May 31, 2012. The amended transition period seeks to ensure that compliance with section the 408(b)(2) regulation is effective before plans are required to disclose service provider fees to participants.

The transitional rule also provides that certain quarterly disclosures must be furnished no later than 45 days after the end of the quarter in which the initial disclosures are required to be furnished to participants and beneficiaries pursuant to the transitional rule.

DOL has indicated that it plans to have the service-provider disclosure rule released before the end of the year.

A link to the final rule on applicability dates appears below.

Questions or comments on this issue should be addressed to Kathryn Ricard ( kricard@eric.org ).

Websites:

DOL Final Rule on Applicability Dates

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