Yesterday, the Department of Labor (DOL) finalized its 60-day delay of its “fiduciary rule” regulations that would subject persons, who provide investment advice to retirement plan participants and IRA owners, to ERISA’s fiduciary standards.  For more information on the regulations, please see our prior HRBenefitsAuthority dated April 14, 2016.

The DOL’s delay means that:

• The regulations and the accompanying prohibited transaction exemptions will now take effect on June 9, 2017.
• The written disclosure requirements for certain prohibited transaction exemptions will now take effect on January 1, 2018. From June 9, 2017 through January 1, 2018, fiduciaries will only need to comply with the impartial conduct standards of:
  • 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
  • Amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24.

During this delay, the DOL will re-examine the fiduciary rule in light of President Trump’s February 3, 2017 directive.  While the DOL announcement did not go into further detail, this re-examination could result in further delays and/or changes in those regulations.  For more information on the President’s directive, please see our prior HRBenefitsAuthority dated February 6, 2017.

Contact Information.  For more information, please contact Don Mazursky (404.888.8840), David Putnal (404.888.8836), Toby Walls (404.888.8870), Teri King (404.888.8847), or Alex Smith (404.888.8839).