The
DoL also announced that in the near future it intends to publish for public
comment a separate proposal that would require service providers, in addition
to providing the required fee and investment expense information, to furnish a
guide or similar tool to assist plan fiduciaries in identifying and locating
the potentially complex information that must be disclosed and which may be
located in multiple documents.
The
DoL said the three-month extension of the effective date of the final rule was
provided to allow service providers sufficient time to prepare for compliance.
Service providers not in compliance as of July 1, 2012 will be in violation of
ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules and subject to penalties under the
Internal Revenue Code. (see DoL Extends
Applicability Dates for Fee Disclosure Rules).
The
effective date of the final rule works in conjunction with the compliance date
of the department’s participant-level disclosure regulation (29 CFR §
2550.404a-5), which requires plan administrators to give workers who direct
their retirement accounts in 401(k)-type plans easy-to-understand information
to comparison shop among the plan investment options available to them.
Due to the extension of the effective date of the final rule announced Thursday,
plan administrators for calendar year plans now must make the initial annual
disclosure of “plan-level” and “investment-level” information (including
associated fees and expenses) to participants no later than August 30, 2012,
and the first quarterly statement (for fees incurred July through September)
must be furnished no later than November 14, 2012.
Plan
sponsors and service providers with questions about the final rule can contact
EBSA's Office of Regulations and Interpretations at 202-693-8500.
A fact
sheet on this regulation is also available on EBSA's website at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom.
Tara Cantore