On July 13, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule extending the compliance dates for the DOL’s new service provider (408(b)(2)) and participant-level (404a-5) disclosure regulations. The final rule, which is currently available on the DOL website,1 is expected to be published in the Federal Register on July 19.

Service Provider Disclosure Regulation

The effective date for the rule concerning required disclosures from certain pension plan service providers to plan fiduciaries under ERISA section 408(b)(2) is being extended by three months to April 1, 2012.

As originally provided in the interim final regulation published on July 16, 2010, the effective date for the 408(b)(2) service provider disclosure regulation was July 16, 2011. On June 1, 2011, the DOL published a proposal to extend the effective date to January 1, 2012, consistent with an announcement it had made in February 2011. Based on its review of the comments it received and consideration of the fact that it has not yet published a “final” final regulation, which is expected to change the interim final rules, the DOL believed that an extension of time would be needed to allow service providers to make the necessary systems changes. The DOL indicated that it intends to publish the final 408(b)(2) service provider disclosure regulation before the end of the year.