We are issuing the latest update to our recent Alerts regarding the final rules issued by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) with respect to fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and the DOL’s Best Interest Contract Exemption (“BIC Exemption”) from ERISA’s prohibited transactions provisions. On August 9, 2017, the DOL filed a Notice of Administrative Action in a pending lawsuit advising the Court that it has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) proposed amendments to the BIC Exemption along with two other exemptions. The proposed amendments would delay the applicability date of those exemptions from January 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019. The Notice of Administrative Action was filed in Thrivent Financial for Lutherans v. R. Alexander Acosta, Secretary of Labor, and United States Department of Labor, Civil Action No. 16-cv-03289 (D. Minn.). According to the Notice of Administrative Action, the DOL submitted the proposed amendments to the OMB on August 9, 2017. Notification of the DOL’s submission to the OMB becomes publicly available on August 10, 2017. 1
We will update this Alert once the DOL’s submission of the proposed amendment to the BIC Exemption’s applicability date becomes publicly available.
--------------------------------------------------------
[1] Relevant prior Alerts concerning the subject of delays in the implementation of the effective dates of the Fiduciary Rule and BIC Exemption can be found at the following links: