In an effort to give retirement service providers more time to comply with the new fee disclosure model, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has postponed the effective date for the legislation.

According to the DOL, a final Employee Retirement Income Security Act Section 408(b)(2) regulation has not yet been issued, making it difficult for service providers to comply with the fee disclosure laws in time. An interim final 408(b)(2) regulation was published on July 16, 2010. This regulation required retirement plan providers to disclose information about fees and conflicts of interest to plan fiduciaries.

Until recently, the new requirements were scheduled to be effective for plan contracts started on or after July 16, 2011. However, the DOL had previously said it intended to extend the compliance deadline to Jan. 1, 2012.

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That deadline is now official.  

The department has also extended the transition period for the employee disclosure regulation. The participant-level regulation, which was passed on Oct. 20, 2010, requires employers to inform employees about plan and investment costs. This regulation is set to take effect on Nov. 1, 2011, but the previous 60-day transition period has been extended to 120 days. This ensures that employers have ample time to receive the neccessary information from service providers to disclose required information to participants.
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