That said, "it is important that sufficient time be provided to build the infrastructure that will be necessary to support the new disclosure regime. Although the vast majority of providers have been hard at work preparing for the new disclosure requirements, completing this work will nevertheless require additional time after the final regulation is issued. This is particularly true as there remain open a number of issues that could greatly affect the ultimate design of any compliance system."

The letter points out that one issue that remains unresolved in the 408(b)(2) regulation is whether it will require a summary disclosure statement. "If a summary of some type is required, the parameters for what it must contain and how it is to be formatted will significantly impact system design. Yet it is difficult, if not impossible, to begin such work without first having the specifications that must be satisfied. It doesn't make sense, to build a system to potentially accommodate a summary without the parameters for the system's design," the letter said.

It added that, "engagement contracts used by service providers to ERISA plans will be greatly affected by the new rules. Engaging legal counsel to assist in this process is both expensive and time consuming. Many providers are small businesses who must be very mindful of their overhead costs in order to provide their services at competitive prices and keep down costs to plans and plan participants. For obvious reasons, our members are reluctant to incur this expense at this point in the process out of a well-placed fear that they will need additional legal help when the regulation is finalized. It would be a waste of time and money to ask for legal guidance when there is no sure standard to apply."

The organizations recommend extending the applicability deadline to one year after the 408(b)(2) regulation is finalized and the 404(a) regulation should be extended until one year after the final 408(b)(2) regulation is published.