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Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

DOL Extends Fiduciary Rule Applicability Date by 60 Days

Securities Department of Labor DOL Fiduciary Rule Trump

Securities

On April 4, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a 60-day extension of the applicability dates of its “Fiduciary Rule”—a 2016 final rule expanding the definition of who qualifies as a “fiduciary” under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. The rule treats persons who provide investment advice or recommendations for a fee or other compensation with respect to assets of a plan or IRA as fiduciaries in a wider array of “advice relationships.” The extension also delays (by 60 days) the applicability of certain prohibited transaction exemptions. Accordingly, exemptions such as the “Best Interest Contract Exemption” and the “Principal Transaction Exemption” will become applicable on June 9, 2017. In its press release announcing the issuance of the final rule, the DOL noted, among other things, that the extensions are necessary to enable the DOL to perform the examination of the fiduciary rule directed by the President in his February 3 Presidential Memorandum (see previously posted InfoBytes summary regarding February 3 memo) to consider possible changes with respect to the fiduciary rule and related Prohibited Transaction Exemptions based on new evidence or analysis developed pursuant to the examination.   

The 60-day extension was published in the Federal Register on April 7. As previously covered on InfoBytes, the DOL has released two sets of “frequently asked questions” about the Fiduciary Rule.