Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Labor Dept. (DOL) has asked stakeholders to weigh in on impending effective dates in the new, so-called fiduciary rule.
• The regulation, issued during the Obama administration, set new conduct standards for individuals who give retirement savings advice and is set to take effect in stages.
• President Trump’s new secretary of labor, Alexander Acosta, allowed the conduct requirements to take effect June 9. Still pending are additional standards, which are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2018.

Dive Insight:

While the rule largely affects individuals who advise others on their retirement savings, it also has implications for employers that are retirement plan sponsors. Those businesses may want to ensure any experts who provide advice (to both employees and employers) are in compliance with the rule, if they meet the rule’s definition of a “fiduciary,” and also must check that any compensation paid to these individuals is “reasonable,” as defined by the regulations.

Announcing its Request for Information (RFI), DOL said that it wants the public’s assistance in determining future actions on the rule. The department not only asks whether the Jan. 1 deadline should be pushed back but also asks stakeholders to weigh in on potential revisions to the rule, including to provisions already implemented.

Once formally published in the Federal Register, interested parties will have 15 days to comment on DOL’s proposal to extend the Jan. 1 effective date. The agency will accept comments on all other issues for 30 days. Instructions for submitting comments are available in the RFI.