The U.S. Department of Labor is extending a comment period for a final regulation that would allow 401(k) and other retirement plan fiduciaries to give plan participants investment advice.
The proposed final rule, published under the direction of the Bush administration, has come under some criticism from members of Congress, who say the proposal goes far beyond what was allowed under provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.
The Labor Department published the proposed final regulation Jan. 21, and the rule was to go into effect March 23.
On Feb. 4, however, the Labor Department published a notice in the Federal Register postponing the effective date of that regulation. The notice also stretched the comment period on the regulation until March 6 from its original expiration date of Feb. 18 and delayed the effective date until May 22. 
