DOL Reviewing 19,000 Fiduciary Rule Comments

By Melanie Waddell

News January 05, 2024 at 02:01 PM

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The Labor Department is now "carefully" reviewing and analyzing the more than 19,000 submissions it received on its new fiduciary rule proposal, a Labor spokesperson told ThinkAdvisor Friday.

During the public comment period, which ended on Jan. 2, "many of these submissions were unique, while the vast majority were petitions that were submitted in common by numerous people," the spokesperson said.

Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration will "use the feedback as it proceeds with its work on this rulemaking with the goal of best protecting the retirement funds of America's workers when they receive investment advice," the spokesperson added.

"Submissions will be posted on EBSA's website and Regulations.gov as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

While the spokesperson didn't specify a timeline on when a final rule would be released, Fred Reish, partner at Faegre Drinker, told ThinkAdvisor Friday in an email that he expects the final regulation and prohibited transaction exemptions to be sent to the Office of Management and Budget in early to mid-April.

"Then the OMB will approve and release the rules for publication in the Federal Register in early June," Reish relayed. "The rules will become effective 60 days after publication but may have a delayed applicability date."

That being said, "there is a good chance it will be a month or two slower" than this timeline, Reish opined.

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