[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 12, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21600-21601]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-07785]



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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration

29 CFR Part 2570

RIN 1210-AC05


Procedures Governing the Filing and Processing of Prohibited 
Transaction Exemption Applications

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of 
Labor.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the Department) is extending the 
comment period for a proposed rule that would update, clarify, and 
supersede the Department's current regulation governing the filing and 
processing of applications for administrative exemptions from the 
prohibited transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the 
Code), and the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986 
(FERSA). The Department published the proposed rule in the Federal 
Register on March 15, 2022, with a 30-day comment period that was 
scheduled to end on April 14, 2022. Since the proposed rule was 
published, the Department has received multiple requests from 
interested parties for the Department to provide additional time for 
them to develop and submit their comments on the proposal. In response 
to these requests, the Department is extending the comment period for 
an additional 45 days, through May 29, 2022.

DATES: Written comments and requests for a public hearing on the 
proposed rule must be submitted to the Department on or before May 29, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: All written comments and requests for a hearing concerning 
the proposed rule should be sent to the Office of Exemption 
Determinations through the Federal eRulemaking Portal and identified by 
RIN 1210-AC05.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov at Docket ID 
number: EBSA-2022-0003.
    See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION below for additional information 
regarding comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Shiker, telephone: (202) 693-
8552, email: [email protected], Office of Exemption Determinations, 
Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor 
(this is not a toll-free number).
    Customer Service Information: Individuals interested in obtaining 
information from the Department concerning ERISA and employee benefit 
plans may call the Employee Benefits Security Administration's Toll-
Free Hotline, at 1-866-444-EBSA (3272) or visit the Department's 
website (www.dol.gov/ebsa).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comment Instructions

    All comments and requests for a hearing must be received by the end 
of the comment period. Requests for a hearing must state the issues to 
be addressed and include a general description of the evidence to be 
presented at the hearing. Persons are encouraged to submit all comments 
electronically and not to follow such submission with paper copies. The 
comments and hearing requests will be available for public inspection 
in the Public Disclosure Room of the Employee Benefits Security 
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-1513, 200 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210; however, the Public Disclosure Room 
may be closed for all or a portion of the comment period due to 
circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel 
coronavirus. Comments and hearing requests will also be available to 
the public, without charge, online at www.regulations.gov, at Docket ID 
number: EBSA-2022-0003 and www.dol.gov/ebsa.
    Warning: All comments received will be included in the public 
record without change and will be made available online at 
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless the comment includes information claimed to be confidential or 
other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. If you 
submit a comment, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) 
recommends that you include your name and other contact information, 
but DO NOT submit information that you consider to be confidential, or 
otherwise protected (such as Social Security number or an unlisted 
phone number), or confidential business information that you do not 
want publicly disclosed. However, if EBSA cannot read your comment due 
to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, 
EBSA might not be able to consider your comment. Additionally, the 
www.regulations.gov website is an ``anonymous access'' system, which 
means EBSA will not know your identity or contact information unless 
you provide it. If you send an email directly to EBSA without going 
through www.regulations.gov, your email address will be automatically 
captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the 
public record and made available on the internet.

Background

    The Secretary of Labor is authorized to grant administrative 
exemptions from the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA, the 
Code, and FERSA and to establish an exemption procedure to grant such 
exemptions. The Department's exemption procedure regulation was first 
published in 1990 and most recently updated in 2011.\1\
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    \1\ 29 CFR part 2570.30 through 2570.52 (55 FR 32847 (Aug. 10, 
1990) and 76 FR 6637 (Oct. 27, 2011)).
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    On March 15, 2022, the Department published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking in the Federal Register entitled: Procedures Governing the 
Filing and Processing of Prohibited Transaction Exemption Applications 
(the Proposed Rule).\2\ The Proposed Rule would update, clarify, and 
supersede the Department's existing regulation governing the filing and 
processing of applications for administrative exemptions from the 
prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA, the Code, and FERSA.
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    \2\ 87 FR 14722.
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    The Proposed Rule contains a 30-day comment period, which was 
scheduled to expire on April 14, 2022. Since the publication of the 
Proposed Rule, the Department has received multiple letters from 
interested persons expressing concern that the proposal's 30-day 
comment period did not provide them with sufficient time to develop and 
submit their comments regarding the proposed substantive changes to the 
current exemption procedure regulation and requesting the Department to 
extend the comment period by at least 30 days.
    After carefully considering the extension requests, the Department 
has decided that it is appropriate to extend the comment period in the 
context of this proposed regulation for an additional 45 days (from 30 
to 75 total days) to provide interested parties with additional time to 
participate in this rulemaking process. The comment period, therefore, 
will close on May 29, 2022.


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    Signed at Washington, DC, this 6th day of April 2022.
Ali Khawar,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, 
U.S. Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2022-07785 Filed 4-11-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P