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The U.S. Department of Labor's Pension and Welfare Benefits
Administration today published two proposed rules under the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) implementing changes in ERISA's summary
plan description requirements made by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA
'97).
TRA '97 eliminated the requirement that employee
benefit plan administrators automatically file with the department copies of
the summary plan descriptions (SPDs) and summaries of material plan
modifications (SMMs) that are required to be furnished to plan participants and
beneficiaries. SPDs must be furnished to the department when requested and TRA
'97 provides for the assessment of civil penalties for a failure to respond to
such a request.
The proposed rules implement these requirements
and remove SPD filing and other provisions from the Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) which were superceded by TRA '97.
"These regulations ensure that employees can come
to the department to get copies of their plan's latest SPD," said Assistant
Secretary Richard M. McGahey.
Written comments on the proposed rules should be
submitted by October 4 to: Office of Regulations and Interpretations, Room
N-5669, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Labor,
200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20210. |
