Information Letters

Requests for interpretations and other rulings under Title 1 of ERISA are handled by the Office of Regulations and Interpretations under the provisions established by ERISA Procedure 76-1. The office answers inquiries from individuals and organizations in the form of information letters, which call attention to well established principles or interpretations.

**1998**
Date	Recipient	Description of Request
Information Letter 1998-08-14	Mr. Robert C. Gerald 18 Ward Avenue Staten Island, New York 10304	Whether a TPA providing services to an ERISA-covered plan must hire its own accountant to examine its operations and render an opinion thereon.
Information Letter 1998-07-28	Mr. Gary E. Henderson President, Qualified Plan Services, L.L.C. 1100 Chase Square Rochester, New York 14604-1999	Whether the trustees of a multiemployer plan would violate the fiduciary provisions of ERISA if they used plan assets to purchase a package comprising compliance audits linked to a specific insurance product.
Information Letter 1998-02-19	Diana Orantes Ceresi Associate General Counsel SEIU, AFL-CIO, CLC 1313 L Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20005	Whether it is appropriate for a trustee of an ERISA-covered health and welfare fund to consider quality in the selection of health care services.

**1997**
Date	Recipient	Description of Request
Information Letter 1997-12-01	Theodore Konshak Negotiated Pension Plans, Ltd. 1107 Wilson Ave. Green Bay, Wisconsin 54303-4206	Guidance regarding the payment of expenses by an employee pension benefit plan in connection with actuarial services required under section 103(a)(4)(A) of ERISA.
Information Letter 1997-07-11	Cary Hammond, Esq. Diekemper, Hammond, Shinners, Turcotte and Larrew, P.C. 7730 Carondelet Avenue, Suite 200 St. Louis, Missouri 63105	Guidance regarding DOL's 03/13/97 Federal Register announcement in which we requested public comments on a proposed enforcement policy for annual reports of multiemployer welfare plans. Under the proposal, the department would not reject the annual report of a multiemployer welfare plan solely because the accountant's opinion accompanying the report was qualified or adverse due to a failure to account and report for postretirement benefit obligations in accordance with the AICPA Statement of Position 92-6. To allow the department enough time to consider public comments on the proposal, the announcement also provided that we will not reject 1996 and 1997 plan year annual reports due to such qualified or adverse accountant's opinions.