EBSA Press Release: Department Of Labor Publishes Notice To Remove Obsolete ERISA Regulations From Federal Code [07/01/1996]

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The U.S. Department of Labor's Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration today published a final notice eliminating a number of obsolete regulations issued under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

"This final action is being taken to implement the president's executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate unnecessary regulations," said Olena Berg, assistant secretary of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration.

The obsolete regulations removed from the Code of Federal Regulations include a number of provisions which provided transitional relief and guidance for plan sponsors, fiduciaries and others shortly after ERISA was enacted in 1974. Also included in the notice is the removal of paragraph (b) of Interpretive Bulletin No. 75-2, which no longer has any force or effect following the Supreme Court's 1993 decision in John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Harris Trust & Savings Bank.

The notice is scheduled to be published in the July 1, 1996, Federal Register. The action being announced today was proposed in the Federal Register on April 3, 1996. The notice will also be available on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba, see "What's New in PWBA."