July 20, 2010 Department of Labor (DOL) has issued interim final regulations (approximately 150 pages) under ERISA section 408(b)(2) generally requiring that service providers to employee pension benefit plans disclose the necessary information to assist plan fiduciaries in assessing the reasonableness of contracts or arrangements and the fees associated with such relationships. In order to give service providers sufficient time to re-negotiate and amend their contracts with their clients and to make changes to their business practices necessary to satisfy the new rules, the effective date for compliance is July 16, 2011, which is twelve months following publication in the Federal Register. These rules will apply not only to new contracts, but also to contracts entered into prior to July 16, 2011. AALU will conduct a thorough review of the new regulations and will provide a more detailed analysis in a future Washington .. (more)