On February 2, 2012, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued final regulations relating to the disclosure of information by those who provide services to certain employee benefit plans. These regulations, which are referred to below as the “Service Provider Fee Disclosure Regulations,” represent the final piece of the EBSA’s two-pronged effort to improve the disclosure of pertinent information to both plan fiduciaries and plan participants. The second prong, the Participant Disclosure Regulations, was finalized on October 14, 2010. The final Service Provider Fee Disclosure Regulation reflects certain changes to the interim final rule that was published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2010.

The key changes to the modified Service Provider Fee Disclosure Regulation include:

- An extension of the effective date from April 1, 2012 to July 1, 2012.

- An exclusion for certain Code Section 403(b) contracts and custodial accounts.

- The expansion of the information that must be disclosed concerning a covered service provider’s receipt of indirect compensation to include a description of the arrangement between the payer and the service provider pursuant to which the compensation will be paid....