Abandoned Plan Regulations

Document 2024-09029 is a Final Rule published by the Department of Labor in the Federal Register on May 17, 2024, with an effective date of July 16, 2024. This rulemaking amends the Abandoned Plan Program regulations that provide streamlined procedures for the termination of, and distribution of benefits from, individual account pension plans that have been abandoned by their sponsoring employers. The regulations, which were adopted in 2006 under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended ("ERISA"), did not cover individual account pension plans whose sponsors are in liquidation under chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. These interim final rules expand the regulations to cover these plans so that bankruptcy trustees may use the Abandoned Plan Program's streamlined procedures to terminate and wind them up. Other technical amendments also are being made to improve the efficiency and operation of the Abandoned Plan Program. The amendments will affect employee benefit plans (primarily small defined contribution plans), participants and beneficiaries, service providers, and individuals appointed to serve as bankruptcy trustees under chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Department is also issuing an amendment to PTE 2006-06, the prohibited transaction exemption accompanying the Abandoned Plan Program regulations, elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. View the original at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/05/17/2024-09029/abandoned-plan-regulations.

No. Document 2024-09029 is not classified as economically significant under Executive Order 12866. Economically significant rules require OIRA review and are estimated to have impacts of $100 million or more per year.