Data / Federal rules / 2025-11615
Selection of Annuity Providers-Safe Harbor for Individual Account Plans
The Employee Benefits Security Administration published this final rule in the Federal Register on July 1, 2025. It took effect on September 2, 2025. Comments closed on July 31, 2025.
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What the agency says
This direct final rule (DFR) removes 29 CFR 2550.404a-4 from the Code of Federal Regulations, which is a regulation published in 2008 that provides a fiduciary safe harbor for the selection of annuity providers for the purpose of benefit distributions from individual account retirement plans covered by title I of the Employee Retirement Income Act of 1974 (ERISA). The regulatory safe harbor became unnecessary in 2019 when Congress amended ERISA to add a more streamlined fiduciary safe harbor covering the same activity. Although the statutory safe harbor did not technically nullify or repeal the regulatory safe harbor, its existence offers an unnecessary and inefficient alternative and may inadvertently be a trap for the unwary. This action improves the daily lives of the American people by reducing unnecessary, burdensome, and costly Federal regulations.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2025-11615
- Type
- Final rule
- Action
- Direct final rule; request for comments
- Agency
- Labor Department; Employee Benefits Security Administration
- Published
- July 1, 2025
- Takes effect
- September 2, 2025
- Comments due
- July 31, 2025
- Dates
- The final rule is effective September 2, 2025, unless significant adverse comments are received by July 31, 2025. Significant adverse comments are ones which oppose the rule and raise, alone or in combination, a serious enough issue related to each of the independent grounds for the rule that a substantive response is required. If significant adverse comments are received, notification will be published in the Federal Register before the effective date either withdrawing the rule or issuing a new final rule which responds to significant adverse comments.
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 1210-AC33
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 29 CFR 2550
- Topics
- Employee benefit plans; Fiduciaries; Foreign investments in U.S.; Investments; Pensions; Reporting and recordkeeping requirements; Securities; Surety bonds; Trusts and trustees
- Pages
- 3
Other documents from the Employee Benefits Security Administration
| Document | Type | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency in Coverage 2026-20447 · significant | Final rule | Oct 6 |
| Federal Independent Dispute Resolution Operations; Correction 2026-17622 · significant | Final rule | Aug 28 |
| Electronic Disclosure by Group Health Plans Under ERISA 2026-14917 · significant | Proposed rule | Jul 23 |
| Federal Independent Dispute Resolution Operations 2026-11140 · significant | Final rule | Jun 4 |
| Excepted Fertility Benefits 2026-09479 | Proposed rule | May 13 |
| Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives 2026-06178 | Proposed rule | Mar 31 |
| Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary: Notice of Court Vacatur 2026-05492 · significant | Final rule | Mar 20 |
| Improving Transparency Into Pharmacy Benefit Manager Fee Disclosure; Extension of Comment Period 2026-04084 · significant | Proposed rule | Mar 2 |
Everything from the Employee Benefits Security Administration · Rules on employee benefit plans · Rules on fiduciaries · Rules on investments · Published in July 2025
Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.