ACTION REQUESTED
[15347]
November 8, 2002
TO: PENSION COMMITTEE No. 43-02
PENSION OPERATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 72-02
RE: DRAFT INSTITUTE LETTER CONCERNING DOL GUIDANCE ON BLACKOUT
PERIOD NOTICES
Attached for your review is a draft comment letter in response to the Department of
Labor’s guidance implementing the blackout period notice provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act of 2002.1 The draft letter makes the following points.
First, we request clarification that plan administrators may satisfy the requirement to
include an expected ending date in a blackout period notice by providing (1) a single expected
ending date, where that date is determinable, (2) a range of dates in which the end date is
expected, where the specific expected end date cannot be determined with reasonable accuracy,
or (3) a description of the circumstances under which the blackout period is expected to end, in
those rare situations where even a range of expected ending dates would be essentially
meaningless. In situations where a single expected ending date is not included in the blackout
period notice, the plan administrator should be required to provide a subsequent notice
identifying the ending date once it has been determined.
Second, the letter urges the Department to exclude from the definition of “blackout
period” suspensions required under current law upon a plan administrator’s receipt of a
domestic relations order.
Finally, we recommend that the model notice be modified to (1) expressly permit plan
administrators to exclude portions of the model notice that are irrelevant to the plan at issue,
(2) clarify that the beginning and end dates of the blackout period are expected dates, and
(3) reflect our recommendation regarding the alternative methods of satisfying the ending date
notice requirement.
Please review the attached draft and contact me with any comments or suggestions by
Friday, November 15, 2002. In addition, to the extent that you have comments regarding the
1 See Institute Memorandum to Pension Committee No. 42-02 and Pension Operations Advisory Committee No. 69-
02, dated October 22, 2002; 67 Fed. Reg. 64766 (October 21, 2002).
2
Department’s civil penalty rules2 issued in conjunction with the blackout notice guidance,
please provide them to me as well. I can be reached by phone (202-326-5837), fax (202-326-
5841) or e-mail (tkim@ici.org).
Thomas T. Kim
Associate Counsel
Attachment (in .pdf format)
2 See Institute Memorandum to Pension Committee No. 42-02 and Pension Operations Advisory Committee No. 69-
02, dated October 22, 2002; 67 Fed. Reg. 64774 (October 21, 2002).