[15383]
November 22, 2002
TO: PENSION MEMBERS No. 56-02
PENSION OPERATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 77-02
RE: INSTITUTE LETTER CONCERNING DOL GUIDANCE ON BLACKOUT PERIOD
NOTICES
The Institute recently filed the attached letter with the Department of Labor with regard
to its regulatory guidance implementing section 306(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.1
Under these rules, a plan administrator of an individual account plan must provide notice of a
blackout period generally 30 days in advance of the blackout to all affected participants and
beneficiaries. The recommendations made in the letter include the following.
First, the letter requests 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 letter notes that 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 clarify that the definition of “blackout
period” does not include suspensions required under current law upon a plan administrator’s
receipt of a domestic relations order, or restrictions resulting from other judicial or government
agency-imposed orders.
Finally, the letter recommends 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
1 See Institute Memorandum to Pension Members No. 50-02, dated October 23, 2002; see also Institute Memorandum to
Pension Members No. 35-02 and Pension Operations Advisory Committee No. 51-02, dated July 30, 2002.
2
(3) reflect our recommendation regarding the alternative methods of satisfying the ending date
notice requirement.
Thomas T. Kim
Associate Counsel
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attachment for memo 15383.
Attachment (in .pdf format)