{
    "schema": "amendsignal.record/1",
    "generated_on": "2026-11-02",
    "publisher": {
        "name": "AmendSignal",
        "url": "https://amendsignal.com/"
    },
    "notice": "Coverage is limited, so a missing record does not mean nothing changed. General information, not legal advice. Check the official source. Please cite the record's url.",
    "change": {
        "id": 14,
        "url": "https://amendsignal.com/changes/employee-benefits-security-administration-restores-the-1975-five-part-test-for-investment-advice/",
        "title": "Employee Benefits Security Administration restores the 1975 five-part test for investment advice fiduciaries after courts vacated its 2024 rule",
        "change_type": "final_rule",
        "change_type_label": "Final rule",
        "status": "effective",
        "status_label": "In effect",
        "status_statement": "As of our last check on November 2, 2026, this is in effect, since April 20, 2026.",
        "significance": "No new requirements",
        "jurisdiction": {
            "code": "US",
            "name": "United States"
        },
        "authority": {
            "name": "Employee Benefits Security Administration",
            "short_name": "EBSA"
        },
        "identifiers": [
            {
                "type": "fr_document_number",
                "label": "FR document",
                "value": "2026-05492"
            },
            {
                "type": "fr_citation",
                "label": "Citation",
                "value": "91 FR 13503"
            },
            {
                "type": "rin",
                "label": "RIN",
                "value": "1210-AC36"
            },
            {
                "type": "cfr_citation",
                "label": "CFR",
                "value": "29 CFR 2510"
            }
        ],
        "dates": [
            {
                "type": "publication",
                "label": "Published",
                "value": "2026-03-20",
                "precision": "day"
            },
            {
                "type": "effective",
                "label": "Effective",
                "value": "2026-04-20",
                "precision": "day"
            }
        ],
        "in_short": {
            "what_changed": "The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is removing its 2024 investment advice fiduciary rule, which courts vacated, and putting the 1975 five-part test back in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), effective April 20, 2026. It also republishes Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02 without its 2024 amendments and says the exemption's entire preamble is effectively vacated.",
            "whos_affected": "Employers that sponsor retirement or other plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), plan fiduciaries, and the financial firms and advisers that give investment advice to plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The document sets no size threshold.",
            "what_to_do": "This rule creates no new duties for employers: EBSA says it affects no legal rights or obligations, because the 2024 rule never took effect. Benefits teams may want to stop relying on the PTE 2020-02 preamble, including its rollover advice guidance, which EBSA now treats as vacated."
        },
        "summary": "The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued a technical final rule, effective April 20, 2026, that carries out court decisions vacating its 2024 rule defining who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The rule puts the earlier five-part test back in the regulations and republishes Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02 as first issued in 2020. EBSA says the action affects no legal rights or obligations and that the entire preamble of PTE 2020-02 is effectively vacated.",
        "business_functions": {
            "state": "limited",
            "functions": [
                {
                    "slug": "benefits",
                    "name": "Benefits"
                },
                {
                    "slug": "legal-and-compliance",
                    "name": "Legal and compliance"
                }
            ]
        },
        "added_on": "2026-11-02",
        "updated_on": null,
        "updates_in_progress": null,
        "last_checked": "2026-11-02",
        "record_url": "https://amendsignal.com/changes/employee-benefits-security-administration-restores-the-1975-five-part-test-for-investment-advice/record.json",
        "what_changed": [
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The rule carries out the court vacatur of the Department of Labor's 2024 rule defining who is an investment advice fiduciary under ERISA.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "SUMMARY",
                        "excerpt": "This document implements the judicial vacatur of the Department's 2024 final rule defining who is a ``fiduciary'' under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The rule removes the 2024 Fiduciary Rule from the CFR and replaces it with the earlier five-part test regulation.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.4",
                        "excerpt": "this final rule merely conforms the text in the CFR to reflect the mandate of the courts' decisions by removing the 2024 Fiduciary Rule from the CFR and replacing it with the Five-part Test Regulation."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The 2024 Fiduciary Rule never took effect, because courts stayed its effective date, so the five-part test was never replaced in practice.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "Because the 2024 Fiduciary Rule never became effective, and the Five-part Test Regulation was never replaced, this document takes the administrative steps necessary to conform the regulatory text in the CFR."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "Under the restored test, an adviser without discretionary authority is an investment advice fiduciary only if it gives advice on a regular basis under a mutual agreement that the advice will be a primary basis for plan investment decisions, among other conditions.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "29 CFR 2510.3-21(c)(1)(ii)(B)",
                        "excerpt": "on a regular basis to the plan pursuant to a mutual agreement, arrangement or understanding, written or otherwise ... that such services will serve as a primary basis for investment decisions with respect to plan assets"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The document republishes the full text of PTE 2020-02 without the amendments adopted on April 25, 2024.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "Part II of this document is republishing in full the text of PTE 2020-02, without the amendments adopted on April 25, 2024."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The Department of Labor states its view that the entire preamble of PTE 2020-02 is effectively vacated, not just the portions the courts struck.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "the Department, in this document, clarifies its view that the entire preamble of PTE 2020-02 is effectively vacated."
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "who_is_affected": [
            {
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "text": "Employers that sponsor ERISA plans are affected indirectly, because the restored definition decides which of their plan's advisers count as fiduciaries.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "29 CFR 2510.3-21(c)(1)",
                        "excerpt": "A person shall be deemed to be rendering ``investment advice'' to an employee benefit plan"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "PTE 2020-02 lets financial institutions and investment professionals who give fiduciary investment advice receive compensation that would otherwise be prohibited, if they meet its conditions.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section I(a)",
                        "excerpt": "This exemption permits Financial Institutions and Investment Professionals who provide fiduciary investment advice to Retirement Investors to receive otherwise prohibited compensation"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The investors protected by PTE 2020-02 include plan participants who direct their own investments or take distributions, and plan fiduciaries.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section V(k)",
                        "excerpt": "A participant or beneficiary of a Plan with authority to direct the investment of assets in his or her account or to take a distribution;"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "business_implications": [
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The Department of Labor says this action affects no legal rights or obligations and imposes no costs.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "This ministerial action reflects the judicial actions discussed above and affects no legal rights or obligations and imposes no costs."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "text": "Because the court stays left the five-part test in place, plan adviser relationships have been governed by the same test all along, so most plans should see little practical change.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "stayed the effective date of the 2024 Fiduciary Rule, which left in place the prior regulatory text"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "text": "The Department of Labor says the PTE 2020-02 preamble is no longer reliable guidance.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "Even though PTE 2020-02 has remained operative, its preamble is no longer reliable due to the courts' vacaturs in the 2022 litigation."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "text": "Guidance on when advice to roll plan assets into an IRA is fiduciary advice came from that preamble, so plan sponsors and fiduciaries can no longer point to it when evaluating rollover recommendations made to participants.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.2",
                        "excerpt": "Among other matters, the preamble provided guidance on when advice to roll over plan assets to an IRA would be considered fiduciary investment advice under the Five-part Test Regulation."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "text": "An employer that is itself a financial institution, or an affiliate of one, cannot use PTE 2020-02 for advice to the ERISA plan covering its own employees.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section I(c)(1)",
                        "excerpt": "The Plan is covered by Title I of ERISA and the Investment Professional, Financial Institution or any Affiliate is (A) the employer of employees covered by the Plan"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "required_actions": [],
        "recommended_actions": [
            {
                "kind": "recommendation",
                "kind_label": "Our suggestion",
                "text": "Consider reviewing agreements with plan advisers and recordkeepers to confirm which providers acknowledge fiduciary status in writing for the advice they give your plan and participants.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section II(b)(1)",
                        "excerpt": "A written acknowledgment that the Financial Institution and its Investment Professionals are fiduciaries under Title I and the Code"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "recommendation",
                "kind_label": "Our suggestion",
                "text": "Consider updating plan committee materials or internal procedures that cite the 2024 Fiduciary Rule or the PTE 2020-02 preamble, since EBSA now treats that preamble as vacated.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "the Department, in this document, clarifies its view that the entire preamble of PTE 2020-02 is effectively vacated."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "kind": "recommendation",
                "kind_label": "Our suggestion",
                "text": "If your company is a financial institution that advises its own employees' plan, consider confirming with counsel how the PTE 2020-02 employer exclusion affects that arrangement.",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section I(c)(1)",
                        "excerpt": "The Plan is covered by Title I of ERISA and the Investment Professional, Financial Institution or any Affiliate is (A) the employer of employees covered by the Plan"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "required_actions_assessment": {
            "state": "assessed",
            "text": "This final rule creates no new requirements for employers. EBSA says it only conforms the CFR to court orders and affects no legal rights or obligations. The conditions in the republished PTE 2020-02 apply to financial institutions and advisers that choose to rely on that exemption, not to employers as plan sponsors."
        },
        "applicability": [
            {
                "criterion": "where",
                "label": "Where",
                "answer": "United States, nationwide",
                "kind": "fact",
                "kind_label": "From the source",
                "evidence": []
            },
            {
                "criterion": "employer_type",
                "label": "Employers",
                "answer": "Employers that sponsor ERISA plans, plan fiduciaries, and financial firms that advise plans and IRAs.",
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.2",
                        "excerpt": "permitting investment advice fiduciaries with respect to employee benefit plans and IRAs to receive compensation that would otherwise be prohibited"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "criterion": "size",
                "label": "Size",
                "answer": "The document sets no size threshold; the definition reaches advice to any employee benefit plan.",
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section V(i)",
                        "excerpt": "``Plan'' means any employee benefit plan described in ERISA section 3(3) and any plan described in Code section 4975(e)(1)(A)."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "criterion": "industries",
                "label": "Industries",
                "answer": "All industries with ERISA plans, with banks, insurers, broker-dealers and investment advisers most affected.",
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section V(e)(3)-(4)",
                        "excerpt": "An insurance company qualified to do business under the laws of a state"
                    },
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Part II, PTE 2020-02 Section V(e)(4)",
                        "excerpt": "A broker or dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "criterion": "functions",
                "label": "Functions",
                "answer": "Benefits teams and legal or compliance staff who oversee retirement plans.",
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 2510",
                        "excerpt": "Employee benefit plans, Pensions."
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "criterion": "applies_if",
                "label": "Applies if",
                "answer": "Your plan receives investment advice for a fee, or your firm gives such advice to plans, participants or IRAs.",
                "kind": "inference",
                "kind_label": "Our analysis",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.1",
                        "excerpt": "as a result of giving investment advice to a plan or its participants or beneficiaries for a fee or other compensation"
                    }
                ]
            },
            {
                "criterion": "action",
                "label": "Action",
                "answer": "No action required; consider reviewing adviser agreements and retiring reliance on the PTE 2020-02 preamble.",
                "kind": "recommendation",
                "kind_label": "Our suggestion",
                "evidence": [
                    {
                        "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                        "locator": "Supplementary Information, Part I.3",
                        "excerpt": "This ministerial action reflects the judicial actions discussed above and affects no legal rights or obligations and imposes no costs."
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "open_questions": [
            {
                "question": "Will the Department of Labor issue new guidance on when rollover advice counts as fiduciary investment advice under the five-part test?",
                "context": "The document says the entire PTE 2020-02 preamble, which held that rollover guidance, is effectively vacated, but it does not say whether replacement guidance will follow."
            },
            {
                "question": "Where can plan sponsors find the pre-amendment versions of the other affected exemptions, such as PTE 84-24?",
                "context": "Footnote 5 says EBSA's website will be updated to reflect them, but the document republishes only PTE 2020-02 and gives no date for that update."
            }
        ],
        "events": [
            {
                "event_type": "originating_action",
                "label": "Issued",
                "occurred_on": "2026-03-20",
                "summary": "Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary: Notice of Court Vacatur",
                "source": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur"
            }
        ],
        "corrections": [],
        "sources": [
            {
                "label": "Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary: Notice of Court Vacatur, 91 FR 13503 (March 20, 2026)",
                "publisher": "Federal Register",
                "role": "primary",
                "url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/20/2026-05492/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary-notice-of-court-vacatur",
                "pdf_url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-03-20/pdf/2026-05492.pdf"
            }
        ]
    }
}