May 8, 2015

Employee Benefits Security Administration Via: http://www.regulations.gov

U.S. Department of Labor

200 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20210

Re: Comment Period for Conflict of Interest Rule and Related Exemptions

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) respectively requests 

a 45-day extension of the comment period for the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (and the accompanying exemptions and modifications to 

existing exemptions) defining the term “fiduciary” as a result of giving investment advice 

to a plan or its participants or beneficiaries, including individual retirement accounts (IRA). 

NAIFA is one of the nation’s oldest and largest associations representing the interests of 

insurance professionals from every congressional district in the United States. NAIFA 

members assist consumers by focusing their practices on one or more of the following: life 

insurance and annuities, health insurance, employee benefits, multiline, and financial 

advising and investments. NAIFA’s mission statement includes promoting the ethical 

conduct of its members.

Recently NAIFA joined other associations in requesting that the DOL extend the comment 

period to allow the associations sufficient time to carefully analyze and understand the 

practical implications of the proposed rule. NAIFA is supplementing that joint request 

with this specific request for a 45-day extension (120-days total) to the comment period 

so that we can submit useful and thoughtful comments based upon the input we will seek 

from our large membership.

The re-proposed rule is complex in size and in scope. We will need to communicate the 

rule’s meaning and significance in more simplified terms to our members, so they can 

assess how it will impact their current clientele and those still seeking affordable access to 

advice and education as they ready themselves for retirement. While this is a top priority 

for NAIFA, it is also one that requires significant time and coordination. Once we have 

drafted an explanation of the complex rule and the accompanying new prohibited 

transaction exemptions, modifications to the existing exemptions and possible new third 
“low-fee” exemption, NAIFA will ask for feedback from our Board of Trustees and 

committees of jurisdiction. 

After receiving required feedback from this initial group, NAIFA will prepare a survey for 

our total membership to gather the kind of information and data the DOL will need as it 

seeks to improve upon the proposed regulation. Again, this is a time-consuming process, 

but one necessary to providing thoughtful and useful comments on the rule’s potential 

impact on the middle-market American families NAIFA members serve.

In addition to feedback from NAIFA members, we will seek guidance and information from 

our corporate partners, who as financial institutions will be subject to very significant 

changes to their current business practices. NAIFA members will be directly impacted by 

the decisions financial institutions make as they seek to comply with new obligations 

placed on them if the rule is enacted.

With over 10,000 people reaching retirement age each day for the next 16 years, there is a 

very large demographic of retirees and future retirees in need of affordable, professional 

advice and education. It is critically important that the DOL understand the impact of the 

rule on the very families it seeks to protect. So that NAIFA may help DOL understand that 

impact, we believe it is critically important that the department give us sufficient time to 

collect data and provide informative comments.

Respectfully,

Diane R. Boyle

Senior Vice President, Government Relations

National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors