§ 2570.30 Scope of this subpart.
(a) The rules of procedure set forth in this subpart apply to applications for prohibited transaction exemptions issued by the Department under the authority of:
(1) Section 408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA);
(2) Section 4975(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code); or
Note 1 to paragraph (a)(2).
See H.R. Rep. No. 1280, 93d Cong., 2d Sess. 310 (1974), and also section 102 of Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (3 CFR, 1978 Comp., p. 332, reprinted in 5 U.S.C. app. at 672 (2006), and in 92 Stat. 3790 (1978)), effective December 31, 1978, which generally transferred the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue administrative exemptions under section 4975(c)(2) of the Code to the Department.
(3) The Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986 (FERSA) (5 U.S.C. 8477(c)(3)).
(b) Under the rules of procedure in this subpart, the Department may conditionally or unconditionally exempt any fiduciary or transaction, or class of fiduciaries or transactions, from all or part of the restrictions imposed by ERISA section 406 and the corresponding restrictions of the Code and FERSA. While administrative exemptions granted under the rules in this subpart are ordinarily prospective in nature, it is possible that an applicant may obtain retroactive relief for past prohibited transactions if, among other things, the Department determines that appropriate safeguards were in place at the time the exemption transaction was consummated, and no plan participants or beneficiaries were harmed by the exemption transaction.