Proposed Securities and Exchange Commission and Final Department of Labor Rules on Employee Benefit Plan Blackout Period Provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act signed into law by President Bush on 7/30/02, contains important employee benefits-related provisions discussed in our August 2002 alert. As required by the Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued proposed regulations on the Act's securities trading restrictions on a public company's directors and executive officers during benefit plan blackout periods, and the Department of Labor has issued interim final rules on the Act's requirements for mandatory notification of blackout periods to employee benefit plan participants. The SEC requests comments on or before 12/16/02 on all aspects of the SEC Proposal.