(a) The Department may not grant an exemption under ERISA section 408(a), Code section 4975(c)(2), or 5 U.S.C. 8477(c)(3)(C) unless, following evaluation of the facts and representations comprising the administrative record of the proposed exemption (including any comments received in response to a notice of proposed exemption and the record of any hearing held in connection with the proposed exemption), it finds that the exemption meets the statutory requirements by being:
- (1) Administratively feasible for the Department;
- (2) In the interests of the plan (or the Thrift Savings Fund in the case of FERSA) and of its participants and beneficiaries; and
- (3) Protective of the rights of participants and beneficiaries of such plan (or the Thrift Savings Fund in the case of FERSA).
- (b) In each instance where the Department determines to grant an exemption, it shall publish a notice in the Federal Register which summarizes the transaction or transactions for which exemptive relief has been granted and specifies the conditions under which such exemptive relief is available.