Cite as: 510 U. S. 86 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
general account under contracts like GAC 50.14 Hancock urges us to follow this view based on " 'the thoroughness evident in its consideration, the validity of its reasoning, its consistency with earlier and later pronouncements, and all those factors which give it power to persuade, if lacking power to control.' " Brief for Petitioner 39, quoting Skid-more v. Swift & Co., 323 U. S. 134, 140 (1944); see also Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 843-844 (1984).
Hancock and the United States place primary reliance on an early interpretive bulletin in which the Department of Labor stated:
"If an insurance company issues a contract or policy of insurance to a plan and places the consideration for such contract or policy in its general asset account, the assets in such account shall not be considered to be plan assets. Therefore, a subsequent transaction involving the general asset account between a party in interest and the insurance company will not, solely because the plan has been issued such a contract or policy of insurance, be a prohibited transaction." Interpretive Bulletin 75-2, 40 Fed. Reg. 31598 (1975), 29 CFR § 2509.75-2(b) (1992).
If this passage squarely addressed the question we confront, namely, whether ERISA's fiduciary standards apply to assets held under participating annuity contracts like GAC 50, we would indeed have a clear statement of the Department's view on the matter at issue. But, as the second sentence of the quoted passage shows, the question addressed in Interpretive Bulletin 75-2 was "whether a party in interest has engaged in a prohibited transaction [under 29 U. S. C. § 1106] with an employee benefit plan." § 2509.75-2.15 The De-14 The Department of Labor shares enforcement responsibility for ERISA with the Department of the Treasury. See 29 U. S. C. § 1204(a).
15 The subsection title for the interpretation, published in the Code of Federal Regulations, is "Interpretive bulletin relating to prohibited transactions."
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