For purposes of section 26(a)(2)(C) of the Act, payment of a fee to the depositor of or a principal underwriter for a registered unit investment trust, or to any affiliated person or agent of such depositor or underwriter (collectively, “depositor”), for bookkeeping or other administrative services provided to the trust shall be allowed the custodian or trustee (“trustee”) as an expense, Provided, That such fee is an amount not greater than the expenses, without profit:

Actually paid by such depositor directly attributable to the services provided and

Increased by the services provided directly by such depositor, as determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles consistently applied.

A registered separate account, and any depositor of or principal underwriter for such account, shall be exempt from the provisions of sections 26(a) and 27(c)(2) of the Act [15 U.S.C. 80a-26(a) and 80a-27(c)(2)] with respect to any variable annuity contract participating in such account to the extent necessary to permit the deduction of any fee that would be allowed a trustee as an expense as provided in paragraph (a) of this section, Provided, That the standard used in paragraph (a) of this section shall be applied as follows: if the separate account reserves the right to increase the fee, the fee shall not be greater than the cost of the services to be provided for one year; if the fee is guaranteed not to increase for a specified period of time, the fee shall not be greater than the average expected cost of the services to be provided during the period of the guarantee.