[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30199-30200]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-12711]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Proposed Extension of Information Collection Request Submitted
for Public Comment; Consent To Receive Employee Benefit Plan Disclosure
Electronically; Prohibited Transaction Exemption 86-128; Furnishing
Documents to the Secretary of Labor on Request under ERISA Section
104(a)(6)
AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA 95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)),
provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to
comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This
helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection
requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps
the public understand the Department's information collection
requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting comments
on the proposed extension of the information collection requests (ICRs)
contained in the documents that are described below. The Department is
not proposing to make any changes to the ICRs at this time. A copy of
the ICRs may be obtained by contacting the office listed in the
ADDRESSES section of this notice. ICRs also are available at
reginfo.gov (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain).
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the
Addresses section on or before July 25, 2011.
ADDRESSES: G. Christopher Cosby, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., N-5718,
Washington, DC 20210, (202) 693-8410, FAX (202) 693-4745 (these are not
toll-free numbers).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice requests public comment on the
Department's request for extension of the Office of Management and
Budget's (OMB) approval of ICRs contained in the rules described below.
The Department is not proposing any changes to the existing ICRs at
this time. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not
required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a
valid OMB control number. A summary of the ICRs and the current burden
estimates follows:
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Consent to Receive Employee Benefit Plan Disclosure
Electronically.
Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved
collection of information.
OMB Number: 1210-0121.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit
institutions.
Respondents: 50,000.
Responses: 3,400,000.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,000.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $170,000.
Description: The Department established a safe harbor pursuant to
which all pension and welfare benefit plans covered by Title I of ERISA
may use electronic media to satisfy disclosure obligations under Title
I of ERISA (29 CFR 2520.104b-1). Employee benefit plan administrators
will be deemed to satisfy their disclosure obligations when furnishing
documents electronically only if a participant who does not have access
to the employer's electronic information system in the normal course of
his duties, or a beneficiary or other person entitled to documents, has
affirmatively consented to receive disclosure documents. Prior to
consenting, the participant or beneficiary must also be provided with a
clear and conspicuous statement indicating the types of documents to
which the consent would apply, that consent may be withdrawn at any
time, procedures for withdrawing consent and updating necessary
information, the right to obtain a paper copy, and any hardware and
software requirements. In the event of a hardware or software change
that creates a material risk that the individual will be unable to
access or retain documents that were the subject of the initial
consent, the individual must be provided with information concerning
the revised hardware or software, and an opportunity to withdraw a
prior consent. The Department published a Request for Information
regarding electronic disclosure in the Federal Register on April 7,
2011 (75 Fed. Reg. 19285), which is unrelated to this notice. The ICR
is scheduled to expire on August 31, 2011.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 86-128.
Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved
collection of information.
OMB Number: 1210-0059.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit
institutions.
Respondents: 4,200.
Responses: 1,168,529.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 59,072.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $711,630.
Description: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 86-128 permits
persons who serve as fiduciaries for employee benefit plans to effect
or execute securities transactions on behalf of employee benefit plans.
The exemption also allows sponsors of pooled separate accounts and
other pooled investment funds to use their affiliates to effect or
execute securities transactions for such accounts in order to recapture
brokerage commissions for the benefit of employee benefit plans whose
assets are maintained in pooled separate accounts managed by insurance
companies. This exemption provides relief from certain prohibitions in
section 406(b) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA) and from the taxes imposed by section 4975(a) and (b) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) by reason of Code section
4975(c)(1)(E) or (F).
In order to insure that the exemption is not abused, that the
rights of participants and beneficiaries are
[[Page 30200]]
protected, and that the exemption's conditions are being complied with,
the Department has included in the exemption five information
collection requirements. The first requirement is written authorization
executed in advance by an independent fiduciary of the plan whose
assets are involved in the transaction with the broker-fiduciary. The
second requirement is, within three months of the authorization, the
broker-fiduciary furnish the independent fiduciary with any reasonably
available information necessary for the independent fiduciary to
determine whether an authorization should be made. The information must
include a copy of the exemption, a form for termination, and a
description of the broker-fiduciary's brokerage placement practices.
The third requirement is that the broker-fiduciary must provide a
termination form to the independent fiduciary annually so that the
independent fiduciary may terminate the authorization without penalty
to the plan; failure to return the form constitutes continuing
authorization. The fourth requirement is for the broker-fiduciary to
report all transactions to the independent fiduciary, either by
confirmation slips or through quarterly reports. The fifth requirement
calls for the broker-fiduciary to provide an annual summary of the
transactions. The annual summary must contain all security transaction-
related charges incurred by the plan, the brokerage placement
practices, and a portfolio turnover ratio. The ICR is scheduled to
expire on September 30, 2011.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Furnishing Documents to the Secretary of Labor on Request
under ERISA Section 104(a)(6).
Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved
collection of information.
OMB Number: 1210-0112.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit
institutions.
Respondents: 500.
Responses: 500.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 44.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $1,665.
Description: As a result of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA
97), the plan administrators of ERISA-covered employee benefit plans no
longer need to file copies of the summary plan descriptions and
summaries of material modifications that are publicly available. TRA 97
added paragraph (6) to section 104(a) of ERISA. Prior to the TRA 97
amendments, ERISA required certain documents be filed with the
Department so that plan participants and beneficiaries could obtain the
documents without having to turn to the plan administrator. The new
section 104(a)(6) authorizes the Department to request these documents
on behalf of plan participants and beneficiaries. The Department issued
a final implementing guidance on this matter on January 7, 2002 (67 FR
772). The ICR relating to document requests is scheduled to expire on
December 31, 2011.
Focus of Comments
The Department is particularly interested in comments that:
Evaluate whether the collections of information are
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the
collections of information, including the validity of the methodology
and assumptions used;
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
Minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., by
permitting electronic submissions of responses.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the ICRs for OMB approval of the extension of the
information collection; they will also become a matter of public
record.
Dated: May 18, 2011.
Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-12711 Filed 5-23-11; 8:45 am]
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