[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30333-30336]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-12191]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Proposed Extension of Information Collection Requests Submitted
for Public Comment
AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 described below. 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 22, 2013.
ADDRESSES: G. Christopher Cosby, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20210, (202) 693-8410, FAX (202) 693-4745 (these are not toll-free
numbers).
I. 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 and prohibited transaction exemptions
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: Notice Requirements of the Health Care Continuation Coverage
Provisions.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0123.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 649,000.
Responses: 15,662,333.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 503,815.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance):
$20,217,778.
Description: The continuation coverage provisions of section 601
through 608 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA) (and parallel provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (Code))
generally require group health plans to offer qualified beneficiaries
the opportunity to elect continuation coverage following certain events
that would otherwise result in the loss of coverage. Continuation
coverage is a temporary extension of the qualified beneficiary's
previous group health coverage. The right to elect continuation
coverage allows individuals to maintain group health coverage under
adverse circumstances and to bridge gaps in health coverage that
otherwise could limit their access to health care. The Consolidated
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) provides the
Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) with authority under section 608 of
ERISA to carry out the continuation coverage provisions. The Conference
Report that accompanied COBRA divided interpretive authority over the
COBRA provisions between the Secretary and the Secretary of the
Treasury (the Treasury) by providing that the Secretary has the
authority to issue regulations implementing the notice and disclosure
requirements of COBRA, while the Treasury is authorized to issue
regulations defining the required continuation coverage. The ICR
contained in these rules was approved by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under OMB Control Number 1210-0123, which is currently
scheduled to expire on September 30, 2013.
[[Page 30334]]
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Model Employer CHIP Notice.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information
collection.
OMB Number: 1210-0137.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for-
profit institutions; not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 7,056,000.
Responses: 203,795,000.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,053,000.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance):
$25,271,000.
Description: On February 4, 2009, President Obama signed the
Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009
(CHIPRA, Pub. L. 111-3). Under ERISA section 701(f)(3)(B)(i)(I), PHS
Act section 2701(f)(3)(B)(i)(I), and section 9801(f)(3)(B)(i)(I) of the
Internal Revenue Code, as added by CHIPRA, an employer that maintains a
group health plan in a State that provides medical assistance under a
State Medicaid plan under title XIX of the Social Security Act (SSA),
or child health assistance under a State child health plan under title
XXI of the SSA, in the form of premium assistance for the purchase of
coverage under a group health plan, is required to make certain
disclosures. Specifically, the employer is required to notify each
employee of potential opportunities currently available in the State in
which the employee resides for premium assistance under Medicaid and
CHIP for health coverage of the employee or the employee's dependents.
ERISA section 701(f)(3)(B)(i)(II) requires the Department of Labor
to provide employers with model language for the Employer CHIP Notices
to enable them to timely comply with this requirement. This ICR relates
to the Model Employer CHIP Notice, which was approved by OMB under OMB
Control Number 1210-0137 and currently scheduled to expire on September
30, 2013.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Disclosures for Participant Directed Individual Account
Plans Under ERISA Section 404(c).
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0090.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 483,000.
Responses: 738,206,912.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 6,583,000.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $
221,000,000.
Description: Section 404(c) of ERISA provides that, if an
individual account pension plan permits a participant or beneficiary to
exercise control over assets in his or her account and the participant
or beneficiary in fact exercises such control, the participant or
beneficiary shall not be deemed to be a fiduciary by such exercise of
control and no person otherwise a fiduciary shall be liable for any
loss or breach that results from the participant's or beneficiary's
exercise of control.
The Department's regulation at 29 CFR 2550.404c-1 describes the
circumstances in which a participant or beneficiary will be considered
to have exercised independent control over the assets in his or her
individual account as contemplated in section 404(c). The regulation
specifies information that must be made available to participants or
beneficiaries in order for them to exercise independent control over
the assets in their individual accounts. The regulation provides that
the relief from fiduciary liability specified in section 404(c) is not
available with respect to a transaction undertaken by a participant or
beneficiary unless the specific information is provided to the
participant or beneficiary. The ICR contained in this rule was approved
by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0090, which is scheduled to expire
on October 31, 2013.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Affordable Care Act Grandfathered Health Plan Disclosure,
Recordkeeping Requirement, and Change in Carrier Disclosure
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0140.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 2,200,000.
Responses: 56,457,000.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,077,800.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $561,000.
Description: Section 1251 of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act provides that certain plans and health insurance coverage in
existence as of March 23, 2010, known as grandfathered health plans,
are not required to comply with certain statutory provisions in the
Act. To maintain its status as a grandfathered health plan, the interim
final regulations (29 CFR 2590.715-1251(a)(3)) require the plan to
maintain records documenting the terms of the plan in effect on March
23, 2010, and any other documents that are necessary to verify, explain
or clarify status as a grandfathered health plan. The plan must make
such records available for examination upon request by participants,
beneficiaries, individual policy subscribers, or a State or Federal
agency official.
The interim final regulations (29 CFR 2590.715-1251(a)(2)) also
require a grandfathered health plan to include a statement in any plan
material provided to participants or beneficiaries describing the
benefits provided under the plan or health insurance coverage, that the
plan or coverage believes it is a grandfathered health plan within the
meaning of section 1251 of the Act, that being a grandfathered health
plan means that the plan does not include certain consumer protections
of the Act, and providing contact information for participants to
direct questions regarding which protections apply and which
protections do not apply to a grandfathered health plan and what might
cause a plan to change from grandfathered health plan status and to
file complaints. The ICR contained in this interim final rule was
approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0140, which is currently
scheduled to expire on November 30, 2013.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: PTE 92-6: Sale of Individual Life Insurance or Annuity
Contracts By a Plan.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0063.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 21,533.
Responses: 334,661.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 14,745.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $101,670.
Description: PTE 92-6 exempts from the prohibited transaction
restrictions of ERISA the sale of individual life insurance or annuity
contracts by a plan to participants, relatives of participants,
employers any of whose employees are covered by the plan, other
employee benefit plans, owner-employees or shareholder-employees. In
the absence of this exemption, certain aspects of
[[Page 30335]]
these transactions might be prohibited by section 406 of ERISA.
Among other conditions, PTE 92-6 requires that pension plans inform
the insured participant of a proposed sale of a life insurance or
annuity policy to the employer, a relative, another plan, an owner-
employee, or a shareholder employee. This recordkeeping requirement
constitutes an information collection within the meaning of the PRA,
for which the Department has obtained approval from OMB under OMB
Control No. 1210-0063. The OMB approval is currently scheduled to
expire on December 31, 2013.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Regulation Relating to Loans to Plan Participants and
Beneficiaries Who Are Parties In Interest With Respect to The Plan.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0076.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 1,900.
Responses: 1,900.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 0.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $673,000.
Description: ERISA prohibits a plan fiduciary from causing the plan
to engage in a transaction if he knows or should know that such
transaction constitutes direct or indirect loan or extension of credit
between the plan and a party in interest. ERISA section 408(b)(1)
exempts from this prohibition loans from a plan to parties in interest
who are participants and beneficiaries of the plan, provided that
certain requirements are satisfied. In final regulations published in
the Federal Register on July 20, 1989, (54 FR 30520), the Department
provided additional guidance on section 408(b)(1)(C), which requires
that loans be made in accordance with specific provisions in the plan.
The ICR contained within this rule was approved by OMB under OMB
Control Number 1210-0076, which is scheduled to expire on December 31,
2013.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: PTE 91-55: Transactions Between Individual Retirement
Accounts and Authorized Purchasers of American Eagle Coins.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0079.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 3.
Responses: 10,286.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 349.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $3,125.
Description: PTE 91-55 permits purchases and sales by certain
``individual retirement accounts,'' as defined in Internal Revenue Code
section 408 (IRAs) of American Eagle bullion coins (``Coins'') in
principal transactions from or to broker-dealers in Coins that are
``authorized purchasers'' of Coins in bulk quantities from the United
States Mint and which are also ``disqualified persons,'' within the
meaning of Code section 4975(e)(2), with respect to IRAs. The exemption
also describes the circumstances under which an interest free extension
of credit in connection with such sales and purchases is permitted. In
the absence of an exemption, such purchases and sales and extensions of
credit would be impermissible under ERISA.
Among other conditions, the exemption requires certain information
related to covered transactions in Coins to be disclosed by the
authorized purchaser to persons who direct the transaction for the IRA.
Currently, it is standard industry practice that most of this
information is provided to persons directing investments in an IRA when
transactions in Coins occur. The exemption also requires that the
disqualified person maintain for a period of at least six years such
records as are necessary to allow accredited persons, as defined in the
exemption, to determine whether the conditions of the transaction have
been met. Finally, an authorized purchaser must provide a confirmation
statement with respect to each covered transaction to the person who
directs the transaction for the IRA. The requirements constitute
information collections within the meaning of the PRA, for which the
Department has obtained approval from OMB under OMB Control No. 1210-
0079. The OMB approval is currently scheduled to expire on December 31,
2013.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: PTE 85-68: Permit Employee Benefit Plans to Invest in
Customer Notes of Employers.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0094.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 325.
Responses: 325.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 0.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $1.
Description: Pursuant to section 408 of ERISA, the Department has
authority to grant an exemption from the prohibitions of sections 406
and 407(a) if it can determine that the exemption is administratively
feasible, in the interest of participants and beneficiaries, and
protective of the rights of participants and beneficiaries of the plan.
PTE 85-68 describes the conditions under which a plan is permitted to
acquire customer notes accepted by an employer of employees covered by
the plan in the ordinary course of the employer's primary business
activity. The exemption covers sales as well as contributions of
customer notes by an employer to its plan. Specifically, the exemption
requires that the employer provide a written guarantee to repurchase a
note which becomes more than 60 days delinquent, that such notes be
secured by a perfected security interest in the property financed by
the note, and that the collateral be insured. The exemption requires
records pertaining to the transaction to be maintained for a period of
six years for the purpose of ensuring that the transactions are
protective of the rights of participants and beneficiaries. This
recordkeeping requirement constitutes an information collection within
the meaning of the PRA, for which the Department has obtained approval
from OMB under OMB Control No. 1210-0094. The OMB approval is currently
scheduled to expire on December 31, 2013.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Default Investment Alternatives under Participant Directed
Individual Account Plans.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
OMB Number: 1210-0132.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 648,000.
Responses: 83,358,375.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 782,000.
Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance):
$32,116,000.
Description: Section 404(c) of ERISA states that participants or
beneficiaries who can hold individual accounts under their pension
plans, and who can exercise control over the assets in their
[[Page 30336]]
accounts ``as determined in regulations of the Secretary [of Labor]''
will not be treated as fiduciaries of the plan. Moreover, no other plan
fiduciary will be liable for any loss, or by reason of any breach,
resulting from the participants' or beneficiaries exercise of control
over their individual account assets.
The Pension Protection Act (PPA), Public Law 109-280, amended ERISA
section 404(c) by adding subparagraph (c)(5)(A). The new subparagraph
says that a participant in an individual account plan who fails to make
investment elections regarding his or her account assets will
nevertheless be treated as having exercised control over those assets
so long as the plan provides appropriate notice (as specified) and
invests the assets ``in accordance with regulations prescribed by the
Secretary [of Labor].'' Section 404(c)(5)(A) further requires the
Department of Labor (Department) to issue corresponding final
regulations within six months after enactment of the PPA. The PPA was
signed into law on August 17, 2006.
The Department of Labor issued a final regulation under ERISA
section 404(c)(5)(A) offering guidance on the types of investment
vehicles that plans may choose as their ``qualified default investment
alternative''(QDIA). The regulation also outlines two information
collections. First, it implements the statutory requirement that plans
provide annual notices to participants and beneficiaries whose account
assets could be invested in a QDIA. Second, the regulation requires
plans to pass certain pertinent materials they receive relating to a
QDIA to those participants and beneficiaries with assets invested in
the QDIA as well to provide certain information on request. The ICRs
are approved under OMB Control Number 1210-0132, which is scheduled to
expire on December 31, 2013.
II. 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 9, 2013.
Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-12191 Filed 5-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P