[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 72 (Thursday, April 14, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-8886]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: April 14, 1994]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION
29 CFR Parts 2606, 2616, and 2617
Rules for Administrative Review of Agency Decisions; Distress
Terminations of Single-Employer Plans; Standard Terminations of Single-
Employer Plans
AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: On August 24, 1993, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
(``PBGC'') published an interim rule with request for comments amending
certain of its regulations (Administrative Review of Agency Decisions
and Standard Terminations of Single-Employer Plans) to permit the
PBGC's Executive Director to grant relief from deadlines in the event
of a major disaster. The PBGC is now adopting these amendments as a
final rule and also is amending its distress termination regulation in
order to give the Executive Director the authority to grant relief
similar to that given in the interim rule for standard terminations.
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 14, 1994.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harold J. Ashner, Assistant General
Counsel, or Renae R. Hubbard, Special Counsel, Office of the General
Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW.,
Washington, DC 20005, 202-326-4024 (202-326-4179 for TTY and TDD).
(These are not toll-free numbers.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 24, 1993, the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation (``PBGC'') published an interim rule with request
for comments amending its regulations on Rules for Administrative
Review of Agency Decisions and Standard Terminations of Single-Employer
Plans (29 CFR parts 2606 and 2617, 58 FR 44738; as corrected, 58 FR
48680, September 17, 1993). The interim rule provided that, when the
President of the United States declares, under the Disaster Relief Act
of 1974, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5121, 5122(2), 5141(b)), that a major
disaster (such as the 1993 flood disaster in the midwestern United
States) exists, the PBGC's Executive Director (or his or her designee)
may grant relief from certain regulatory deadlines by which persons are
to submit filings to the PBGC or take other actions. The PBGC received
no comments and is adopting the interim rule as a final rule without
change.
Before the interim rule was published, Secs. 2606.33 and 2606.53 of
the PBGC's administrative review regulation (29 CFR part 2606) provided
deadlines for filing a request for reconsideration or appeal of an
initial determination, and Sec. 2606.4 provided for extensions of those
deadlines for good cause shown and only if requested in writing by the
applicable filing deadline. The PBGC concluded that, when a major
disaster like the 1993 midwestern flood is declared, the above
deadlines do not serve the agency's objective of making timely review
available to aggrieved persons. As amended, Sec. 2606.4 provides that
the deadlines for filing a request for reconsideration or appeal may be
extended by the Executive Director (or his or her designee) when a
major disaster is declared. The extension may be for a period of up to
180 days and applies to any aggrieved person who resides in, or whose
principal place of business is within, a designated disaster area, or
with respect to whom the office of the service provider, bank,
insurance company, or other person maintaining the information
necessary to file the request for reconsideration or appeal is within a
designated disaster area.
Similarly, as amended Secs. 2617.25 and 2617.28 of the PBGC's
standard termination regulation (29 CFR part 2617) include an exception
to the deadlines (1) for filing the standard termination notice with
the PBGC (Secs. 2617.3(b)(2) and 2617.25(a)) and, consequently, for
issuing notices of plan benefits to participants and beneficiaries
(Secs. 2617.3(b)(3) and 2617.23(a)) and (2) for completing the
distribution of plan assets (Sec. 2617.28(a), (e), and (f)). As in the
administrative review regulation, the Executive Director (or his or her
designee) may extend these deadlines for a period of up to 180 days
when a major disaster is declared. The extension applies to plan
terminations with respect to which the principal place of business of
the contributing sponsor or the plan administrator, or the office of
the service provider, bank, insurance company, or other person
maintaining the information necessary to issue the notices of plan
benefits or file the standard termination notice, or to complete the
distribution of plan assets (as applicable), is within a designated
disaster area.
The PBGC believes that similar relief should be available for plans
terminating in distress terminations pursuant to section 4041(c) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, and the
PBGC's distress termination regulation (29 CFR part 2616). Sections
2616.3(b), 2616.24, and 2616.25(c)(2) establish deadlines for filing a
distress termination notice and related information with the PBGC.
Section 2616.27(a)(1) establishes the deadline for issuing notices of
benefit distribution in those few terminations where the plan is
sufficient for at least guaranteed benefits and, accordingly, plan
assets may be distributed to participants and beneficiaries in a manner
similar to a standard termination distribution. (The notices of
distribution are similar to the notices of plan benefits required in
standard terminations under 29 CFR 2617.23.) Finally,
Sec. 2616.29(a)(1) contains distribution procedures and deadlines that
are generally the same as those in standard terminations; that section
cross-references 29 CFR 2617.28 (c), (e), and (f) and provides the same
180-day (unless extended) deadline for distribution.
The amendments in this final rule permit the PBGC's Executive
Director (or his or her designee) to extend the above deadlines in the
same circumstances as were provided for standard terminations in the
interim rule. (The PBGC did not include distress terminations in the
interim rule because the small number of distress terminations filed
annually lessened the need for prompt action; however, these provisions
are essentially procedural in that they establish alternative
mechanisms for obtaining extensions of filing or other deadlines (5
U.S.C. 553(b)(A)), and the notice and public procedure and delayed
effective date requirements of 5 U.S.C. 553 therefore do not apply.)
E.O. 12866
The PBGC has determined that this action is not a ``significant
regulatory action'' under the criteria set forth in Executive Order
12866, because it will not have an annual effect on the economy of $100
million or more or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a
sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the
environment, public health or safety, or State, local, or tribal
governments or communities; create a serious inconsistency or otherwise
interfere with an action taken or planned by another agency; materially
alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan
programs or the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or raise
novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal mandates, the
President's priorities, or the principles set forth in Executive Order
12866.
List of Subjects
29 CFR Part 2606
Administrative practice and procedure, Organization and functions
(Government agencies), Pension insurance, Pensions.
29 CFR Parts 2616 and 2617
Employee benefit plans, Pension insurance, Pensions, Reporting
requirements.
In consideration of the foregoing, the interim final rule amending
29 CFR parts 2606 and 2617, as published on August 24, 1993, at 58 FR
44738 and corrected on September 17, 1993, at 58 FR 48600, is adopted
as a final rule without change, and 29 CFR part 2616 is amended as
follows:
PART 2616--DISTRESS TERMINATIONS OF SINGLE-EMPLOYER PLANS
1. The authority citation for part 2616 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 29 U.S.C. 1302(b)(3), 1341, 1344.
Sec. 2616.3 [Amended]
2. Paragraph (b)(2) of Sec. 2616.3 is amended by adding ``or, if
applicable, no later than the due date established in an extension
notice issued under Sec. 2616.10'' after ``date'' and before the
semicolon.
2a. Section 2616.10 is redesignated as Sec. 2616.11.
3. A new Sec. 2616.10 is added to subpart A to read as follows:
Sec. 2616.10 Disaster relief.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision in this part, when the
President of the United States declares that, under the Disaster Relief
Act of 1974, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5121, 5122(2), 5141(b)), a major
disaster exists, the Executive Director of the PBGC (or his or her
designee) may, by issuing one or more notices of disaster relief,
extend the due date for filing the distress termination notice pursuant
to Sec. 2616.24, for issuing the notices of benefit distribution
pursuant to Sec. 2616.27(a)(1), or for completing the distribution of
plan assets pursuant to Sec. 2616.29, by up to 180 days.
(b) The due date extension or extensions shall apply only to plan
terminations with respect to which the principal place of business of
the contributing sponsor or the plan administrator, or the office of
the service provider, bank, insurance company, or other person
maintaining the information necessary to file the distress termination
notice, to issue the notices of benefit distribution, or to complete
the distribution of plan assets (as applicable), is within a designated
disaster area.
(c) The distress termination notice filed pursuant to Sec. 2616.24,
or the post-distribution certification filed pursuant to
Sec. 2616.29(b) shall identify the distress termination notice filing
or the distribution (as applicable) as being qualified for the due date
extension.
4. Section 2616.24 is amended by adding paragraph (d) to read as
follows:
Sec. 2616.24 Distress termination notice.
* * * * *
(d) Due date extension. Notwithstanding the provisions of
paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this section, the due date for filing
PBGC Form 601 or other information required under this section may be
extended by a notice issued under Sec. 2616.10.
Sec. 2616.25 [Amended]
5. Paragraph (c)(2) of Sec. 2616.25 is amended by adding ``, or, if
applicable, no later than the due date established in an extension
notice issued under Sec. 2616.10'' after ``later'' and before the
period.
Sec. 2616.27 [Amended]
6. Paragraph (a)(1) of Sec. 2616.27 is amended by adding ``or, if
applicable, no later than the due date established in an extension
notice issued under Sec. 2616.10'' after ``distribution notice'' and
before the comma.
Sec. 2616.29 [Amended]
7. Paragraph (a)(1) of Sec. 2616.29 is amended by removing
``2617.28 (c), (e) and (f)'' and adding in its place ``2617.28(c)'' and
by adding ``(except as provided in Sec. 2616.10 or 2617.28 (e) or
(f))'' after ``61st day and'' and before ``no later than''.
Issued in Washington, DC this 8th day of April 1994.
Martin Slate,
Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 94-8886 Filed 4-13-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7708-01-M