[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 42 (Friday, March 4, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10683-10685]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-4209]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

February 24, 2005.
    The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted the following public 
information collection requests (ICRs) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). A copy of 
each ICR, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by 
contacting Darrin King on 202-693-4129 (this is not a toll-free number) 
or e-mail: [email protected].
    Comments should be sent to Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the Employee Benefits Security 
Administration (EBSA), Office of Management and Budget, Room 10235, 
Washington, DC 20503, (202) 395-7316 (this is not a toll-free number), 
within 30 days from the date of this publication in the Federal 
Register.

[[Page 10684]]

    The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
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 
burden of the proposed collection 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., permitting 
electronic submission of responses.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: Suspension of Pension Benefits Regulation Pursuant to 29 CFR 
2530.203-3.
    OMB Number: 1210-0048.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; and Individuals or households.
    Number of Respondents: 49,900.
    Number of Annual Responses: 128,054.
    Estimated Time per Response: 20 minutes.
    Total Burden Hours: 23,146.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $51,222.
    Description: Section 203(a)(3)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) governs the circumstances under which 
pension plans may suspend pension benefit payments to retirees that 
return to work or to participants that continue to work beyond normal 
retirement age. Furthermore, section 203(a)(3)(B) of ERISA authorizes 
the Secretary to prescribe regulations necessary to carry out the 
provisions of this section.
    In this regard, 29 CFR 2530.203-3 describes the circumstances and 
conditions under which plans may suspend the pension benefits of 
retirees that return to work, or of participants that continue to work 
beyond normal retirement age. In order for a plan to suspend benefits 
pursuant to the regulation, it must notify affected retirees or 
participants (by first class mail or personal delivery) during the 
first calendar month or payroll period in which the plan withholds 
payment, that benefits are suspended. This notice must include the 
specific reasons for such suspension, a general description of the plan 
provisions authorizing the suspension, a copy of the relevant plan 
provisions, and a statement indicating where the applicable regulations 
may be found, (i.e., 29 CFR 2530.203-3). In addition, the suspension 
notification must inform the retiree or participant of the plan's 
procedure for affording a review of the suspension of benefits.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: Class Exemption 77-4 for Certain Transactions between 
Investment Companies and Employee Benefit Plans.
    OMB Number: 1210-0049.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; and Individuals or households.
    Number of Respondents: 900.
    Number of Annual Responses: 128,000.
    Estimated Time per Response: 35 minutes.
    Total Burden Hours: 11,117.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $48,640.
    Description: Without the relief provided by this exemption, an 
open-end mutual fund would be unable to sell shares to or purchase 
shares from a plan when the fiduciary with respect to the plan is also 
the investment advisor for the mutual fund. As a result, plans would be 
compelled to liquidate their existing investments involving such 
transactions and to amend their plan documents to establish new 
investment structures and policies.
    In order to insure that the exemption is not abused and that the 
rights of participants and beneficiaries are protected, the Department 
has included in the exemption three basic disclosure requirements. The 
first requires at the time of the purchase or sale of such mutual fund 
shares that the plan's independent fiduciary receive a copy of the 
current prospectus issued by the open-end mutual fund and a full and 
detailed written statement of the investment advisory fees charges to 
or paid by the plan and the open-end mutual fund to the investment 
advisor. The second requires that the independent fiduciary approve in 
writing such purchases and sales. The third requires that the 
independent fiduciary, once notified of changes in the fees, re-approve 
in writing the purchase and sale of mutual fund shares.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption T88-1.
    OMB Number: 1210-0074.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping and Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; and Individuals or households.
    Number of Respondents: 1.
    Number of Annual Responses: 1.
    Estimated Time per Response: N/A.
    Total Burden Hours: 1.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $0.
    Description: Prohibited Transaction Exemption T88-1 adopts, for 
purposes of the prohibited transaction provisions of section 8477(c)(2) 
of the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986, certain 
prohibited transaction class exemptions granted pursuant to section 
408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). 
The information collection requirements incorporated within this class 
exemption are intended to protect the interests of plan participants 
and beneficiaries and provide the Department with sufficient 
information to support a finding that the exemption meets the statutory 
standards of section 408(a) of ERISA. The burden for the information 
collection requirements associated with this exemption is already 
accounted for under other ERISA requirements.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program.
    OMB Number: 1210-0089.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Reporting.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; and Individuals or households.
    Number of Respondents: 4,105.
    Number of Annual Responses: 4,105.
    Estimated Time per Response: 30 minutes.

[[Page 10685]]

    Total Burden Hours: 205.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $132,181.
    Description: Plan administrators who fail to file an annual report 
may be assessed a penalty of $300 per day, up to $30,000 per year, 
until a complete annual report is filed. Penalties are applicable to 
each annual report required to be filed under Title I of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
    The Department may, in its discretion, waive all or part of a civil 
penalty assessed under ERISA section 502(c)(2) upon a showing by the 
administrator that there was reasonable cause for the failure to file a 
complete and timely annual report.
    The Department has determined that the possible assessment of these 
civil penalties may deter certain delinquent filers from voluntarily 
complying with the annual reporting requirements under Title I of 
ERISA. In an effort to encourage annual reporting compliance, the 
Department implemented the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance 
Program (the Program) on April 27, 1995 (60 FR 20873). Under the 
Program, administrators otherwise subject to the assessment of higher 
civil penalties are permitted to pay reduced civil penalties for 
voluntarily complying with the annual reporting requirements under 
Title I of ERISA.
    This ICR covers the requirement of providing data necessary to 
identify the plan along with the penalty payment. This data is the 
means by which each penalty payment is associated with the appropriate 
plan.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: PTE 98-54 Relating to Certain Employee Benefit Plan Foreign 
Exchange Transactions Executed Pursuant to Standing Instructions.
    OMB Number: 1210-0111.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping and Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions; and Individuals or households.
    Number of Respondents: 35.
    Number of Annual Responses: 8,400.
    Estimated Time per Response: 30 minutes.
    Total Burden Hours: 4,200.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $0.
    Description: PTE 98-54 permits certain foreign exchange 
transactions between employee benefit plans and certain banks, broker-
dealers, and domestic affiliates thereof, which are parties in interest 
with respect to such plans, pursuant to standing instructions. In the 
absence of an exemption, foreign exchange transactions pursuant to 
standing instructions would be prohibited under circumstances where the 
bank or broker-dealer is a party in interest or disqualified person 
with respect to the plan under the Employee Retirement Income 
Securities Act of 1974 (ERISA) or the Internal Revenue Code.
    The class exemption has five basic information collection 
requirements. The first requires the bank or broker-dealer to maintain 
written policies and procedures for handling foreign exchange 
transactions for plans for which it is a party in interest which ensure 
that the party acting for the bank or broker-dealer knows it is dealing 
with a plan. The second requires that the transactions are performed in 
accordance with a written authorization executed in advance by an 
independent fiduciary of the plan. The third requires that the bank or 
broker-dealer provides the authorizing fiduciary with a copy of its 
written policies and procedures for foreign exchange transactions 
involving income item conversions and de minimis purchase and sale 
transactions prior to the execution of a transaction. The fourth 
requires the bank or broker-dealer to furnish the authorizing fiduciary 
a written confirmation statement with respect to each covered 
transaction within five days of execution. The fifth requires that the 
bank or broker-dealer maintains records necessary for plan fiduciaries, 
participants, and the Department and Internal Revenue Service to 
determine whether the conditions of the exemption are being met for 
period of six years from the date of execution of a transaction.
    By requiring that records pertaining to the exempted transaction be 
maintained for six years, this ICR insures that the exemption is not 
abused, the rights of the participants and beneficiaries are protected, 
and that compliance with the exemption's conditions can be confirmed. 
The exemption affects participants and beneficiaries of the plans that 
are involved in such transactions as well as certain banks, broker-
dealers, and domestic affiliates thereof.

Ira L. Mills,
Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-4209 Filed 3-3-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P