[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 130 (Friday, July 7, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38663-38666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-10635]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

June 29, 2006.
    The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted the following public 
information collection requests (ICR) 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.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:
     Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary

[[Page 38664]]

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: Bank Collective Investment Funds; Prohibited Transaction 
Class Exemption 91-38.
    OMB Number: 1210-0082.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit and Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Number of Respondents: 1,200.
    Number of Annual Responses: 1,200.
    Estimated Annual Time Per Respondent: 10 minutes.
    Total Burden Hours: 200.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $0.
    Description: Section 408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) gives the Secretary of Labor the authority 
to ``grant a conditional or unconditional exemption of any fiduciary or 
transaction, or class of fiduciaries or transactions, from all or part 
of the restrictions imposed by sections 406 and 407(a).'' In order to 
grant an exemption under section 408, the Department must determine 
that the exemption is: (1) Administratively feasible; (2) in the 
interests of the plan and its participants and beneficiaries; and, (3) 
protective of the rights of the participants and beneficiaries of such 
plan.
    Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (43 FR 47713, October 17, 1978, 
effective on December 31, 1978) transferred the authority of the 
Secretary of the Treasury to issue exemptions under section 4975 of the 
Code, with certain enumerated exceptions, to the Secretary of Labor. As 
a result, the Secretary of Labor now possesses authority under section 
4975(c)(2) of the Code as well as under 408(a) of ERISA to issue 
individual and class exemptions from the prohibited transaction rules 
of ERISA and the Code.
    Section 406 of ERISA prohibits certain types of transactions 
between plans and related parties (called parties in interest), such as 
plan fiduciaries, sponsoring employers, unions, service providers and 
affiliates. In particular, under section 406, a fiduciary of a plan may 
not cause the plan to engage in a transaction involving plan assets 
(e.g., a sale, lease, loan, transfer, or furnishing of goods or 
services) with a party in interest or use the plan's assets for the 
benefit of a party in interest.
    Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 90-1 provides an 
exemption from the restrictions of section 406, in part, for certain 
transactions between insurance company pooled separate accounts and 
parties in interest to plans that invest assets in the pooled separate 
accounts. The exemption provides a general exemption for any 
transaction between a party in interest with respect to a plan and an 
insurance company pooled separate account in which the plan has an 
interest (or any acquisition or holding by the pooled separate account 
of employer securities or employer real estate), provided that the 
party in interest is not the insurance company (or an affiliate of the 
insurance company) and that the amount of the plan's investment in the 
separate account does not exceed certain specified percentages (or that 
the separate account is a specialized account with a policy of 
investing substantially all of its assets in short-term obligations).
    The class PTE also provides specific, additional exemptions for the 
following types of transactions with a party in interest: (1) 
Furnishing goods to an insurance company pooled separate account, (2) 
leasing of real property of the pooled separate account, (3) 
transactions involving persons who are parties in interest to a plan 
merely because they are service providers or provide nondiscretionary 
services to the plan; (4) the insurance company's provision of real 
property management services in connection with real property 
investments of the pooled separate account, and (5) furnishing of 
services, facilities and goods by a place of public accommodations 
owned by the separate account.
    In addition to other specified conditions, the insurance company 
intending to rely on the general exemption or any of the specific 
exemptions must maintain records of the transactions to which the 
exemption applies for a period of six years and make the records 
available on request to specified interested persons (including plan 
fiduciaries, the Department, and the Internal Revenue Service). This 
information collection requirement is considered necessary in order to 
ensure that the exemption meets the standards of section 408.
    This exemption requires recordkeeping, including disclosure of 
records on request to the Department and other interested persons. The 
Department believes that this information collection protects the 
interests of participants and beneficiaries in plans by enabling 
interested persons, including the Department, to verify that the 
conditions of the exemptions have been met.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: PTE 90-1; Insurance Company Pooled Separate Accounts.
    OMB Number: 1210-0083.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit and Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Number of Respondents: 70.
    Number of Annual Responses: 70.
    Estimated Annual Time Per Respondent: 1.67 hours.
    Total Burden Hours: 120.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $0.
    Description: Section 408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) gives the Secretary of Labor the authority 
to ``grant a conditional or unconditional exemption of any fiduciary or 
transaction, or class of fiduciaries or transactions, from all or part 
of the restrictions imposed by sections 406 and 407(a).'' In order to 
grant an exemption under section 408, the Department must determine 
that the exemption is: (1) Administratively feasible; (2) in the 
interests of the plan and its participants and beneficiaries; and, (3) 
protective of the rights of the participants and beneficiaries of such 
plan. Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (43 FR 47713, October 17, 1978, 
effective on December 31, 1978) transferred the authority of the 
Secretary of the Treasury to issue exemptions under section 4975 of the 
Code, with certain enumerated exceptions, to the Secretary of Labor. As 
a result, the Secretary of Labor now possesses authority under section 
4975(c)(2) of the

[[Page 38665]]

Code as well as under 408(a) of ERISA to issue individual and class 
exemptions from the prohibited transaction rules of ERISA and the Code.
    Section 406 of ERISA prohibits certain types of transactions 
between plans and related parties (called parties in interest), such as 
plan fiduciaries, sponsoring employers, unions, service providers and 
affiliates. In particular, under section 406, a fiduciary of a plan may 
not cause the plan to engage in a transaction involving plan assets 
(e.g., a sale, lease, loan, transfer, or furnishing of goods or 
services) with a party in interest or use the plan's assets for the 
benefit of a party in interest.
    Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 90-1 provides an 
exemption from the restrictions of section 406, in part, for certain 
transactions between insurance company pooled separate accounts and 
parties in interest to plans that invest assets in the pooled separate 
accounts. The exemption provides a general exemption for any 
transaction between a party in interest with respect to a plan and an 
insurance company pooled separate account in which the plan has an 
interest (or any acquisition or holding by the pooled separate account 
of employer securities or employer real estate), provided that the 
party in interest is not the insurance company (or an affiliate of the 
insurance company) and that the amount of the plan's investment in the 
separate account does not exceed certain specified percentages (or that 
the separate account is a specialized account with a policy of 
investing substantially all of its assets in short-term obligations).
    The class PTE also provides specific, additional exemptions for the 
following types of transactions with a party in interest: (1) 
Furnishing goods to an insurance company pooled separate account, (2) 
leasing of real property of the pooled separate account, (3) 
transactions involving persons who are parties in interest to a plan 
merely because they are service providers or provide nondiscretionary 
services to the plan; (4) the insurance company's provision of real 
property management services in connection with real property 
investments of the pooled separate account, and (5) furnishing of 
services, facilities and goods by a place of public accommodations 
owned by the separate account.
    In addition to other specified conditions, the insurance company 
intending to rely on the general exemption or any of the specific 
exemptions must maintain records of the transactions to which the 
exemption applies for a period of 6 years and make the records 
available on request to specified interested persons (including plan 
fiduciaries, the Department, and the Internal Revenue Service). This 
information collection requirement is considered necessary in order to 
ensure that the exemption meets the standards of section 408.
    This exemption requires recordkeeping, including disclosure of 
records on request to the Department and other interested persons. The 
Department believes that this information collection protects the 
interests of participants and beneficiaries in plans by enabling 
interested persons, including the Department, to verify that the 
conditions of the exemptions have been met.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.
    Title: Foreign Exchange Transactions; Prohibited Transaction Class 
Exemption 94-20.
    OMB Number: 1210-0085.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping and Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit and Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Number of Respondents: 239.
    Number of Annual Responses: 1,195.
    Estimated Annual Time Per Respondent: 10 minutes.
    Total Burden Hours: 200.
    Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing 
services): $0.
    Description: Section 408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) gives the Secretary of Labor the authority 
to ``grant a conditional or unconditional exemption of any fiduciary or 
transaction, or class of fiduciaries or transactions, from all or part 
of the restrictions imposed by sections 406 and 407(a).'' In order to 
grant an exemption under section 408, the Department must determine 
that the exemption is: (1) Administratively feasible; (2) in the 
interests of the plan and its participants and beneficiaries; and, (3) 
protective of the rights of the participants and beneficiaries of such 
plan.
    Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (43 FR 47713, October 17, 1978, 
effective on December 31, 1978) transferred the authority of the 
Secretary of the Treasury to issue exemptions under section 4975 of the 
Code, with certain enumerated exceptions, to the Secretary of Labor. As 
a result, the Secretary of Labor now possesses authority under section 
4975(c)(2) of the Code as well as under 408(a) of ERISA to issue 
individual and class exemptions from the prohibited transaction rules 
of ERISA and the Code.
    Section 406 of ERISA prohibits certain types of transactions 
between plans and related parties (called parties in interest), such as 
plan fiduciaries, sponsoring employers, unions, service providers and 
affiliates. In particular, under section 406, a fiduciary of a plan may 
not cause the plan to engage in a transaction involving plan assets 
(e.g., a sale, purchase, lease, loan, transfer, or furnishing of goods 
or services) with a party in interest or use the plan's assets for the 
benefit of a party in interest.
    In 1994, in response to an application from the American Bankers 
Association, the Department adopted a prohibited transaction class 
exemption (PTE 94-20) permitting banks, broker-dealers, and their 
affiliates (hereinafter, respondent) that are parties in interest to a 
plan to engage in foreign currency transactions with the plan, provided 
the transaction is directed by a plan fiduciary independent of the 
respondent and that certain other conditions are satisfied. To protect 
the interests of participants and beneficiaries of the employee benefit 
plan, the exemption requires, among other things, that a respondent 
wishing to rely on the exemption (1) maintain written policies and 
procedures applicable to trading in foreign currencies with an employee 
benefit plan; (2) provide a written confirmation of each foreign 
currency transaction to the independent plan fiduciary directing the 
transaction; and (3) maintain records of the transactions for a period 
of six years and make them available upon request to specified 
interested persons, including plan fiduciaries, participants and 
beneficiaries, and the Department. This information collection request 
relates to the foregoing requirements.
    The information collection requirements include recordkeeping, 
third party disclosure, and disclosure to the Department. These 
requirements enable the Department and other interested persons to 
monitor compliance with the conditions of the exemption. These 
conditions are necessary, as required under section 408(a) of ERISA, to 
ensure that respondents rely on the exemption only

[[Page 38666]]

in the circumstances protective of plan participants and beneficiaries.

Ira L. Mills,
Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. E6-10635 Filed 7-6-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P