[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4298-4299]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-1387]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

January 24, 2007.
    The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted the following public 
information collection request (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 
this ICR, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained 
from RegInfo.gov at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain or by 
contacting Darrin King on 202-693-4129 (this is not a toll-free number) 
/ 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, Telephone: 202-395-7316 / Fax: 202-395-6974 
(these are not toll-free numbers), 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 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 without change of currently approved 
collection.
    Title: Summary Plan Description Requirements Under ERISA.
    OMB Number: 1210-0039.
    Type of Response: Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Private Sector: Business or other for-profit and 
Not-for-profit institutions.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,200,000.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 93,457,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 262,000.
    Estimated Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Estimated Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or 
purchasing services): $257,914,000.
    Description: Section 104(b)(1) of the Employee Retirement Security 
Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires the administrator of an employee benefit 
plan to furnish each plan participant and each beneficiary receiving 
benefits under the plan a copy of the plan's summary plan description 
(SPD) within 90 days after an individual becomes a participant and (in 
the case of a beneficiary) within 90 days after an individual first 
receives benefits, or, if later, within 120 days after the plan first 
becomes subject to Part 2 of Title I of ERISA. Section 104(b)(1) 
further specifies that an updated SPD must be furnished subsequently 
every fifth year, integrating all plan amendments made within such 
five-year period. The information required to be contained in the SPD 
is set forth in section 102(b) of ERISA.
    If a plan is amended to make a material modification in its terms 
or to change the information required to be contained in the SPD (other 
than a material reduction in covered services or benefits under a group 
health plan), section 104(b)(1) requires the plan administrator to 
furnish participants and beneficiaries receiving benefits a summary of 
the material modifications

[[Page 4299]]

(SMM) within 210 days following the end of the plan year in which the 
change was adopted. Section 104(b)(1) separately provides that, in the 
case of any modification or change that is a ``material reduction in 
covered services or benefits provided under a group health plan,'' the 
plan must provide a summary of such material reduction (SMR) not later 
than 60 days after the adoption of the modification or change, unless 
the plan routinely provides summaries of modifications or changes at 
regular intervals of not more than 90 days.
    Section 109(c) of ERISA grants the Secretary of Labor the authority 
to prescribe the form and content of the SPD, as well as other 
documents required to be furnished or made available to plan 
participants and beneficiaries receiving benefits under a plan.
    The Department has promulgated regulations governing the content 
and furnishing of SPDs, SMMs, and SMRs at 29 CFR 102-2 (Style and 
Format of Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 2520.102-3 (Contents of 
Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 2520.102-4 (Option for Different 
Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 2520.2520.104b-1 (Disclosure); 29 
CFR 2520.104b-2 (Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 104b-3 (Summary of 
Material Modifications to the Plan and Changes in the Information 
Required to be Included in the Summary Plan Description); and 29 CFR 
104b-4 (Alternative Methods of Compliance for Furnishing the Summary 
Plan Description and Summaries of Material Modifications of a Pension 
Plan to a Retired Participant, a Separated Participant, and a 
Beneficiary Receiving Benefits). These regulations set standards for 
the content of these disclosure documents, the methods of furnishing 
that will satisfy the statutory disclosure requirements, and 
alternative methods of compliance. In particular, regulations at 29 CFR 
2520.104b-1(c) specifically describe the circumstances under which the 
administrator of an employee benefit plan may furnish required 
disclosure documents, including the SPD/SMM/SMR, through electronic 
media.
    The Department's regulations contain information collections that 
constitute mandatory third-party disclosure requirements applicable to 
the majority of ERISA-covered pension and welfare benefit plans. The 
Department has determined that these information collections are 
necessary in order to ensure the participants and beneficiaries in 
employee benefit plans covered under ERISA receive adequate information 
about the benefits due to them and their rights under the plans.
    The information collections covered by the subject regulations are 
necessary to ensure that participants and beneficiaries are adequately 
and timely informed about their rights and benefits under their plans. 
The SPD, together with the revelant SMMs and SMRs, constitutes the 
single most important source of information about a plan for the plan 
participants, and, if properly updated through SMMs and SMRs, it 
provides participants and beneficiaries with complete knowledge about 
how to manage their benefits, including how to file benefit claims, 
what rights they may have under different situations, under what 
circumstances benefits can be lost, whom to contact about benefits, and 
many other essential matters. In order to insure that participants and 
beneficiaries receive this information, the regulations require SPDs to 
be written in language calculated to be understood by the average plan 
participant and to be provided through a method that ensures receipt. 
ERISA also requires that the information in the SPD be kept current. 
This is accomplished through the use of the SMM or SMR, which inform 
plan participants and beneficiaries about material plan changes, and 
the requirement for periodic updated SPDs.

Darrin A. King,
Acting Departmental Clearance Officer.
 [FR Doc. E7-1387 Filed 1-29-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P