[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 126 (Monday, July 2, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36041-36043]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-12704]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

June 25, 2007
    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 
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) 
/ email: [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 a 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: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 92-6: Sale of 
Individual Life Insurance or Annuity Contracts By a Plan.
    OMB Number: 1210-0063.
    Type of Response: Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Private Sector: Business or other for-profit.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 9,780.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 9,780.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,956.
    Estimated Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Estimated Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or 
purchasing services): $4,499.
    Description: Section 408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 4975(c)(2) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) authorize the Secretary of Labor and 
the Secretary of the Treasury to grant a conditional or unconditional 
exemption of any fiduciary, disqualified person or class of 
fiduciaries, or orders of disqualified persons or transactions, from 
all or part of the restrictions imposed by sections 406 and 407(a) of 
ERISA and from the taxes imposed by sections 4975(a) and (b) of the 
Code, by reason of section 4975(c)(1) of the Code. Under section 102 of 
Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (Reorganization Plan No. 4), the 
Secretary of Labor was given the authority to grant such exemptions.
    Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 92-6 (PTE 92-6) was granted 
on February 5, 1992 and became effective on October 22, 1986. PTE 92-6 
amends and replaces Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 77-8 (PTE 
77-8), and exempts from the prohibited transaction restrictions the 
sale of individual life insurance or annuity contracts held by an 
employee benefit plan to: (1) Plan participants insured under such 
contracts; (2) relatives of such participants who are the beneficiaries 
under the contract, (3) employers, any of whose employees are covered 
by the plan; (4) other employee benefit plans that have a party in 
interest relationship; (5) owner-employees (as defined in section 
401(c)(3) of the Code), (6) shareholder-employees (as defined in 
section 1379 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 as in effect on the 
day before the enactment of the Subchapter S Revision Act of 1982), or 
(7) trusts established by plan participants insured under such 
contracts or relatives of such participants who are the beneficiaries 
under the contract, for the cash surrender value of the contracts, 
provided certain conditions set forth in the class exemption are met.
    In order to ensure that the class exemption is not abused, that the 
rights of the participants and beneficiaries are protected, and that 
the exemption's conditions are being complied with, the Department 
often requires minimal information collection pertaining to the 
affected transactions.
    The Department has included in the class exemption a basic 
disclosure requirement. Pension plans are required to 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. If the participant elects not to purchase the 
contract, the relative, the employer, another plan, the owner-
employees, or the shareholder-employees may purchase the contract from 
the plan upon the receipt by the plan of written consent of the 
participant. The disclosure requirement of the class exemption does not 
apply if the contract is sold to the plan participant. The disclosure 
requirement incorporated within this class exemption is intended to 
protect the rights of plan participants and beneficiaries by putting 
them on notice of the plan's intention to sell insurance or annuity 
contracts under which they are insured, and by giving them the right of 
first refusal to purchase such contracts. Without this disclosure 
requirement, the Department, which may only grant an exemption if it 
can find that participants and beneficiaries are protected, would be 
unable to effectively enforce the terms of the class exemption and 
ensure user compliance.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of currently approved 
collection.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 91-55: Transactions 
Between Individual Retirement Accounts and Authorized Purchasers of 
American Eagle Coins.
    OMB Number: 1210-0079.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping and Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Private Sector: Business or other for-profit.

[[Page 36042]]

    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 663,431.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 11,063.
    Estimated Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Estimated Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or 
purchasing services): $152,589.
    Description: Section 408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (``ERISA'') and section 4975(c)(2) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (the ``Code'') authorize the Secretary of Labor 
and the Secretary of the Treasury to grant a conditional or 
unconditional exemption of any fiduciary, disqualified person or class 
of fiduciaries, or orders of disqualified persons or transactions, from 
all or part of the restrictions imposed by sections 406 and 407(a) of 
ERISA and from the taxes imposed by sections 4975(a) and (b) of the 
Code, by reason of section 4975(c)(1) of the Code. Under section 102 of 
Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (Reorganization Plan No. 4), the 
Secretary of Labor was given the authority to grant such exemptions.
    Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 91-55 (PTE 91-55) was 
granted on September 23, 1991, and provides an exemption from certain 
of ERISA's prohibited transaction provisions (and the taxes imposed by 
section 4975 of the Code) for purchases and sales by ``certain 
individual retirement accounts,'' as defined in Code section 408 
(``IRAs'') of American Eagle bullion coins (``Coins'') in principal 
transactions from or to broker-dealers in Coins (i.e., banks and other 
approved persons referenced in Code sections 408(a)(2) and 408(h)) 
which are ``authorized purchasers'' of Coins in bulk quantities from 
the United States Mint (``Mint'') which are also ``disqualified 
persons,'' within the meaning of Code section 4975(e)(2) with respect 
to IRAs. Under the class exemption, relief is provided only for 
purchases and sales of Coins between such disqualified persons and IRAs 
with respect to which the IRA depositor either self-directs the IRA 
investments or delegates investment discretion over assets in the IRA 
to a third person who is independent of and unrelated to the 
disqualified person or other affiliate thereof.
    The class exemption also describes the circumstances under which 
the 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.
    Section 406 of ERISA (and section 4975(c)(1) of the Code) prohibits 
various transactions between a plan and certain related parties. Those 
parties in interest described in section 3(14) of ERISA and 
disqualified persons described in section 4975(e)(2) of the Code, such 
as plan fiduciaries, sponsoring employers, unions, service providers 
and affiliates, may not engage in a transaction described in section 
406 of ERISA and section 4975(c) of the Code with a plan without an 
exemption. Code section 4975(e)(1) states that an IRA described in 
section 408(a) of the Code is included within the definition of the 
term ``plan'' for purposes of Code section 4975. Specifically, these 
sections prohibit sales, leases, loans, or the provision of services 
between a party in interest and a plan, as well as a use of plan assets 
by or for the benefit of, or a transfer of plan assets to, a party in 
interest or a disqualified person, unless a statutory or administrative 
exemption applies to the transaction.
    The Department of Labor has authority under Reorganization Plan No. 
4, pursuant to section 408 of ERISA and section 4975(c)(2) of the Code, 
to grant either individual or class exemptions. In order to grant a 
class exemption under section 408 and section 4975(c)(2), 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 participants and beneficiaries of 
such plan.
    In order to ensure that the class exemption is not abused, that the 
rights of the participants and beneficiaries are protected, and that 
the exemption's conditions are being complied with, the Department 
often requires minimal information collection pertaining to the 
affected transactions.
    Because the value of Coins can fluctuate frequently, the Department 
believes that the maintenance of contemporaneous records by the 
purchaser is essential to enable those persons directing the 
investments of the IRAs, as well as the Department and the IRS, to 
monitor compliance with the conditions of the class exemption. The 
recordkeeping requirement facilitates the Department's ability to make 
findings under section 408 of ERISA and section 4975(c) of the Code. 
The confirmation and disclosure requirements enable participants and 
beneficiaries investing in IRAs better to monitor their investments in 
Coins.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of currently approved 
collection.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 85-68 to Permit 
Employee Benefit Plans to Invest in Customer Notes of Employers.
    OMB Number: 1210-0094.
    Type of Response: Recordkeeping.
    Affected Public: Private Sector: Business or other for-profit.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 69.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 325.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1.
    Estimated Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
    Estimated Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or 
purchasing services): $0.
    Description: Section 408(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 4975(c)(2) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) authorize the Secretary of Labor and 
the Secretary of the Treasury to grant a conditional or unconditional 
exemption of any fiduciary, disqualified person or class of 
fiduciaries, or orders of disqualified persons or transactions, from 
all or part of the restrictions imposed by sections 406 and 407(a) of 
ERISA and from the taxes imposed by sections 4975(a) and (b) of the 
Code, by reason of section 4975(c)(1) of the Code. Under section 102 of 
Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (Reorganization Plan No. 4), the 
Secretary of Labor was given the authority to grant such exemptions.
    This class exemption which was granted on March 28, 1985 and 
replaced prohibited Transaction Exemption 79-9, 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 business activity and thus be exempt 
from the prohibited transaction restrictions. The class exemption 
covers sales as well as contributions of customer notes by an employer 
to its plan.
    In order to ensure that the class exemption is not abused, that the 
rights of the participants and beneficiaries are protected, and that 
the exemption's conditions are being complied with, the Department of 
Labor (the Department) often requires minimal information collection 
pertaining to the affected transactions.
    The Department has included in the class exemption a recordkeeping 
provision, whereby plans are required to maintain for six years from 
the date of the transaction the records necessary to enable interested 
parties including the

[[Page 36043]]

Department to determine whether the conditions of the exemption have 
been met. The class exemption also requires that those records be made 
available to certain persons on request. Without this recordkeeping 
requirement, the Department would be unable to effectively enforce the 
terms of the exemption and ensure user compliance.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of currently approved 
collection.
    Title: Notice Requirements of the Health Care Continuation Coverage 
Provisions.
    OMB Number: 1210-0123.
    Type of Response: Third party disclosure.
    Affected Public: Private Sector: Business or other for-profit.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 593,000.
    Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 15,237,957.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 0.
    Estimated Total Annualized Capital/startup costs: $0.
    Estimated Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or 
purchasing services): $18,387,739.
    Description: The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 
1984 (COBRA) provides that under certain circumstances participants and 
beneficiaries of group health plans that satisfy the definition of 
``qualified beneficiaries'' under COBRA may elect to continue group 
health coverage temporarily following events known as ``qualifying 
events'' that would otherwise result in loss of coverage. COBRA 
provides that the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) has the authority 
under section 608 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974 (ERISA) to carry out the provisions of Part 6 of title I of ERISA. 
The Conference Report that accompanied COBRA authorized the Secretary 
to issue regulations implementing the notice and disclosure 
requirements of COBRA.
    The Department has implemented the Notice Requirements of Section 
606 of ERISA (regulations) because the provision of timely and adequate 
notifications regarding COBRA rights and responsibilities is critical 
to a qualified beneficiary's ability to obtain health continuation 
coverage. In addition, in the Department's view, regulatory guidance 
was necessary to establish clearer standards for administering and 
processing COBRA notices.
    The provision of timely and adequate notifications is critical for 
the effective exercise of COBRA rights. As such, plan administrators, 
group health plan insurers, and other service providers to the 
healthcare industry have indicated to the Department that additional 
guidance on notification and disclosure under COBRA would be welcome. 
Failure on the part of a plan administrator to meet notice requirements 
might result in a qualified beneficiary's losing out on continuation 
coverage, assessment of fines on a plan administrator, or other adverse 
consequences.
    Under the regulatory guidelines, plan administrators are required 
to distribute notices as follows: A general notice to be distributed to 
all participants in group health plans subject to COBRA; an employer 
notice that must be completed by the employer upon the occurrence of a 
qualifying event; a notice and election form to be sent to a 
participant upon the occurrence of a qualifying event that might cause 
the participant to lose group health coverage; an employee notice that 
may be completed by a qualified beneficiary upon the occurrence of 
certain qualifying events such as divorce or disability; and, two other 
notices, one of early termination and the other a notice of 
unavailability.

Darrin A. King,
Acting Departmental Clearance Officer.
 [FR Doc. E7-12704 Filed 6-29-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P