[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 58 (Friday, March 27, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13478-13479]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-6838]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Proposed Extension of Information Collection; Comment Request 
Final Rules and Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2006-16 Relating 
to Terminated Individual Account Plans

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA 
95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), the Department of Labor (the Department) 
conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general 
public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed 
and continuing collections of information. This program helps to ensure 
that the data the Department gathers can be provided in the desired 
format, that the reporting burden on the public (time and financial 
resources) is minimized, that the public understands the Department's 
collection instruments, and that the Department can accurately assess 
the impact of collection requirements on respondents.
    Pursuant to this notice, the Department is soliciting comments 
concerning the information collection provisions of final rules 
relating to the Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans,\1\ 
the Safe Harbor for Distributions From Terminated Individual Account 
Plans,\2\ the Terminal Report for Abandoned Individual Account 
Plans,\3\ and Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2006-16, relating 
to the Terminal Report for Abandoned Individual Account Plans, and 
2004-14, relating to automatic rollovers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 29 CFR 2578.1.
    \2\ 29 CFR 2550.404a-3.
    \3\ 29 CFR 2520.103-13.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A copy of the ICR may be obtained by contacting the office listed 
in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the 
ADDRESSES section below on or before May 26, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments 
regarding the information collection request and burden estimates to: 
G. Christopher Cosby, Office of Policy and Research, U.S. Department of 
Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, 200 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Room N-5647, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone:

[[Page 13479]]

(202) 693-8410; Fax: (202) 219-4745. These are not toll-free numbers. 
Comments may also be submitted electronically to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has 
promulgated three regulations and a prohibited transaction class 
exemption (PTE) that address the problem of abandoned individual 
account pension plans. The abandoned plan initiative includes the 
following actions, which impose the following information collections:
    1. Qualified Termination Administrator (QTA) Regulation: The QTA 
regulation creates an orderly and efficient process by which a 
financial institution that holds the assets of a plan that is deemed to 
have been abandoned may undertake to terminate the plan and distribute 
its assets to participants and beneficiaries holding accounts under the 
plan, with protections and approval of the Department under the 
standards of the regulation. The regulation requires the QTA to provide 
certain notices to the Department, to participants and beneficiaries, 
and to the plan sponsor (or service providers to the plan, if 
necessary), and to keep certain records pertaining to the termination.
    2. Abandoned Plan Terminal Report Regulation: The terminal report 
regulation provides an alternative, simplified method for a QTA to 
satisfy the annual report requirement otherwise applicable to a 
terminating plan by filing a special simplified terminal report with 
the Department after terminating an abandoned plan and distributing its 
accounts to participants and beneficiaries.
    3. Terminated Plan Distribution Regulation: The terminated plan 
distribution regulation establishes a safe harbor method by which 
fiduciaries who are terminating individual account pension plans 
(whether abandoned or not) may select an investment vehicle to receive 
account balances distributed from the terminated plan when the 
participant has failed to provide investment instructions. The 
regulation requires the fiduciaries to provide advance notice to 
participants and beneficiaries of how such distributions will be 
invested, if no other investment instructions are provided.
    4. Abandoned Plan Class Exemption: The exemption permits a QTA that 
terminates an abandoned plan under the QTA regulation to receive 
payment for its services from the abandoned plan and to distribute the 
account balance of a participant who has failed to provide investment 
direction into an individual retirement account (IRA) maintained by the 
QTA or an affiliate. Without the exemption, financial institutions 
could be unable to receive payment for services rendered out of plan 
assets without violating ERISA's prohibited transaction provisions and 
would therefore be highly unlikely to undertake the termination of 
abandoned plans. The exemption includes the condition that the QTA keep 
records of the distributions for a period of six years and make such 
records available on request to interested persons (including the 
Department and participants and beneficiaries). If a QTA wishes to be 
paid out of plan assets for services provided prior to becoming a QTA, 
the exemption requires that the QTA enter into a written agreement with 
a plan fiduciary or the plan sponsor prior to receiving payment and 
that a copy of the agreement be provided to the Department.
    5. PTE 2004-16 (Automatic Rollover Exemption): Also included in 
this ICR are the notice and recordkeeping requirements contained in PTE 
2004-16, which permits a pension plan fiduciary that is a financial 
institution and is also the employer maintaining an individual account 
pension plan for its employees to establish, on behalf of its separated 
employees, an IRA at a financial institution that is either the 
employer or an affiliate, which IRA would receive mandatory 
distributions that the fiduciary ``rolls over'' from the plan when an 
employee terminates employment.
    Because all of these regulations and exemptions relate to 
terminating or abandoned plans and/or to distribution and rollover of 
distributed benefits for which no participant investment election has 
been made, the Department has combined the paperwork burden for all of 
these actions into one ICR. In the Department's view, this combination 
allows the public to have a better understanding of the aggregate 
burden imposed on the public for these related regulatory actions. OMB 
approved the ICR under OMB control number 1210-0127, which is scheduled 
to expire on June 30, 2009.

II. Desired Focus of Comments

    The Department is particularly interested in comments that:
     Evaluate whether the collections of information are 
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 collections 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., by 
permitting electronic submission of responses.

III. Current Action

    The Department is requesting an extension of the currently approved 
ICR titled Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans. The 
Department is not proposing or implementing changes to the regulation 
or to the existing ICR. A summary of the ICR and the current burden 
estimates follows:
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans.
    OMB Number: 1210-0127.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 164,240.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Responses: 164,240.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,313.
    Total Annual Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $997,000.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the information 
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.

    Dated: March 23, 2009.
Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-6838 Filed 3-26-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P