[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 145 (Thursday, July 30, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38044-38046]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-18068]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

July 23, 2009.

    The Department of Labor (DOL) hereby announces the submission of 
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; including among other things a description of the likely 
respondents, proposed frequency of response, and estimated total burden 
may be obtained from the RegInfo.gov Web site 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].
    Interested parties are encouraged to send comments to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the 
Department of Labor-Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), 
Office of Management and Budget, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, 
Telephone: 202-395-7316/Fax: 202-395-5806 (these are not toll-free 
numbers), E-mail: [email protected] within 30 days from the 
date of this publication in the Federal Register. In order to ensure 
the appropriate consideration, comments should reference the OMB 
Control Number (see below).
    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 a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption for 
Cross-Trades of Securities by Index and Model-Driven Funds (PTE 2002-
12).
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0115.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 60.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 855.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$509.
    Description: PTE 2002-12 exempts certain transactions that would be 
prohibited under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
(the Act or ERISA) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act 
(FERSA), and provides relief from certain sanctions of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). The exemption permits cross-trades of 
securities among Index and Model-Driven Funds (Funds) managed by 
managers (Managers), and among such Funds and certain large accounts 
(Large Accounts) that engage such Managers to carry out a specific 
portfolio restructuring program or to otherwise act as a ``trading 
adviser'' for such a program. By removing existing barriers to these 
types of transactions, the exemption increases the incidences of cross-
trading, thereby lowering the transaction costs to plans in a number of 
ways from what they would be otherwise. For additional information, see 
related notice published at 74 FR 17985 on April 20, 2009.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Bank Collective Investment Funds; Prohibited 
Transaction Class Exemption 91-38.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0082.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,600.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 600.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$0.
    Description: PTE 91-38 provides an exemption from the prohibited 
transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 (ERISA) for certain transactions between a bank collective 
investment fund and persons who are parties in interest with respect to 
an employee benefit plan. Without the exemption, sections 406 and 
407(a) of ERISA and section 4975(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code may 
prohibit transactions between the collective investment fund (CIF) and 
a party in interest to one or more of the employee benefit plans 
participating in the collective investment fund. Under PTE 91-38, a 
collective investment fund generally may engage in transactions with 
parties in interest to a plan that invests in the fund as long as the 
plan's total investment in the fund does not exceed a specified 
percentage of the total assets of the fund. The PTE also contains more 
limited or differently defined relief for funds holding more than the 
specified percentage, for multiemployer plans, and for transactions 
involving employer securities and employer real property. In order to 
ensure that the rights of participants and beneficiaries are protected, 
and that bank collective investment funds can demonstrate compliance 
with the terms of the exemption, the Department requires a bank to 
maintain records regarding the exempted transactions and make them 
available for inspection to specified interested persons (including the 
Department and the Internal Revenue Service) on request for a period of 
six years. For additional information, see related notice published at 
74 FR 17988 on April 20, 2009.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.

[[Page 38045]]

    Title of Collection: PTE 90-1; Insurance Company Pooled Separate 
Accounts.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0083.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 60.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 100.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$0.
    Description: PTE 90-1 provides an exemption from certain provisions 
of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) relating 
to transactions involving insurance company pooled separate accounts in 
which employee benefit plans participate. Without the exemption, 
sections 406 and 407(a) of ERISA and section 4975(c)(1) of the Internal 
Revenue Code might prohibit a party in interest to a plan from 
furnishing goods or services to an insurance company pooled separate 
account in which the plan has an interest, or prohibit engaging in 
other transactions. Under the exemption, persons who are parties in 
interest to a plan that invests in a pooled separate account, such as a 
service provider, may engage in otherwise prohibited transactions with 
the separate account if the plan's participation in the separate 
account does not exceed specified limits and other conditions are met. 
These other conditions include a requirement that the party in interest 
not be the insurance company, or an affiliate thereof, that holds the 
plan assets in its pooled separate account or other separate account. 
The terms of the transaction to which the exemption is applied must be 
at least as favorable to the pooled separate account as those that 
would be obtained in a separate arms-length transaction with an 
unrelated party, and the insurance company must maintain records of any 
transaction to which the exemption applies for a period of six years. 
This ICR covers this recordkeeping requirement. For additional 
information, see related notice published at 74 FR 17989 on April 20, 
2009.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Foreign Currency Transactions; Prohibited 
Transaction Class Exemption 94-20.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0085.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 279.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 230.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$0.
    Description: PTE 94-20 permits the purchase and sale of foreign 
currencies between an employee benefit plan and a bank, broker-dealer, 
or an affiliate thereof, that is a trustee, custodian, fiduciary, or 
other party in interest with respect to the plan. The exemption is 
available provided that the transaction is directed (within the meaning 
of section IV(e) of the exemption) by a plan fiduciary that is 
independent of the bank, broker-dealer, or affiliate and all other 
conditions of the exemption are satisfied. Without this exemption, 
certain aspects of these transactions might be prohibited by section 
406(a) of ERISA. To protect the interests of participants and 
beneficiaries of the employee benefit plan, the exemption requires that 
the party wishing to take advantage of the exemption (1) Develop 
written policies and procedures applicable to trading in foreign 
currencies on behalf of an employee benefit plan; (2) provide a written 
confirmation with respect to each transaction in foreign currency to 
the independent plan fiduciary, disclosing specified information; and 
(3) maintain records pertaining to the transaction for a period of six 
years. The ICR relates to the foregoing disclosure and recordkeeping 
requirements. For additional information, see related notice published 
at 74 FR 17990 on April 20, 2009.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 97-41; 
Collective Investment Funds Conversion Transactions.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0104.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 50.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1,756.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$310,000.
    Description: PTE 97-41 provides an exemption from the prohibited 
transaction provisions of the Employment Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 (ERISA) and from certain taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986. The exemption permits employee benefit plans to purchase 
shares of one or more open-end investment companies (funds) registered 
under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 by transferring in-kind, to 
the investment company, assets of the plan that are part of a 
collective investment fund (CIF) maintained by a bank or plan advisor 
that is both a fiduciary of the plan and an investment advisor to the 
investment company offering the fund.
    The exemption requires that an independent fiduciary receive 
advance written notice of any covered transaction, as well as specific 
written information concerning the mutual funds to be purchased. The 
independent fiduciary must also provide written advance approval of 
conversion transactions and receive written confirmation of each 
transaction, as well as additional on-going disclosures as defined in 
PTE 97-41. These disclosures are the basis for the ICR. For additional 
information, see related notice published at 74 FR 17986 on April 20, 
2009.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2004-07, 
Transactions with Trust REIT Shares.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0124.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 38.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 3,990.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$201,894.
    Description: PTE 2004-07 exempts from certain prohibited 
transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 (ERISA) and from certain taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 (the Code), the acquisition, holding, sale, and 
contribution in kind of publicly traded shares of beneficial interest 
in a real estate investment trust that is structured under State law as 
a business trust (Trust REIT), on behalf of and to individual account 
plans sponsored by the REIT or its affiliates, provided that certain 
conditions are met.
    The exemption allows individual account plans (Plans) established 
by Trust REITs to offer a beneficial interest in the Trust REIT in the 
form of Qualifying REIT Shares, as defined in the exemption, to 
participants in Plans sponsored by the REIT or its employer affiliates, 
to require that employer contributions be used to purchase such shares, 
and to permit ``contributions in kind'' of such shares to these Plans 
by employers.

[[Page 38046]]

    The exemption conditions relief on compliance with a number of 
information collection requirements. These information collections are 
to be provided or made available to plan participants and fiduciaries 
in order to inform them about investments in Qualifying REIT Shares and 
the conditions of the exemption permitting share transactions. Records 
sufficient to allow them to determine whether the exemption conditions 
are met must also be maintained, and made available to them upon 
request, for a period of six years. These records must also be made 
available on request to employers and employee organizations with 
employees and members covered by a Plan of the Trust REIT or one of its 
employer affiliates, and to authorized employees and representatives of 
the Department and the Internal Revenue Service. For additional 
information, see related notice published at 74 FR 17987 on April 20, 
2009.

Darrin A. King,
Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. E9-18068 Filed 7-29-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P