[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 205 (Monday, October 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65511-65512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-26868]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Employee Benefits Security Administration; Submission for OMB 
Review

ACTION: Notice; comment request.

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SUMMARY: 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 Linda Watts Thomas 
on 202-693-4223 (this is not a toll-free number) and e-mail mail to: 
[email protected].
    Interested parties are encouraged to send comments to the Office of

[[Page 65512]]

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: 202-395-6881/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 applicable 
OMB Control Number (see below).
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:
    (1) 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;
    (2) 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;
    (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (4) 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: Default Investment Alternatives under 
Individual Account Plans.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0132.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Cost to Federal Government: $0.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 648,000.
    Total Number of Responses: 83,358,375.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 782,000.
    Total Estimated Annual Cost Burden (operating/maintaining): 
$32,116,000.
    Description: Section 404(c) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) states that participants or beneficiaries 
who can hold individual accounts under their pension plans, and who can 
exercise control over the assets in their accounts ``as determined in 
regulations of the Secretary [of Labor]'' will not be treated as 
fiduciaries of the plan. Moreover, no other plan fiduciary will be 
liable for any loss, or by reason of any breach, resulting from the 
participants' or beneficiaries exercise of control over their 
individual account assets.
    The Pension Protection Act (PPA), Public Law 109-280, amended ERISA 
section 404(c) by adding subparagraph (c)(5)(A). The new subparagraph 
says that a participant in an individual account plan who fails to make 
investment elections regarding his or her account assets will 
nevertheless be treated as having exercised control over those assets 
so long as the plan provides appropriate notice (as specified) and 
invests the assets ``in accordance with regulations prescribed by the 
Secretary [of Labor].'' Section 404(c)(5)(A) further requires the 
Department of Labor (Department) to issue corresponding final 
regulations within six months after enactment of the PPA. The PPA was 
signed into law on August 17, 2006.
    The Department of Labor issued a final regulation under ERISA 
section 404(c)(5)(A) offering guidance on the types of investment 
vehicles that plans may choose as their ``qualified default investment 
alternative''(QDIA). The regulation also outlines two information 
collections. First, it implements the statutory requirement that plans 
provide annual notices to participants and beneficiaries whose account 
assets could be invested in a QDIA. Second, the regulation requires 
plans to pass certain pertinent materials they receive relating to a 
QDIA to those participants and beneficiaries with assets invested in 
the QDIA as well to provide certain information on request. The ICRs 
are approved under OMB Control Number 1210-0132, which is scheduled to 
expire on October 31, 2010.
    For additional information, see related notice published in the 
Federal Register on August 23, 2010 (75 FR 51843).

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Regulation Relating to Loans to Plan 
Participants and Beneficiaries who are Parties in Interest with Respect 
to the Plan.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0076.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
    Cost to Federal Government: $0.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,900.
    Total Number of Responses: 1,900.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 0.
    Total Estimated Annual Cost Burden (operating/maintaining): 
$673,000.
    Description: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
(ERISA) prohibits a plan fiduciary from causing the plan to engage in a 
transaction if he knows or should know that such transaction 
constitutes direct or indirect loan or extension of credit between the 
plan and a party in interest. ERISA section 408(b)(1) exempts from this 
prohibition loans from a plan to parties in interest who are 
participants and beneficiaries of the plan, provided that certain 
requirements are satisfied. In final regulations published in the 
Federal Register on July 20, 1989, (54 FR 30520), the Department 
provided additional guidance on section 408(b)(1)(C), which requires 
that loans be made in accordance with specific provisions in the plan. 
This ICR therefore relates to the provisions plan documents must 
include in order for a plan may make loans to participants. The ICR is 
scheduled to expire on October 31, 2010.
    For additional information, see related notice published in the 
Federal Register on August 23, 2010 (75 FR 51844).

    Dated: October 18, 2010.
Linda Watts Thomas,
Acting Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-26868 Filed 10-22-10; 8:45 am]
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