[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30199-30200]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-12711]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Proposed Extension of Information Collection Request Submitted 
for Public Comment; Consent To Receive Employee Benefit Plan Disclosure 
Electronically; Prohibited Transaction Exemption 86-128; Furnishing 
Documents to the Secretary of Labor on Request under ERISA Section 
104(a)(6)

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA 95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), 
provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to 
comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This 
helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection 
requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps 
the public understand the Department's information collection 
requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The 
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting comments 
on the proposed extension of the information collection requests (ICRs) 
contained in the documents that are described below. The Department is 
not proposing to make any changes to the ICRs at this time. A copy of 
the ICRs may be obtained by contacting the office listed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice. ICRs also are available at 
reginfo.gov (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the 
Addresses section on or before July 25, 2011.

ADDRESSES: G. Christopher Cosby, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., N-5718, 
Washington, DC 20210, (202) 693-8410, FAX (202) 693-4745 (these are not 
toll-free numbers).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice requests public comment on the 
Department's request for extension of the Office of Management and 
Budget's (OMB) approval of ICRs contained in the rules described below. 
The Department is not proposing any changes to the existing ICRs at 
this time. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 
required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a 
valid OMB control number. A summary of the ICRs and the current burden 
estimates follows:

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Consent to Receive Employee Benefit Plan Disclosure 
Electronically.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection of information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0121.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 50,000.
    Responses: 3,400,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $170,000.
    Description: The Department established a safe harbor pursuant to 
which all pension and welfare benefit plans covered by Title I of ERISA 
may use electronic media to satisfy disclosure obligations under Title 
I of ERISA (29 CFR 2520.104b-1). Employee benefit plan administrators 
will be deemed to satisfy their disclosure obligations when furnishing 
documents electronically only if a participant who does not have access 
to the employer's electronic information system in the normal course of 
his duties, or a beneficiary or other person entitled to documents, has 
affirmatively consented to receive disclosure documents. Prior to 
consenting, the participant or beneficiary must also be provided with a 
clear and conspicuous statement indicating the types of documents to 
which the consent would apply, that consent may be withdrawn at any 
time, procedures for withdrawing consent and updating necessary 
information, the right to obtain a paper copy, and any hardware and 
software requirements. In the event of a hardware or software change 
that creates a material risk that the individual will be unable to 
access or retain documents that were the subject of the initial 
consent, the individual must be provided with information concerning 
the revised hardware or software, and an opportunity to withdraw a 
prior consent. The Department published a Request for Information 
regarding electronic disclosure in the Federal Register on April 7, 
2011 (75 Fed. Reg. 19285), which is unrelated to this notice. The ICR 
is scheduled to expire on August 31, 2011.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 86-128.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection of information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0059.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 4,200.
    Responses: 1,168,529.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 59,072.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $711,630.
    Description: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 86-128 permits 
persons who serve as fiduciaries for employee benefit plans to effect 
or execute securities transactions on behalf of employee benefit plans. 
The exemption also allows sponsors of pooled separate accounts and 
other pooled investment funds to use their affiliates to effect or 
execute securities transactions for such accounts in order to recapture 
brokerage commissions for the benefit of employee benefit plans whose 
assets are maintained in pooled separate accounts managed by insurance 
companies. This exemption provides relief from certain prohibitions in 
section 406(b) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
(ERISA) and from the taxes imposed by section 4975(a) and (b) of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code) by reason of Code section 
4975(c)(1)(E) or (F).
    In order to insure that the exemption is not abused, that the 
rights of participants and beneficiaries are

[[Page 30200]]

protected, and that the exemption's conditions are being complied with, 
the Department has included in the exemption five information 
collection requirements. The first requirement is written authorization 
executed in advance by an independent fiduciary of the plan whose 
assets are involved in the transaction with the broker-fiduciary. The 
second requirement is, within three months of the authorization, the 
broker-fiduciary furnish the independent fiduciary with any reasonably 
available information necessary for the independent fiduciary to 
determine whether an authorization should be made. The information must 
include a copy of the exemption, a form for termination, and a 
description of the broker-fiduciary's brokerage placement practices. 
The third requirement is that the broker-fiduciary must provide a 
termination form to the independent fiduciary annually so that the 
independent fiduciary may terminate the authorization without penalty 
to the plan; failure to return the form constitutes continuing 
authorization. The fourth requirement is for the broker-fiduciary to 
report all transactions to the independent fiduciary, either by 
confirmation slips or through quarterly reports. The fifth requirement 
calls for the broker-fiduciary to provide an annual summary of the 
transactions. The annual summary must contain all security transaction-
related charges incurred by the plan, the brokerage placement 
practices, and a portfolio turnover ratio. The ICR is scheduled to 
expire on September 30, 2011.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Furnishing Documents to the Secretary of Labor on Request 
under ERISA Section 104(a)(6).
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection of information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0112.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 500.
    Responses: 500.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 44.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $1,665.
    Description: As a result of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA 
97), the plan administrators of ERISA-covered employee benefit plans no 
longer need to file copies of the summary plan descriptions and 
summaries of material modifications that are publicly available. TRA 97 
added paragraph (6) to section 104(a) of ERISA. Prior to the TRA 97 
amendments, ERISA required certain documents be filed with the 
Department so that plan participants and beneficiaries could obtain the 
documents without having to turn to the plan administrator. The new 
section 104(a)(6) authorizes the Department to request these documents 
on behalf of plan participants and beneficiaries. The Department issued 
a final implementing guidance on this matter on January 7, 2002 (67 FR 
772). The ICR relating to document requests is scheduled to expire on 
December 31, 2011.

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 
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 submissions of responses.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the ICRs for OMB approval of the extension of the 
information collection; they will also become a matter of public 
record.

    Dated: May 18, 2011.
Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-12711 Filed 5-23-11; 8:45 am]
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