[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 29 (Monday, February 13, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7619-7620]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-3306]


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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Submission of Information Collections for OMB Review; Comment 
Request; Reportable Events; Notice of Failure To Make Required 
Contributions

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of request for OMB approval.

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SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is requesting 
that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extend approval, under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act, of two collections of information under 
PBGC's regulation on Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification 
Requirements (OMB control numbers 1212-0013 and 1212-0041, expiring 
March 31, 2012). This notice informs the public of PBGC's request and 
solicits public comment on the collections of information.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by March 14, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the Web site instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-326-4224.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: Legislative and Regulatory 
Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20005-4026. Comments received, including personal 
information provided, will be posted to www.pbgc.gov.
    Copies of the collections of information and comments may be 
obtained without charge by writing to Disclosure Division, Office of 
the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K 
Street NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026; visiting the Disclosure 
Division; faxing a request to 202-326-4042; or calling 202-326-4040 
during normal business hours. (TTY/TDD users may call the Federal relay 
service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-
4040.) The reportable events regulation, forms, and instructions are 
available at www.pbgc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Bloch, Program Analyst, 
Legislative and Policy Division, or Catherine B. Klion, Manager, 
Regulatory and Policy Division, Legislative and Regulatory Department, 
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, 
DC 20005-4026; 202-326-4024. (TTY/TDD users may call the Federal relay 
service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-
4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 23, 2009, PBGC published (at 74 
FR 61248) a proposed rule to amend the reportable events regulation to 
accommodate changes to the variable-rate premium rules made pursuant to 
the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA 2006). The rule also proposed 
to eliminate most automatic waivers and filing extensions, create two 
new reportable events based on provisions in PPA 2006, and make other 
changes to the reportable events regulation as well as conforming 
changes. Public comment on the proposed rule was directed primarily at 
the proposed elimination of the waivers and extensions and was 
generally negative. In response to the comments and in the spirit of 
Executive Order 13563 on Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, 
PBGC plans to issue a new proposal that will more effectively target 
troubled plans and sponsors while reducing burden for those that are 
financially sound. PBGC is requesting OMB to extend approval of the 
existing information collections since current approval will expire in 
March 2012.
    Section 4043 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
(ERISA) requires plan administrators and plan sponsors to report 
certain plan and employer events to PBGC. The reporting requirements 
give PBGC notice of events that indicate plan or employer financial 
problems. PBGC uses the information provided in determining what, if 
any, action it needs to take. For example, PBGC might need to institute 
proceedings to terminate a plan (placing it in trusteeship) under 
section 4042 of ERISA to ensure the continued payment of benefits to 
plan participants and their beneficiaries or to prevent unreasonable 
increases in PBGC's losses.
    Section 303(k) of ERISA and section 430(k) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 (Code) impose a lien in favor of an underfunded single-
employer plan that is covered by the termination insurance

[[Page 7620]]

program under title IV of ERISA if (1) any person fails to make a 
contribution payment when due, and (2) the unpaid balance of that 
payment (including interest), when added to the aggregate unpaid 
balance of all preceding payments for which payment was not made when 
due (including interest), exceeds $1 million. (For this purpose, a plan 
is underfunded if its funding target attainment percentage is less than 
100 percent.) The lien is upon all property and rights to property 
belonging to the person or persons that are liable for required 
contributions (i.e., a contributing sponsor and each member of the 
controlled group of which that contributing sponsor is a member).
    Only PBGC (or, at its direction, the plan's contributing sponsor or 
a member of the same controlled group) may perfect and enforce this 
lien. ERISA and the Code require persons committing payment failures to 
notify PBGC within 10 days of the due date whenever there is a failure 
to make a required payment and the total of the unpaid balances 
(including interest) exceeds $1 million.
    The provisions of section 4043 of ERISA and of sections 303(k) of 
ERISA and 430(k) of the Code have been implemented in PBGC's regulation 
on Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification Requirements (29 
CFR part 4043). Subparts B and C of the regulation deal with reportable 
events, and subpart D deals with failures to make required 
contributions.
    PBGC has issued Forms 10 and 10-Advance and related instructions 
under subparts B and C (approved under OMB control number 1212-0013) 
and Form 200 and related instructions under subpart D (approved under 
OMB control number 1212-0041). OMB approval of both of these 
collections of information expires March 31, 2012. PBGC is requesting 
that OMB extend its approval for three years, with minor changes. An 
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid OMB control number.
    PBGC estimates that it will receive 1,030 reportable event notices 
per year under subparts B and C of the reportable events regulation 
using Forms 10 and 10-Advance and that the average annual burden of 
this collection of information is 5,400 hours and $822,000. PBGC 
estimates that it will receive 110 notices of failure to make required 
contributions per year under subpart D of the reportable events 
regulation using Form 200 and that the average annual burden of this 
collection of information is 670 hours and $102,000.
    PBGC is soliciting public comments to--
     Evaluate whether the proposed 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 proposed collections of information, including the 
validity of the methodologies and assumptions used;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collections 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.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 7th day of February, 2012.
John H. Hanley,
Director, Legislative and Regulatory Department, Pension Benefit 
Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2012-3306 Filed 2-10-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-01-P