[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 209 (Friday, October 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75157-75159]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26046]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Proposed Extension of Information Collection Requests Submitted 
for Public Comment

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 described below. 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 December 27, 2016.

ADDRESSES: G. Christopher Cosby, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Room N-5718, 
Washington, DC 20210, [email protected], (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 and prohibited 
transaction exemptions 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.

[[Page 75158]]

    Title: Notice to Employees of Coverage Options Under Fair Labor 
Standards Act Section 18B.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0149.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Farms, Not-for-
profit institutions.
    Respondents: 6,160,461.
    Responses: 72,484,292.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 374,502.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$12,229,992.
    Description: Section 1512 of the Affordable Care Act creates a new 
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) section 18B requiring a notice to 
employees of coverage options available through the Health Insurance 
Marketplace. On May 8, 2013, the Department issued Technical Release 
2013-2, which provided temporary guidance regarding the notice 
requirement under FLSA section 18B and announced the availability of 
the Model Notice to Employees of Coverage Options. This ICR refers to 
the Model Notice, which was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 
1210-0149 and is currently scheduled to expire on January 31, 2017.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 92-6: Sale of 
Individual Life Insurance or Annuity Contracts By a Plan.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    OMB Number: 1210-0063.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 10,600.
    Responses: 10,600.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 2,100.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $5,500.
    Description: PTE 92-6 exempts from the prohibited transaction 
restrictions of ERISA the sale of individual life insurance or annuity 
contracts by a plan to participants, relatives of participants, 
employers any of whose employees are covered by the plan, other 
employee benefit plans, owner-employees or shareholder-employees. In 
the absence of this exemption, certain aspects of these transactions 
might be prohibited by section 406 of ERISA.
    Among other conditions, PTE 1992-6 requires that pension plans 
inform the insured participant of a proposed sale of a life insurance 
or annuity policy to the employer, a relative, another plan, an owner-
employee, or a shareholder employee. This recordkeeping requirement 
constitutes an information collection within the meaning of the PRA, 
which was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0063 and is 
currently scheduled to expire on February 28, 2017.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Loans to Plan Participants and Beneficiaries Who Are Parties 
in Interest With Respect to The Plan Regulation.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0076.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 2,500.
    Responses: 2,500.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 0.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $946,000.
    Description: 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. 
The ICR contained within this rule was approved by OMB under OMB 
Control Number 1210-0076, which is scheduled to expire on February 28, 
2017.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: PTE 85-68 to Permit Employee Benefit Plans to Invest in 
Customer Notes of Employers.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0094.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions, Businesses or other 
for-profits.
    Respondents: 69.
    Responses: 325.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: Pursuant to section 408 of ERISA, the Department has 
authority to grant an exemption from the prohibitions of sections 406 
and 407(a) if it can determine that the exemption is administratively 
feasible, in the interest of participants and beneficiaries, and 
protective of the rights of participants and beneficiaries of the plan. 
PTE 85-68 describes the conditions under which a plan is permitted to 
acquire customer notes accepted by an employer of employees covered by 
the plan in the ordinary course of the employer's primary business 
activity. The exemption covers sales as well as contributions of 
customer notes by an employer to its plan. Specifically, the exemption 
requires the employer to provide a written guarantee to repurchase a 
note which becomes more than 60 days delinquent, such notes to be 
secured by a perfected security interest in the property financed by 
the note, and the collateral to be insured. The exemption requires 
records pertaining to the transaction to be maintained for a period of 
six years for the purpose of ensuring that the transactions are 
protective of the rights of participants and beneficiaries. This 
recordkeeping requirement constitutes an information collection within 
the meaning of the PRA, which was approved by OMB under OMB Control 
Number 1210-0094 and is currently scheduled to expire on February 28, 
2017.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Default Investment Alternatives under Participant Directed 
Individual Account Plans.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0132.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions, Businesses or other 
for-profits.
    Respondents: 239,000.
    Responses: 31,100,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 201,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$10,800,000.
    Description: Section 404(c) of 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.

[[Page 75159]]

    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 February 28, 2017.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: PTE 96-62, Process for Expedited Approval of an Exemption 
for Prohibited Transaction.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    OMB Number: 1210-0098.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 25.
    Responses: 11,250.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 200.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $40,000.
    Description: Section 408(a) of ERISA provides that the Secretary of 
Labor may grant exemptions from the prohibited transaction provisions 
of sections 406 and 407(a) of ERISA, and directs the Secretary to 
establish an exemption procedure with respect to such provisions. On 
July 31, 1996, the Department published PTE 96-62, which, pursuant to 
the exemption procedure set forth in 29 CFR 2570, subpart B, permits a 
plan to seek approval on an accelerated basis of otherwise prohibited 
transactions. A PTE will only be granted on the conditions that the 
plan demonstrate to the Department that the transaction is 
substantially similar to those described in at least two prior 
individual exemptions granted by the Department and that it presents 
little, if any, opportunity for abuse or risk of loss to a plan's 
participants and beneficiaries. This ICR is intended to provide the 
Department with sufficient information to support a finding that the 
exemption meets the statutory standards of section 408(a) of ERISA, and 
to provide affected parties with the opportunity to comment on the 
proposed transaction, while at the same time reducing the regulatory 
burden associated with processing individual exemptions for 
transactions prohibited under ERISA. The ICR was approved by OMB under 
OMB Control Number 1210-0098 and is scheduled to expire on July 31, 
2017.

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.

Phyllis C. Borzi,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. 
Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2016-26046 Filed 10-27-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-29-P