[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 196 (Thursday, October 12, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47581-47582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-22043]


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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), 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 11, 2017.

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.
    Title: Consent to Receive Employee Benefit Plan Disclosures 
Electronically.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    OMB Number: 1210-0121.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 35,000.
    Responses: 4,305,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 15,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $215,000.
    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 ICR was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 
1210-0121, which is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2018.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Furnishing Documents to the Secretary of Labor on Request 
Under ERISA 104(a)(6).

[[Page 47582]]

    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0112.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 558.
    Responses: 558.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 41.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $2,732.
    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 was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0112, 
which is scheduled to expire on April 30, 2018.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Annual Funding Notice for Defined Benefit Pension Plans.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0126.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 39,061.
    Responses: 77,100,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 576,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$29,600,000.
    Description: Section 101(f) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) sets forth requirements applicable to 
furnishing annual funding notices. Before the enactment of the Pension 
Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), section 101(f) applied only to 
multiemployer defined benefit plans. The Department has issued multiple 
final regulations with regard to this provision, most recently on 
February 2, 2015 (80 FR 5625).
    Section 501(a) of the PPA amended section 101(f) of ERISA and made 
significant changes to the annual funding notice requirements. These 
amendments require administrators of all defined benefit plans that are 
subject to title IV of ERISA, not only multiemployer plans, to provide 
an annual funding notice to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 
(PBGC), to each plan participant and beneficiary, to each labor 
organization representing such participants or beneficiaries, and, in 
the case of a multiemployer plan, to each employer that has an 
obligation to contribute to the plan. An annual funding notice must 
include, among other things, the plan's funding percentage, a statement 
of the value of the plan's assets and liabilities and a description of 
how the plan's assets are invested as of specific dates, and a 
description of the benefits under the plan that are eligible to be 
guaranteed by the PBGC.
    The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0126, 
which is scheduled to expire on April 30, 2018.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: ERISA Section 408(b)(2) Regulation.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0133.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 51,000.
    Responses: 1,472,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,040,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$1,336,000.
    Description: On February 3, 2012, the Department published a final 
regulation under ERISA section 408(b)(2) (the ``408(b)(2) 
regulation''), requiring that certain service providers to pension 
plans disclose information about the service providers' compensation 
and potential conflicts of interest. The disclosed information is 
intended to assist plan fiduciaries in assessing the reasonableness of 
contracts or arrangements, including the reasonableness of the service 
providers' compensation and potential conflicts of interest that may 
affect the service providers' performance. These disclosure 
requirements were established to provide guidance for compliance with a 
statutory exemption from ERISA's prohibited transaction provisions. If 
the disclosure requirements of the 408(b)(2) regulation are not 
satisfied, a prohibited provision of services under ERISA section 
406(a)(1)(C) will occur, with consequences for both the responsible 
plan fiduciary and the covered service provider. The ICR was approved 
by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0133, which is scheduled to expire 
on May 31, 2018.

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.

Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2017-22043 Filed 10-11-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-29-P