[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 222 (Monday, November 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55124-55125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25023]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment 
Request; Disclosure of Information in Distress and PBGC-Initiated 
Terminations

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of request for OMB approval.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: PBGC is requesting that OMB approve, under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, a collection of information under its regulations on the 
disclosure of termination information for distress terminations, and 
for PBGC-initiated terminations. This notice informs the public of 
PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection of 
information that must be provided by plan administrators and plan 
sponsors to affected parties upon request.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by December 20, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk 
Officer for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, via electronic mail 
at [email protected] or by fax to (202) 395-6974.
    A copy of the request will be posted at http://www.pbgc.gov/res/laws-andregulations/information-collections-under-omb-review.html. It 
may also be obtained without charge by writing to the Disclosure 
Division of the Office of the General Counsel of PBGC, 1200 K Street 
NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, faxing a request to 202-326-4042, or 
calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. TTY and 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 Disclosure Division will email, 
fax, or mail the request to you, as you request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jo Amato Burns 
([email protected]), Regulatory Affairs Division, Office of the 
General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street 
NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, 202 326-4400, extension 3072, or Daniel 
S. Liebman ([email protected]), Acting Assistant General Counsel, 
same address and phone number, extension 6510. TTY and TDD users may 
call the Federal relay service toll-free at 800-877-8339 and ask to be 
connected to 202-326-4400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Sections 4041 and 4042 of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 
1301-1461, govern the termination of single-employer defined benefit 
pension plans that are subject to Title IV of ERISA. A plan 
administrator may initiate a distress termination under section 
4041(c), and PBGC may itself initiate proceedings to terminate a 
pension plan under section 4042 if PBGC determines that certain 
conditions are present. Sections 4041 and 4042 of ERISA were amended by 
Section 506 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-280) to 
require that, upon a request by an affected party--
     A plan administrator must disclose information it has 
submitted to PBGC in

[[Page 55125]]

connection with a distress termination filing, and
     A plan administrator or plan sponsor must disclose 
information it has submitted to PBGC in connection with a PBGC-
initiated termination.
    PBGC is also required to disclose the administrative record 
relating to a PBGC-initiated termination upon request by an affected 
party. The above provisions are applicable to terminations initiated on 
or after August 17, 2006. The applicable regulatory provisions can be 
found at 29 CFR 4041.51 and 4042.5.
    This collection of information was most recently approved by OMB 
under control number 1212-0065. PBGC is requesting that OMB approve the 
collection of information for three years, without change. 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.
    On September 7, 2017 (82 FR 42366), PBGC published a notice 
informing the public that it intended to request OMB approval and 
soliciting public comment. No comments were received.
    Based on information for calendar years 2014-2016, PBGC estimates 
that approximately 75 plans will terminate as distress or PBGC-
initiated terminations each year. A survey conducted by PBGC of nine 
plans found that two of the nine plans surveyed received requests for 
termination information. Based on the foregoing, PBGC estimates that 
two participants or other affected parties of every nine distress 
terminations or PBGC-initiated terminations filed will annually make 
requests for termination information, or \2/9\ of 75 (approximately 17 
per year).
    Based on information derived from the survey of nine plans, PBGC 
estimates that the hour burden for plan administrators and sponsors 
will be about 20 hours, with the aggregate, annual burden estimated to 
be 340 hours (17 plans*20 hours). The dollar equivalent of the hour 
burden is estimated to be $25,500 (340 hours*$75 per hour) based on an 
assumed blended hourly rate of $75 for administrative, clerical, and 
supervisory time per hour for the staff of plan administrators and 
sponsors.
    PBGC expects that all the work will be performed in-house by the 
staff of plan administrators and sponsors PBGC expects costs to be 
recovered from affected parties because plan administrators and plan 
sponsors may charge a reasonable fee for non-electronic disclosure. 
Therefore, the annual cost to the plan administrators and sponsors is 
estimated to be $0.

    Issued in Washington, DC.
Daniel S. Liebman,
Acting Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, Pension 
Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2017-25023 Filed 11-17-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7709-02-P