[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 66 (Friday, April 5, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13719-13720]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-06667]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Notice of Availability, Request for Comments

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice of availability, request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 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 renewal 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 June 4, 2019.

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) 219-
4745 (these are not toll-free numbers).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  This notice requests public comment on the 
Department's request for the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 
approval of the ICRs contained in Prohibited Transaction Exemptions 
(PTEs) 1975-1, 1984-24, and 1986-128. The PTEs provide exemptions from 
the prohibited transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
(Code) for specified types of transactions.\1\ The Department is 
proposing to renew the requirements of the ICRs contained in PTEs 75-1, 
84-24, and 86-128 in place prior to 2016.
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    \1\ They were amended as part of the Department's 2016 final 
rule defining who is a ``fiduciary'' under ERISA and the Code, which 
was published in the Federal Register on April 8, 2016. The final 
rule and PTE amendments were vacated by the Fifth Circuit Court of 
Appeal's decision in Chamber of Commerce v. Department of Labor, 885 
F.3d 360 (5th Cir. 2018).
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    The Department notes that 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: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 1975-1, Exemptions from 
Prohibitions Respecting Certain Classes of Transactions Involving 
Employee Benefit Plans and Certain Broker-Dealers, Reporting Dealers, 
and Banks.
    OMB Number: 1210-0092.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 6,116.
    Responses: 6,116.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,019.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: PTE 1975-1 provides exemptions for transactions 
between employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts 
(IRAs) and broker-dealers, reporting dealers and banks, relating to 
securities purchases and sales, provided specified conditions are met. 
The exempted transactions include an employee benefit plan or IRA's 
purchase of securities from broker-dealers' inventories of stocks, from 
underwriting syndicates in which a fiduciary is a member, from banks, 
from

[[Page 13720]]

reporting dealers, and from a market-maker that is a fiduciary. The 
exempted transactions also include, under certain conditions, a plan's 
or IRA's accepting an extension of credit from a broker-dealer for the 
purpose of facilitating settlement of a securities transaction. Among 
other conditions, PTE 1975-1 requires plans and IRAs involved in the 
transactions to maintain adequate records of the transactions for a 
period of six years. The Department previously submitted an ICR to OMB 
for approval of this information collection and received OMB approval 
under OMB Control No. 1210-0092. The current approval is scheduled to 
expire on June 30, 2019.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24 for Certain 
Transactions Involving Insurance Agents and Brokers, Pension 
Consultants, Insurance Companies, Investment Companies and Investment 
Company Principal Underwriters.
    OMB Number: 1210-0158.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 2,789.
    Responses: 227,068.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 19,194.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $98,115.
    Description: PTE 1984-24, as amended, provides an exemption for 
insurance agents, insurance brokers and pension consultants to receive 
a sales commission from an insurance company in connection with the 
purchase, with plan or IRA assets, of an insurance or annuity contract. 
Relief is also provided for a principal underwriter for an investment 
company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to receive 
a sales commission in connection with the purchase, with plan or IRA 
assets, of securities issued by the investment company.
    The PTE requires the insurance agents, insurance brokers, pension 
consultants and investment company principal underwriters relying on 
the exemption to obtain authorization from an independent plan 
fiduciary, provide certain disclosures, including disclosure of the 
commission payment, necessary for the independent plan fiduciary to 
evaluate whether or not to grant authorization, and maintain records 
necessary to demonstrate that the conditions of the exemption have been 
met. The Department previously submitted an ICR to OMB for approval of 
this information collection and received OMB approval under OMB Control 
No. 1210-0158. The current approval is scheduled to expire on June 30, 
2019.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 1986-128 for Securities 
Transactions Involving Employee Benefit Plans and Broker-Dealers.
    OMB Number: 1210-0059.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 11,894.
    Responses: 819,448.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 57,443.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $661,045.
    Description: PTE 1986-128, as amended, permits persons who serve as 
fiduciaries for employee benefit plans and IRAs to effect or execute 
securities transactions on behalf of the plans and IRAs. The exemption 
also allows a fiduciary to act as an agent in an agency cross 
transaction for an employee benefit plan or IRA and one or more other 
parties to the transaction and receive reasonable compensation from the 
other party.
    The PTE requires the fiduciary relying on the exemption to obtain 
written authorization executed in advance by an independent fiduciary 
of the employee benefit plan whose assets are involved in the 
transaction. Within three months prior to the authorization, the 
fiduciary must 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 fiduciary's brokerage placement practices. The 
fiduciary must also 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 fiduciary must report all 
transactions to the independent fiduciary, either by confirmation slips 
or through quarterly reports. Finally, the fiduciary must provide an 
annual summary of the transactions to the independent fiduciary. The 
annual summary must contain all security transaction-related charges 
incurred by the plan, the brokerage placement practices (if changed), 
and a portfolio turnover ratio. The Department previously submitted an 
ICR to OMB for approval of this information collection and received OMB 
approval under OMB Control No. 1210-0059. The current approval is 
scheduled to expire on June 30, 2019.

II. 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 information 
collections; they will also become a matter of public record.

Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-06667 Filed 4-4-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-29-P