[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 31, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16787-16790]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06599]


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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, 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 June 1, 2021.

ADDRESSES: G. Christopher Cosby, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N- 5718, 
Washington, DC 20210, [email protected], (202) 693-8425 (this is not 
toll-free numbers).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice requests public comment on the

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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: Employee Retirement Income Security Act Section 408(b)(2) 
Regulation.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0133.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 55,703.
    Responses: 1,483,062.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,045,680.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 1,251,649.
    Description: The prohibited transaction described in section 
406(a)(1)(C) of ERISA generally prohibits the furnishing of goods, 
services, or facilities between a plan and a party in interest to the 
plan. Because ERISA defines any person furnishing services to the plan 
as a ``party in interest'' to the plan, a service relationship between 
a plan and a service provider would constitute a prohibited transaction 
under section 406(a)(1)(C) in the absence of relief. Section 408(b)(2) 
of ERISA provides relief, however, for service contracts or 
arrangements if the contract or arrangement is ``reasonable,'' if the 
services are necessary for the establishment or operation of the plan, 
and if no more than ``reasonable'' compensation is paid for the 
services.
    This information collection relates to the final rule under ERISA 
section 408(b)(2), which was published in the Federal Register on 
February 3, 2012 (77 FR 5632). Under the final rule, for a contract or 
arrangement to be ``reasonable,'' certain service providers must 
disclose specified information to a pension plan, in writing, before 
the plan may enter into, extend, or renew the contract or arrangement. 
The Department also issued a class prohibited transaction exemption 
contained in paragraph (c)(1)(ix) of the final rule, which provides 
relief from ERISA's prohibited transaction rules for plan fiduciaries 
that enter into a contract or arrangement with service providers upon a 
mistaken belief that they have received all of the disclosures required 
by the final rule. Upon discovering that a covered service provider 
failed to disclose all of the required information, the responsible 
plan fiduciary must take reasonable steps to obtain such information, 
including requesting in writing that the covered service provider 
furnish the information in order to rely on the exemption and notify 
the Department if the service provider fails to comply with the written 
request within 90 days. The Department has received approval from OMB 
for this ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-0133. The current approval is 
scheduled to expire on August 31, 2021.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Employee Retirement Income Security Act Procedure 1976-1; 
Advisory Opinion Procedure.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0066.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 17.
    Responses: 17.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 175.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 459,091.
    Description: This information collection relates to ERISA Procedure 
76-1, which provides specific guidance to the public on issues arising 
under ERISA, particularly when needed to guide specific transactions 
involving employee benefit plans and plan assets. The information 
required by ERISA Procedure 76-1 is used by EBSA to understand and 
analyze the issues and develop the response, as well as to determine 
whether EBSA's response should be in the form of an advisory opinion or 
information letter. Section 6 of ERISA Procedure 76-1 lists the 
information that must be supplied by the party requesting an advisory 
opinion. This information includes identifying information (name, type 
of plan, EIN Number, etc.), a detailed description of the act(s) or 
transaction(s) with respect to which an advisory opinion is being 
requested, a discussion of the issues presented by the act(s) or 
transaction(s), a statement of the party's views concerning the issues 
to be resolved and the legal basis for such views. The requesting party 
must also include copies of the relevant documents and may also request 
a conference with EBSA in the event that EBSA is considering issuing an 
adverse opinion. The Department has received approval from OMB for this 
ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-0066. The current approval is scheduled 
to expire on November 30, 2021.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 Technical 
Release 1991-1.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0084.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 4.
    Responses: 26,966.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 422.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 6,917.
    Description: Section 101(e) of ERISA establishes notice 
requirements that must be satisfied before an employer may transfer 
excess assets from a defined benefit pension plan to a retiree health 
benefit account, as permitted under the conditions set forth in section 
420 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). On May 
8, 1991, the Department published ERISA Technical Release 91-1, to 
provide guidance on how to satisfy the notice requirements prescribed 
by this section. This information collection involves third-party 
disclosures and reporting to the federal government. First, information 
must be disclosed to plan participants and beneficiaries by plan 
administrators. This requirement is designed to protect the rights of 
participants and beneficiaries in their retirement benefits by 
providing them with advance notice of any anticipated transfer of 
defined benefit plan assets (under section 420 of the Code). Second, 
advance notification must also be provided by employers to plan 
administrators, employee organizations that represent participants, and 
the Department. Plan administrators and employee organizations have an 
interest in protecting the interests of plan participants and 
beneficiaries with their retirement benefits. The Department also has 
the duty to enforce the protections provided to participants and 
beneficiaries under ERISA. The Department has received approval from 
OMB for this ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-0084. The current approval 
is scheduled to expire on November 30, 2021.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Annual Information Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0110.

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    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 814,000.
    Responses: 814,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 582,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
278,555,000.
    Description: This information collection relates to section 104 of 
ERISA, which requires administrators of employee benefit pension and 
welfare plans (collectively referred to as employee benefit plans) to 
file returns or reports annually with the federal government. The Form 
5500 return/reports are the principal source of information and data 
available to the Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and the 
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the Agencies) concerning the 
operation of employee benefit plans. For this reason, the Form 5500 
constitutes an integral part of the Agencies' enforcement, research, 
and policy formulation programs. The Department has received approval 
from OMB for this ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-0110. The current 
approval is scheduled to expire on November 30, 2021.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Disclosures by Insurers to General Account Policyholders.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0114.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 368.
    Responses: 27,009.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 114,789.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 10,128.
    Description: Section 1460 of the Small Business Job Protection Act 
of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-188) (SBJPA) amended ERISA by adding section 
401(c). This section requires the Department to promulgate a regulation 
providing guidance, applicable only to insurance policies issued on or 
before December 31, 1998, to or for the benefit of employee benefit 
plans, to clarify the extent to which assets held in an insurer's 
general account under such contracts are ``plan assets'' within the 
meaning of ERISA, because the policies are not ``guaranteed benefit 
policies'' within the meaning of section 401(b) of ERISA. SBJPA further 
directed the Department to set standards for how insurers should manage 
the specified insurance policies (called Transition Policies). Pursuant 
to the authority and direction given under SBJPA, the Department 
promulgated a final rule on January 5, 2000 (65 FR 714) that is 
codified at 29 CFR 2550.401c-1.
    Regulation section 29 CFR 2550.401(c)-1 imposes specific 
requirements on insurers that are parties to Transition Policies in 
order to ensure that the fiduciaries acting on behalf of plans have 
adequate information and understanding of how the Transition Policies 
work. This information collection requires that an insurer that issues 
and maintains a Transition Policy to or for the benefit of an employee 
benefit plan must disclose to the plan fiduciary, initially upon 
issuance of the policy and on an annual basis, to the extent that the 
policy is not a guaranteed benefit policy: (1) The methods by which 
income and expenses of the insurer's general account are allocated to 
the policy, the actual annual return to the plan, and other pertinent 
information; (2) the extent to which alternative arrangements supported 
by the assets of the insurer's separate accounts are available; (3) any 
rights under the policy to transfer funds to a separate account and the 
terms governing such right; and (4) the extent to which support by 
assets of the insurer's separate accounts might pose differing risks to 
the plan. The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR 
under OMB Control No. 1210-0114. The current approval is scheduled to 
expire on November 30, 2021.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Registration for EFAST-2 Credentials.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0117.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 279,894.
    Responses: 279,894.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 93,298.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 0.
    Description: ERISA section 104 requires administrators of pension 
and welfare plans and employers sponsoring certain fringe benefit plans 
and other plans of deferred compensation to file returns/reports 
annually with the Secretary of Labor concerning the financial condition 
and operation of plans. Reporting requirements are satisfied by filing 
the Form 5500 in accordance with its instructions and the related 
regulations.
    This information collection relates to the ERISA Filing Acceptance 
System 2 (EFAST-2), which is designed to simplify and expedite the 
receipt and processing of the Form 5500 by relying on internet-based 
forms and electronic filing technologies. In order to file 
electronically, employee benefit plan Filing authors, Schedule authors, 
Filing signers, Form 5500 transmitters, and entities developing 
software to complete and/or transmit the Form 5500 are required to 
register for EFAST-2 credentials through the EFAST2 website. The 
information requested for registration includes: Applicant type (Filing 
Author, Filing Signer, Schedule Author, Transmitter, or software 
developer); mailing address; fax number (optional); email address; 
company name, contact person; and daytime telephone number. Registrants 
must also provide an answer to a challenge question (``What is your 
date of birth?'' or ``Where is your place of birth?''), which enables 
users to retrieve forgotten credentials. In addition, registrants must 
accept a Privacy Agreement; PIN Agreement; and, under penalty of 
perjury, a Signature Agreement. The Department has received approval 
from OMB for this ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-0117. The current 
approval is scheduled to expire on November 30, 2021.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Employee Retirement Income Security Act Blackout Period 
Notice.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0122.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 48,575.
    Responses: 9,439,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 218,553.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 2,403,893.
    Description: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA), enacted on July 30, 
2002, amended ERISA to include a blackout period disclosure requirement 
in subsection 101(i). This information collection requires 
administrators of individual account pension plans (e.g., a profit 
sharing plan, 401(k) type plan or money purchase pension plan) to 
provide at least 30 days advance written notice to the affected 
participants and beneficiaries in advance of any ``blackout period'' 
during which their existing rights to direct or diversify their 
investments under the plan, or obtain a loan or distribution from the 
plan will be temporarily suspended. The Department has received 
approval from OMB for this ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-0122. The 
current approval is

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scheduled to expire on November 30, 2021.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Coverage of Certain Preventive Services under the Affordable 
Care Act--Private Sector.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0150.
    Affected Public: Private Sector.
    Respondents: 223.
    Responses: 777,363.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 181.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 197,955.
    Description: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public 
Law 111-148, (the Affordable Care Act) was enacted on March 23, 2010 
and amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 
2010, Public Law 111-152 on March 30, 2010. The Affordable Care Act 
added section 2713 to the Public Health Service (PHS) Act and 
incorporated this provision into ERISA and the Code. The Departments of 
Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury first published interim 
final rules on July 19, 2010, requiring non-grandfathered group health 
insurance coverage to provide benefits for certain preventive services 
without cost sharing, including benefits for certain women's preventive 
health services as provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported 
by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Additional interim 
final rules were issued on November 15, 2018, that finalize expanded 
exemptions to protect moral and religious beliefs for certain entities 
and individuals whose health plans are subject to a mandate of 
contraceptive coverage through guidance issued pursuant to the 
Affordable Care Act (83 FR 57536 and 83 FR 57592).
    The regulations contain the following collections of information:
    (1) Each organization seeking to be treated as an eligible 
organization to use the optional accommodation process offered under 
the regulation must either notify an issuer or third party 
administrator using the EBSA Form 700 method of self-certification or 
provide notice to HHS of its religious or moral objection to coverage 
of all or a subset of contraceptive services.
    (2) A health insurance issuer or third party administrator 
providing or arranging separate payments for contraceptive services for 
participants and beneficiaries in insured plans (or student enrollees 
and covered dependents in student health insurance coverage) of 
eligible organizations is required to provide a written notice to plan 
participants and beneficiaries (or student enrollees and covered 
dependents) informing them of the availability of such payments. The 
notice must be separate from but, contemporaneous with (to the extent 
possible) any application materials distributed in connection with 
enrollment (or re-enrollment) in group or student coverage of the 
eligible organization in any plan year to which the accommodation is to 
apply and will be provided annually. To satisfy the notice requirement, 
issuers may, but are not required to, use the model language set forth 
previously or substantially similar language.
    (3) An eligible organization may also revoke its use of the 
accommodation process and must provide participants and beneficiaries 
written notice of such revocation as soon as possible.
    The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under 
OMB Control No. 1210-0150. The current approval is scheduled to expire 
on November 30, 2021.

    Dated: March 25, 2021.
Ali Khawar,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security 
Administration, Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2021-06599 Filed 3-30-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P