2010-26868. Employee Benefits Security Administration; Submission for OMB Review

ACTION:

Notice; comment request.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Labor (DOL) hereby announces the submission of the following public information collection requests (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). A copy of each ICR, with applicable supporting documentation; including, among other things, a description of the likely respondents, proposed frequency of response, and estimated total burden may be obtained from the RegInfo.gov Web site at http://www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain or by contacting Linda Watts Thomas on 202-693-4223 (this is not a toll-free number) and e-mail mail to: [e-mail].

Interested parties are encouraged to send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the Department of Labor—Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Office of Management and Budget, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, Telephone: [phone]/Fax [phone] (these are not toll-free numbers), E-mail: [e-mail] within 30 days from the date of this publication in the Federal Register. In order to ensure the appropriate consideration, comments should reference the applicable OMB Control Number (see below).

The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:

(1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

(4) 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., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved collection.

Title of Collection: Default Investment Alternatives under Individual Account Plans.

OMB Control Number: 1210-0132.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions.

Cost to Federal Government: $0.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 648,000.

Total Number of Responses: 83,358,375.

Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 782,000.

Total Estimated Annual Cost Burden (operating/maintaining): $32,116,000.

Description: Section 404(c) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (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.

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 October 31, 2010.

For additional information, see related notice published in the Federal Register on August 23, 2010 (75 FR 51843).

Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved collection.

Title of Collection: Regulation Relating to Loans to Plan Participants and Beneficiaries who are Parties in Interest with Respect to the Plan.

OMB Control Number: 1210-0076.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.

Cost to Federal Government: $0.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,900.

Total Number of Responses: 1,900.

Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 0.

Total Estimated Annual Cost Burden (operating/maintaining): $673,000.

Description: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (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. This ICR therefore relates to the provisions plan documents must include in order for a plan may make loans to participants. The ICR is scheduled to expire on October 31, 2010.

For additional information, see related notice published in the Federal Register on August 23, 2010 (75 FR 51844).

Dated: October 18, 2010.

Linda Watts Thomas,

Acting Departmental Clearance Officer.