[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 243 (Tuesday, December 17, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 66247-66248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-31972]
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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION
29 CFR Part 4007
RIN 1212-AA66
Disclosure of Premium-Related Information
AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation proposes to amend its
premium payment regulation to provide for the submission to the PBGC of
information contained in records relating to premium filings.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 18, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to the Office of the General Counsel,
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington,
DC 20005-4026, or delivered to Suite 340 at the above address. Comments
also may be sent by Internet e-mail to reg.comments@pbgc.gov. Comments
will be available for inspection at the PBGC's Communications and
Public Affairs Department in Suite 240 at the above address during
normal business hours.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harold J. Ashner, Assistant General
Counsel, or Deborah C. Murphy, Attorney, Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation, Office of the General Counsel, Suite 340, 1200 K Street,
NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, 202-326-4024 (202-326-4179 for TTY and
TDD).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The PBGC's premium payment regulation (29
CFR Part 4007) requires plan administrators to make available to the
PBGC for audit those plan records that are necessary to support premium
filings, but does not explicitly require that the records be submitted
to the PBGC on request. The PBGC proposes to amend the regulation to
provide for such submission within a specified time period.
This change will allow PBGC auditors to review plan documents at
their desks in their own offices. In some cases, this will eliminate
the need for ``on-site'' audits at plans' offices. These ``desk''
audits will be an efficient way to assure premium payment requirements
are met. Desk audits will help to ensure the integrity of the premium
collection program and be less disruptive of pension plan operations
than on-site audits.
The rule requires respondents to provide the information within 30
days of receipt of the PBGC's request, or by a different time specified
therein. The PBGC will require compliance within less than 30 days only
if it determines that the payment of premiums (or any associated
interest or penalties) would otherwise be jeopardized, e.g., because a
statutory limitations period is about to expire.
The PBGC welcomes public comment on the impact and burden on plans
of desk audits versus on-site audits, and on the time allowed for
responding to the PBGC's requests for information.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This proposed rule modifies the PBGC's collection of information
requirements relating to premiums (29 CFR Part 4007). The premium
requirements, which have been approved by the Office of Management and
Budget under control number 1212-0009, relate primarily to the
obligation to file annual premium forms with the PBGC. The same
approval also covers certifications of compliance (and related
correspondence) with participant notice requirements (29 CFR Part
4011). 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.
The PBGC has submitted the premium and participant notice
collection of information, as amended by this proposed rule, to the
Office of Management and Budget for review under section 3507(d) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and has requested extension of OMB's
existing approval for a 3-year period. The PBGC needs the information
plan administrators submit under the premium and participant notice
collection of information in order to enforce compliance with the
premium payment and participant notice requirements.
The PBGC expects to receive approximately 60,500 PBGC Form 1 or
Form 1-ES filings each year. In addition, the PBGC expects to receive,
during the requested 3-year approval period, an average of 400
responses per year to surveys relating to the participant notice
requirements of Part 4011. The estimated annual reporting and
recordkeeping burden is 3,804 hours and $10,553,550.
Comments on the paperwork provisions of the premium and participant
notice collection of information should be mailed to the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget,
Attention: Desk Officer for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation,
Washington, DC 20503. Comments may address (among other things)--
whether the collection of information is needed for the
proper performance of the PBGC's functions and will have practical
utility;
the accuracy of the PBGC's estimate of the burden of the
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology
and assumptions used;
enhancement of the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
minimizing the burden of the collection of information on
respondents through the use of automated collection techniques (or
other forms of information technology) or in other ways.
E.O. 12866 and the Regulatory Flexibility Act
The PBGC has determined that this proposed rule is not a
``significant
[[Page 66248]]
regulatory action'' under the criteria set forth in Executive Order
12866.
Because this proposed rule would merely amend the procedures for
ensuring compliance with premium requirements, the PBGC certifies that,
if adopted, the amendment will not have a significant economic effect
on a substantial number of small entities. Accordingly, as provided in
section 605(b) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, sections 603 and 604
do not apply.
List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 4007
Penalties, Pension insurance, Pensions, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons set forth above, the PBGC proposes to amend 29 CFR
Part 4007 as follows:
PART 4007--PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS
1. The authority citation for part 4007 is revised to read as
follows:
Authority: 29 U.S.C. 1302(b)(3), 1303(a), 1306, 1307.
2. In Sec. 4007.10, the section heading is revised; paragraph (a)
is amended by removing the last sentence; and new paragraphs (c) and
(d) are added, to read as follows:
Sec. 4007.10 Recordkeeping; audits; disclosure of information.
* * * * *
(c) Providing record information. The plan administrator shall make
the records retained pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section
available to the PBGC upon request for inspection and photocopying at
the location where they are kept (or another, mutually agreeable,
location) and shall submit information in such records to the PBGC
within 30 days of the date of the PBGC's written request therefor, or
by a different time specified therein. The PBGC may in its discretion
shorten the time period where it determines that collection of unpaid
premiums (or any associated interest or penalties) would otherwise be
jeopardized.
(d) Address and timeliness. Information required to be submitted
under paragraph (c) of this section shall be submitted to the address
specified in the PBGC's request. The timeliness of a submission shall
be determined in accordance with Secs. 4007.5 and 4007.6.
Issued in Washington, D.C. this 11th day of December 1996.
Martin Slate,
Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 96-31972 Filed 12-16-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7708-01-P
