01-4898. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review-Termination of Single Employer Plans; Missing Participants; PBGC Forms 500-501, 600-602

AGENCY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION:

Notice of request for extension of OMB approval.

SUMMARY:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of a collection of information in its regulations on Termination of Single Employer Plans and Missing Participants, and implementing forms and instructions (OMB control number 1212-0036, expires March 31, 2001.) This notice informs the public of the PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

DATES:

Comments should be submitted by March 30, 2001.

ADDRESSES:

Comments should be mailed to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Washington, DC 20503. Copies of the request for extension (including the collection of information) are available from the Communications and Public Affairs Department of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, suite 240, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC, 20005-4026, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Catherine B. Klion, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, PBGC, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026; 202-326-4024. (For TTY/TDD users, call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Under section 4041 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, a single-employer pension plan may terminate voluntarily only if it satisfies the requirements for either a standard or a distress termination. Pursuant to ERISA section 4041(b), for standard terminations, and section 4041(c), for distress terminations, and the PBGC's termination regulation (29 CFR part 4041), a plan administrator wishing to terminate a plan is required to submit specified information to the PBGC in support of the proposed termination and to provide specified information regarding the proposed termination to third parties (participants, beneficiaries, alternate payees, and employee organizations). In the case of a plan with participants or beneficiaries who cannot be located when their benefits are to be distributed, the plan administrator is subject to the requirements of ERISA section 4050 and the PBGC's missing participants regulation (29 CFR part 4050). (These regulations may be accessed on the PBGC's web site at http://www.pbgc.gov.)

The collection of information under these regulations and implementing forms and instructions has been approved by OMB under control number 1212-0036 (expires March 31, 2001). The PBGC is requesting that OMB extend its approval for three years.

The PBGC estimates that 1,564 plan administrators will be subject to the collection of information requirements in the PBGC's termination and missing participants regulations and implementing forms and instructions each year, and that the total annual burden of complying with these requirements is 2,246 hours and $1,864,600. (Much of the work associated with terminating a plan is performed for purposes other than meeting these requirements.)

Issued in Washington, DC, this 23rd day of February, 2001.

Stuart A. Sirkin,

Director, Corporate Policy and Research Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.