[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 120 (Tuesday, June 23, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34194-34195]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16644]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration
Proposed Extension of Information Collection Request Submitted
for Public Comment and Recommendations
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent burden conducts a preclearance
consultation program to provide the general public and other federal
agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing
collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (PRA 95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This program helps to
ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format,
reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized,
collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of
collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed.
Currently, the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration is
soliciting comments concerning the proposed extension of a currently
approved collection of information, Prohibited Transaction Class
Exemption 86-128 for certain transactions involving employee benefit
plans and securities broker-dealers. A copy of the proposed information
collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office
listed below in the addressee section of this notice.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the
addressee section below on or before August 24, 1998. The Department of
Labor is particularly interested in comments which:
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;
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;
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected;
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.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments
regarding the collection of information of any or all of the Agencies.
Send comments to Mr. Gerald B. Lindrew, Office of Policy and Research,
U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration,
200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room N-5647, Washington, DC 20210.
Telephone: (202) 219-4782 (this is not a toll-free number).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
I. Background
Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 86-128 permits persons who
serve as fiduciaries for employee benefit plans to effect or execute
securities transactions on behalf of employee benefit plans. The
exemption also allows sponsors of pooled separate accounts and other
pooled investment funds to use their affiliates to effect or execute
securities transactions for such accounts in order to recapture
brokerage commissions for benefit of employee benefit plans whose
assets are maintained in pooled separate accounts managed by the
insurance companies. In the absence of the exemption, certain aspects
of these transactions might be prohibited by section 406(b) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and from the
taxes imposed by section 4975(a) and (b) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 (the Code) by reason of Code section 4975(c)(1)(E) or (F).
II. Current Actions
The Office of Management and Budget's approval of this ICR will
expire on September 30, 1998. This existing collection of information
should be continued because without the relief provided by this
exemption, broker-fiduciaries who provide research and investment
management services to accounts for which they also effect transactions
for the purchase or sale of
[[Page 34195]]
securities, may be barred by ERISA from providing these combined
services to employee benefit plans. Without this exemption, these sales
could not continue, causing disruption of the existing business
practices of plans and the businesses that service them.
In order to insure that the exemption is not abused, that the
rights of participants and beneficiaries are protected, and that the
exemption's conditions are being complied with, the Department has
included in the exemption two information collection requirements. The
first requirement is to provide the independent fiduciary with either
confirmation slips for each individual transaction or to provide
quarterly reports. In the quarterly report the broker-fiduciary must
provide certain financial information including the total of all
transaction related charges incurred by the plan. The second
requirement calls for the annual reporting of transaction charges
incurred by the plan as the amount of such charges paid to other
persons. Furthermore, the annual report must contain some measure of
portfolio turnover.
Agency: Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits
Administration.
Title: Class Exemption 86-128 for Certain Transactions Involving
Employee Benefit Plans and Securities Broker-Dealers.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
OMB Numbers: 1210-0059.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Total Respondents: 163,562.
Average Time Per Response: 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
Total Responses: 286,232.
Frequency of Response: Quarterly; Annually.
Total Annual Burden: 64,743 hours.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget
approval of the information collection request; they will also become a
matter of public record.
Dated: June 18, 1998.
Gerald B. Lindrew,
Deputy Director, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Office of
Policy and Research.
[FR Doc. 98-16644 Filed 6-22-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-M
