02-23689. Proposed Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Notice of Failure to Make Required Contributions

AGENCY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION:

Notice of intention to request extension of OMB approval.

SUMMARY:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) intends to request that the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of the collection of information under Part 4043 of its regulations relating to Notice of Failure to Make Required Contributions (OMB control number 1212-0041; expires January 31, 2003). This notice informs the public of the PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

DATES:

Comments should be submitted by November 18, 2002.

ADDRESSES:

Comments may be mailed to the Office of the General Counsel, suite 340, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, or delivered to that address between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days. Copies of the collection of information may be obtained without charge by visiting or writing to the PBGC's Communications and Public Affairs Department at Suite 240 at the above address or by calling that office at 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. (For TTY and TDD, call 800-877-8339 and request connection to 202-326-4040). The regulations, forms, and instructions relating to the notice of failure to make required contributions may be accessed on the PBGC's Web site at http://www.pbgc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James L. Beller, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, 202-326-4024. (For TTY and TDD users, call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4040.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section 302(f) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and section 412(n) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (“Code”) impose a lien in favor of an underfunded single-employer plan that is covered by the termination insurance program if (1) any person fails to make a required payment when due, and (2) the unpaid balance of that payment (including interest), when added to the aggregate unpaid balance of all preceding payments for which payment was not made when due (including interest), exceeds $1 million. (For this purpose, a plan is underfunded if its funded current liability percentage is less than 100 percent.) The lien is upon all property and rights to property belonging to the person or persons who are liable for required contributions (i.e., a contributing sponsor and each member of the controlled group of which that contributing sponsor is a member).

Only the PBGC (or, at its direction, the plan's contributing sponsor or a member of the same controlled group) may perfect and enforce this lien. Therefore, ERISA and the Code require persons committing payment failures to notify the PBGC within 10 days of the due date whenever there is a failure to make a required payment and the total of the unpaid balances (including interest) exceeds $1 million.

PBGC Form 200, Notice of Failure to Make Required Contributions, and related filing instructions, implement the statutory notification requirement. Submission of Form 200 is required by 29 CFR 4043.81.

The collection of information under the regulation has been approved through January 31, 2003, by OMB under control number 1212-0041. The PBGC intends to request that OMB extend approval for another three years. 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 estimates that it will receive 30 Form 200 filings per year under this collection of information. The PBGC further estimates that the average annual burden of this collection of information is 64.5 hours and $12,900.

The PBGC is soliciting public comments to—

• Evaluate whether the 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 collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
• Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• 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.

Issued in Washington, DC, this 12th day of September, 2002.

Stuart Sirkin,

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