16204 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 65 / Friday, April 4, 1997 / Notices

only by members of the Subcommittee,

its consultants, and staff. Persons

desiring to make oral statements should

notify the cognizant ACRS staff engineer

named below five days prior to the

meeting, if possible, so that appropriate

arrangements can be made.

During the initial portion of the

meeting, the Subcommittee, along with

any of its consultants who may be

present, may exchange preliminary

views regarding matters to be

considered during the balance of the

meeting.

The Subcommittee will then hear

presentations by and hold discussions

with representatives of the NRC staff

regarding this review.

Further information regarding topics

to be discussed, whether the meeting

has been cancelled or rescheduled, the

Chairman’s ruling on requests for the

opportunity to present oral statements,

and the time allotted therefor can be

obtained by contacting the cognizant

ACRS staff engineer, Mr. Noel F. Dudley

(telephone 301/415–6888) between 7:30

a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (EST). Persons

planning to attend this meeting are

urged to contact the above named

individual one or two working days

prior to the meeting to be advised of any

potential changes to the agenda, etc.,

that may have occurred.

Dated: March 31, 1997.

Sam Duraiswamy,

Chief, Nuclear Reactors Branch.

[FR Doc. 97–8645 Filed 4–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

Regulatory Guide; Issuance,

Availability

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission

has issued a revision to a guide in its

Regulatory Guide Series. This series has

been developed to describe and make

available to the public such information

as methods acceptable to the NRC staff

for implementing specific parts of the

Commission’s regulations, techniques

used by the staff in evaluating specific

problems or postulated accidents, and

data needed by the staff in its review of

applications for permits and licenses.

Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 5.15,

‘‘Tamper-Indicating Seals for the

Protection and Control of Special

Nuclear Material,’’ describes features of

systems and types of security seals that

are acceptable to the NRC staff for

tamper-safing containers of special

nuclear material. A tamper-indicating

seal is a device used to detect

unauthorized removal of material.

The NRC has verified with the Office

of Management and Budget the

determination that this regulatory guide

is not a major rule.

Comments and suggestions in

connection with items for inclusion in

guides currently being developed or

improvements in all published guides

are encouraged at any time. Written

comments may be submitted to the

Rules Review and Directives Branch,

Division of Freedom of Information and

Publications Services, Office of

Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission, Washington, DC 20555.

Regulatory guides are available for

inspection at the Commission’s Public

Document Room, 2120 L Street NW.,

Washington, DC. Single copies of

regulatory guides may be obtained free

of charge by writing the Office of

Administration, Attention: Distribution

and Services Section, U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, Washington,

DC 20555–0001, or by fax at (301)415–

2260. Issued guides may also be

purchased from the National Technical

Information Service on a standing order

basis. Details on this service may be

obtained by writing NTIS, 5285 Port

Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161.

Regulatory guides are not copyrighted,

and Commission approval is not

required to reproduce them.

(5 U.S.C. 552(a))

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day

of March 1997.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

David L. Morrison,

Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory

Research.

[FR Doc. 97–8651 Filed 4–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY

CORPORATION

Exemption From the Bond/Escrow

Requirement Relating to the Sale of

Assets by an Employer Who

Contributes to a Multiemployer Plan;

Dunham-Bush, Inc.

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty

Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of exemption.

SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty

Corporation has granted a request by

Dunham-Bush, Inc. for an exemption

from the bond/escrow requirement of

section 4204(a)(1)(B) of the Employee

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974,

as amended, with respect to the Sheet

Metal Workers’ National Pension Fund.

A notice of the request for an exemption

from the requirement was published on

December 20, 1996 (61 FR 67355). The

effect of this notice is to advise the

public of the decision on the exemption

request.

ADDRESSES: The non-confidential

portions of the request for an exemption

and the PBGC response to the request

are available for public inspection at the

PBGC Communications and Public

Affairs Department, Suite 240, 1200 K

Street NW., Washington, DC 20005–

4026, between the hours of 9 a.m. and

4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas T. Kim, Office of the General

Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty

Corporation, 1200 K Street NW.,

Washington, DC 20005–4026; telephone

202–326–4020 ext. 3581 (202–326–4179

for TTY and TDD). These are not tollfree numbers.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Section 4204 of the Employee

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974,

as amended by the Multiemployer

Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980

(‘‘ERISA’’ or ‘‘the Act’’), provides that a

bona fide arm’s-length sale of assets of

a contributing employer to an unrelated

party will not be considered a

withdrawal if three conditions are met.

These conditions, enumerated in section

4204(a)(1)(A)-(C), are that—

(A) The purchaser has an obligation to

contribute to the plan with respect to

the operations for substantially the same

number of contributions base units for

which the seller was obligated to

contribute;

(B) The purchaser obtains a bond or

places an amount in escrow, for a period

of five plan years after the sale, in an

amount equal to the greater of the

seller’s average required annual

contribution to the plan for the three

plan years preceding the year in which

the sale occurred or the seller’s required

annual contribution for the plan year

preceding the year in which the sale

occurred (the amount of the bond or

escrow is doubled if the plan is in

reorganization in the year in which the

sale occurred); and

(C) The contract of sale provides that

if the purchaser withdraws from the

plan within the first five plan years

beginning after the sale and fails to pay

any of its liability to the plan, the seller

shall be secondarily liable for the

liability it (the seller) would have had

but for section 4204.

The bond or escrow described above

would be paid to the plan if the

purchaser withdraws from the plan or

fails to make any required contributions

to the plan within the first five plan

years beginning after the sale.
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 65 / Friday, April 4, 1997 / Notices 16205

Additionally, section 4204(b)(1)

provides that if a sale of assets is

covered by section 4204, the purchaser

assumes by operation of law the

contribution record of the seller for the

plan year in which the sale occurred

and the preceding four plan years.

Section 4204(c) of ERISA authorizes

the Pension Benefit Guaranty

Corporation (the ‘‘PBGC’’) to grant

individual or class variances or

exemptions from the purchaser’s bond/

escrow requirement of section

4204(a)(1)(B) when warranted. The

legislative history of section 4204

indicates a Congressional intent that the

sales rules be administered in a manner

that assures protection of the plan with

the least practicable intrusion into

normal business transactions. Senate

Committee on Labor and Human

Resources, 96th Cong., 2nd Sess.,

S.1076, The Multiemployer Pension

Plan Amendments Act of 1980:

Summary and Analysis of Consideration

16 (Comm. Print, April 1980); 128 Cong.

Rec. S10117 (July 29, 1980). The

granting of an exemption or variance

from the bond/escrow requirement does

not constitute a finding by the PBGC

that a particular transaction satisfies the

other requirements of section 4204(a)(1).

Under the PBGC’s regulation on

variances for sales of assets (29 CFR part

4204), a request for a variance or waiver

of the bond/escrow requirement under

any of the tests established in the

regulation (§§ 4204.12–4204.13) is to be

made to the plan in question. The PBGC

will consider waiver requests only when

the request is not based on satisfaction

of one of the three regulatory tests or

when the parties assert that the financial

information necessary to show

satisfaction of one of the regulatory tests

is privileged or confidential financial

information within the meaning of

section 552(b)(4) of the Freedom of

Information Act.

Under § 4204.22 of the regulation, the

PBGC shall approve a request for a

variance or exemption if it determines

that approval of the request is

warranted, in that it—

(1) Would more effectively or

equitably carry out the purposes of Title

IV of the Act; and

(2) Would not significantly increase

the risk of financial loss to the plan.

Section 4204(c) of ERISA and

§ 4204.22(b) of the regulation require the

PBGC to publish a notice of the

pendency of a request for a variance or

exemption in the Federal Register, and

to provide interested parties with an

opportunity to comment on the

proposed variance or exemption.

The Decision

On December 20, 1996 (61 FR 67355),

the PBGC published a notice of request

from Dunham-Bush, Inc. (the ‘‘Buyer’’)

for an exemption from the bond/escrow

requirement of section 4204(a)(1)(B)

with respect to its January 6, 1995

purchase of certain assets of Allagash

Fluid Controls, Inc., which was formerly

known as Dunham-Bush, Inc. (the

‘‘Seller’’). No comments were received

in response to the notice during the

comment period.

According to the request, on January

6, 1995, the Buyer acquired certain

assets of the Seller. The Seller was

obligated to contribute to the Sheet

Metal Workers’ National Pension Plan

(the ‘‘Plan’’). The Buyer has assumed

the Seller’s obligation to contribute to

the Plan at the purchased operations,

and continues to make contributions for

substantially the same number of

contribution base units as the Seller.

The Seller has agreed to be secondarily

liable for any withdrawal liability it

would have had with respect to the sold

operations (if not for section 4204)

should the Buyer withdraw from the

Plan within the five plan years

following the sale and fail to pay

withdrawal liability.

The estimated amount of the

unfunded vested benefits allocable to

the Seller with respect to the operations

sold is $3,000,000. The amount of the

bond/escrow required under section

4204(a)(1)(B) is $545,409.29.

The Buyer submitted its financial

statement as of January 26, 1996.

According to that statement, the Buyer’s

net tangible assets are just over $20

million, which is in excess of the

unfunded vested benefits allocable to

the Seller.

Based on the facts of this case and the

representations and statements made in

connection with the request for an

exemption, the PBGC has determined

that an exemption from the bond/

escrow requirement is warranted, in that

it would more effectively carry out the

purposes of Title IV of ERISA and

would not significantly increase the risk

of financial loss to the Plan. Therefore,

the PBGC hereby grants the request for

an exemption from the bond/escrow

requirement. The granting of an

exemption from the bond/escrow

requirement of section 4204(a)(1)(B)

does not constitute a finding by the

PBGC that the transaction satisfies the

other requirements of section 4204(a)(1).

The determination of whether the

transaction satisfies such other

requirements is a determination to be

made by the Plan sponsor.

Issued at Washington, DC, on this 26th day

of March, 1997.

John Seal,

Acting Executive Director.

[FR Doc. 97–8606 Filed 4–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7708–01–P

SECURITES AND EXCHANGE

COMMISSION

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

Upon Written Request Copies Available

From: Securities and Exchange

Commission, Office of Filings and

Information Services, Washington, DC

20549

Existing Collection: Rule 17a–6, SEC

File No. 270–433, OMB Control No.

3235–new

Notice is hereby given that pursuant

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities

and Exchange Commission

(‘‘Commission’’) has submitted to the

Office of Management and Budget a

request for approval of the following

rule:

Rule 17a–6 (17 CFR 240.17a–6)

permits national securities exchanges,

national securities associations,

registered clearing agencies, and the

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board

(collectively, ‘‘SROs’’) to destroy or

convert to microfilm or other recording

media records maintained under Rule

17a–1, if they have filed a record

destruction plan with the Commission

and the Commission has declared such

plan effective.

There are 25 SROs: 8 national

securities exchanges, 1 national

securities associations, 15 registered

clearing agencies, and the Municipal

Securities Rulemaking Board. These

respondents file no more than one

record destruction plan per year, which

requires approximately 40 hours for

each respondent. Thus, the total

compliance burden is 40 hours. The

approximate cost per hour is $100,

resulting in a total cost of compliance

for these respondents of $4,000 per year

(40 hours @ $100).

General comments regarding the

estimated burden hours should be

directed to the Desk Officer for the

Securities and Exchange Commission at

the address below. Any comments

concerning the accuracy of the

estimated average burden hours for

compliance with Commission rules and

forms should be directed to Michael E.

Bartell, Associate Executive Director,

Office of Information Technology,

Securities and Exchange Commission,

450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.