[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:

    <bullet> 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;
    <bullet> 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;
    <bullet> Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected;
    <bullet> 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