21600 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 70 / Tuesday, April 12, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

1 29 CFR part 2570.30 through 2570.52 (55 FR 

32847 (Aug. 10, 1990) and 76 FR 6637 (Oct. 27, 

2011)). 

2 87 FR 14722. 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration 

29 CFR Part 2570 

RIN 1210–AC05 

Procedures Governing the Filing and 

Processing of Prohibited Transaction 

Exemption Applications 

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; 

extension of comment period. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the 

Department) is extending the comment 

period for a proposed rule that would 

update, clarify, and supersede the 

Department’s current regulation 

governing the filing and processing of 

applications for administrative 

exemptions from the prohibited 

transaction provisions of the Employee 

Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

(ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986 (the Code), and the Federal 

Employees’ Retirement System Act of 

1986 (FERSA). The Department 

published the proposed rule in the 

Federal Register on March 15, 2022, 

with a 30-day comment period that was 

scheduled to end on April 14, 2022. 

Since the proposed rule was published, 

the Department has received multiple 

requests from interested parties for the 

Department to provide additional time 

for them to develop and submit their 

comments on the proposal. In response 

to these requests, the Department is 

extending the comment period for an 

additional 45 days, through May 29, 

2022. 

DATES: Written comments and requests 

for a public hearing on the proposed 

rule must be submitted to the 

Department on or before May 29, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: All written comments and 

requests for a hearing concerning the 

proposed rule should be sent to the 

Office of Exemption Determinations 

through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 

and identified by RIN 1210–AC05. 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov at Docket ID 

number: EBSA–2022–0003. 

See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

below for additional information 

regarding comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brian Shiker, telephone: (202) 693– 

8552, email: shiker.brian@dol.gov, 

Office of Exemption Determinations, 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor (this is not a toll-free number). 

Customer Service Information: 

Individuals interested in obtaining 

information from the Department 

concerning ERISA and employee benefit 

plans may call the Employee Benefits 

Security Administration’s Toll-Free 

Hotline, at 1–866–444–EBSA (3272) or 

visit the Department’s website 

(www.dol.gov/ebsa). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Comment Instructions 

All comments and requests for a 

hearing must be received by the end of 

the comment period. Requests for a 

hearing must state the issues to be 

addressed and include a general 

description of the evidence to be 

presented at the hearing. Persons are 

encouraged to submit all comments 

electronically and not to follow such 

submission with paper copies. The 

comments and hearing requests will be 

available for public inspection in the 

Public Disclosure Room of the 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor, Room N–1513, 200 Constitution 

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210; 

however, the Public Disclosure Room 

may be closed for all or a portion of the 

comment period due to circumstances 

surrounding the COVID–19 pandemic 

caused by the novel coronavirus. 

Comments and hearing requests will 

also be available to the public, without 

charge, online at www.regulations.gov, 

at Docket ID number: EBSA–2022–0003 

and www.dol.gov/ebsa. 

Warning: All comments received will 

be included in the public record 

without change and will be made 

available online at www.regulations.gov, 

including any personal information 

provided, unless the comment includes 

information claimed to be confidential 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. If you submit a 

comment, the Employee Benefits 

Security Administration (EBSA) 

recommends that you include your 

name and other contact information, but 

DO NOT submit information that you 

consider to be confidential, or otherwise 

protected (such as Social Security 

number or an unlisted phone number), 

or confidential business information 

that you do not want publicly disclosed. 

However, if EBSA cannot read your 

comment due to technical difficulties 

and cannot contact you for clarification, 

EBSA might not be able to consider your 

comment. Additionally, the 

www.regulations.gov website is an 

‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which 

means EBSA will not know your 

identity or contact information unless 

you provide it. If you send an email 

directly to EBSA without going through 

www.regulations.gov, your email 

address will be automatically captured 

and included as part of the comment 

that is placed in the public record and 

made available on the internet. 

Background 

The Secretary of Labor is authorized 

to grant administrative exemptions from 

the prohibited transaction provisions of 

ERISA, the Code, and FERSA and to 

establish an exemption procedure to 

grant such exemptions. The 

Department’s exemption procedure 

regulation was first published in 1990 

and most recently updated in 2011.1

On March 15, 2022, the Department 

published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking in the Federal Register 

entitled: Procedures Governing the 

Filing and Processing of Prohibited 

Transaction Exemption Applications 

(the Proposed Rule).2 The Proposed 

Rule would update, clarify, and 

supersede the Department’s existing 

regulation governing the filing and 

processing of applications for 

administrative exemptions from the 

prohibited transaction provisions of 

ERISA, the Code, and FERSA. 

The Proposed Rule contains a 30-day 

comment period, which was scheduled 

to expire on April 14, 2022. Since the 

publication of the Proposed Rule, the 

Department has received multiple 

letters from interested persons 

expressing concern that the proposal’s 

30-day comment period did not provide 

them with sufficient time to develop 

and submit their comments regarding 

the proposed substantive changes to the 

current exemption procedure regulation 

and requesting the Department to 

extend the comment period by at least 

30 days. 

After carefully considering the 

extension requests, the Department has 

decided that it is appropriate to extend 

the comment period in the context of 

this proposed regulation for an 

additional 45 days (from 30 to 75 total 

days) to provide interested parties with 

additional time to participate in this 

rulemaking process. The comment 

period, therefore, will close on May 29, 

2022. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 70 / Tuesday, April 12, 2022 / Proposed Rules 21601 

Signed at Washington, DC, this 6th day of 

April 2022. 

Ali Khawar, 

Acting Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits 

Security Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor. 

[FR Doc. 2022–07785 Filed 4–11–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–29–P 

POSTAL SERVICE 

39 CFR Part 111 

New Mailing Standards for Domestic 

Mailing Services Products 

AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: On April 6, 2022, the Postal 

Service (USPS®) filed a notice of 

mailing services price adjustments with 

the Postal Regulatory Commission 

(PRC), effective July 10, 2022. This 

proposed rule contains revisions to 

Mailing Standards of the United States 

Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual 

(DMM®) to coincide with the price 

adjustments. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

May 12, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Mail or deliver written 

comments to the Manager, Product 

Classification, U.S. Postal Service, 475 

L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 4446, 

Washington, DC 20260–5015. If sending 

comments by email, include the name 

and address of the commenter and send 

to PCFederalRegister@usps.gov, with a 

subject line of ‘‘July 2022 Domestic 

Mailing Services Proposal.’’ Faxed 

comments are not accepted. You may 

inspect and photocopy all written 

comments, by appointment only, at 

USPS® Headquarters Library, 475 

L’Enfant Plaza SW, 11th Floor North, 

Washington, DC 20260. These records 

are available for review on Monday 

through Friday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m., by 

calling 202–268–2906. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Doriane Harley at (202) 268–2537, 

Jacqueline Erwin at (202) 268–2158, or 

Dale Kennedy at (202) 268–6592. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposed 

prices will be available under Docket 

No. R2022–1 on the Postal Regulatory 

Commission’s website at www.prc.gov. 

The Postal Service’s proposed rule 

includes: Changes to prices, mail 

classification updates, product 

simplification efforts, and minor 

revisions to the DMM. 

Qualified Business Reply Mail (QBRM) 

Uniform Rate 

Currently, the Postal Service has two 

pricing tiers for QBRM letters, one price 

for up to and including 1 ounce and a 

separate price for up to and including 2 

ounces, for both high volume and basic. 

The Postal Service is proposing to 

replace these pricing tiers with a 

uniform per-piece price for QBRM 

letters up to and including 3.5 ounces. 

The proposal would also allow highvolume business reply mail customers 

to use the QBRM product. 

QBRM customers will be required to 

have an Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) 

on their QBRM mailpieces. This allows 

the Postal Service to process the 

mailers’ QBRM letters through the 

automated accounting process. 

Direct Container Discount for 

Marketing Mail High Density Plus and 

Saturation Flats 

The Postal Service is proposing to 

offer discounts for USPS Marketing Mail 

Saturation Flats (including EDDM, not 

EDDM Retail) and High Density Plus 

Flats in 5-digit (direct) containers 

(pallets, sacks, and tubs). Currently, the 

Postal Service offers discounts for 

Carrier Route Flats and High Density 

Flats on 5-digit (direct) pallets; these 

discounts would now extend to Carrier 

Route Flats and High Density Flats in 5- 

digit (direct) sacks and tubs. 

Round-Trip Mailings With One Optical 

Disc—Nonautomation Presort 

Currently, the Postal Service offers 

two prices for nonautomation 

machinable letters: AADC and Mixed 

AADC. 

The Postal Service is proposing to 

extend the updated pricing structure for 

nonautomation machinable letters to 

Round-Trip Mailings with One Optical 

Disc. Letter-shaped mailpieces up to 1 

ounce will be able to avail themselves 

of nonautomation machinable letter 

AADC and Mixed AADC prices instead 

of being limited to one nonautomation 

presort price. Similarly, flat-shaped 

mailings up to 2 ounces will be able to 

avail themselves to nonautomation 

machinable letter AADC and Mixed 

AADC prices instead of one 

nonautomation presort price. 

Priority Mail Insurance 

Currently, the Postal Service includes 

insurance coverage with Priority Mail®

against loss, damage, or missing 

contents limited to a maximum liability 

of $50.00 when the mailer pays retail or 

Commercial Base prices and to a 

maximum liability of $100.00 when the 

mailer pays Commercial Plus prices. 

Additionally, the Postal Service does 

not include insurance with Priority Mail 

Return service pieces. 

The Postal Service is proposing to 

make the insurance amount included 

with retail and commercial priced 

Priority Mail limited to a maximum 

liability of $100.00. 

In addition, the Postal Service is 

proposing to include the $100.00 of 

insurance with Priority Mail Return 

service pieces. 

These proposed revisions will provide 

consistency within postal products and 

add value for customers. 

Although exempt from the notice and 

comment requirements of the 

Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 

553(b), (c)) regarding proposed 

rulemaking by 39 U.S.C. 410(a), the 

Postal Service invites public comments 

on the following proposed revisions to 

Mailing Standards of the United States 

Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual 

(DMM), incorporated by reference in the 

Code of Federal Regulations. See 39 CFR 

111.1. 

We will publish an appropriate 

amendment to 39 CFR part 111 to reflect 

these changes. 

List of Subjects in 39 CFR Part 111 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Postal Service. 

The Postal Service proposes the 

following changes to Mailing Standards 

of the United States Postal Service, 

Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), 

incorporated by reference in the Code of 

Federal Regulations (see 39 CFR 111.1): 

PART 111—[AMENDED] 

■ 1. The authority citation for 39 CFR 

part 111 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552(a); 13 U.S.C. 301– 

307; 18 U.S.C. 1692–1737; 39 U.S.C. 101, 

401, 403, 404, 414, 416, 3001–3011, 3201– 

3219, 3403–3406, 3621, 3622, 3626, 3632, 

3633, and 5001. 

■ 2. Revise the Mailing Standards of the 

United States Postal Service, Domestic 

Mail Manual (DMM) to read as follows: 

Mailing Standards of the United States 

Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual 

(DMM) 

* * * * * 

200 Commercial Mail 

* * * * * 

230 First-Class Mail 

* * * * * 

233 Prices and Eligibility 

* * * * * 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS