[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 199 (Wednesday, October 15, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61903-61907]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-24447]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Proposed Extension of Information Collection Requests Submitted 
for Public Comment

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA 95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), 
provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to 
comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This 
helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection 
requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. It also helps 
the public understand the Department's information collection 
requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. The 
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting comments 
on the proposed extension of the information collection requests (ICRs) 
contained in the documents described below. A copy of the ICRs may be 
obtained by contacting the office listed in the ADDRESSES section of 
this notice. ICRs also are available at reginfo.gov (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the 
Addresses section on or before December 15, 2014.

ADDRESSES: G. Christopher Cosby, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Room N-5718, 
Washington, DC 20210, (202) 693-8410, FAX (202) 693-4745 (these are not 
toll-free numbers).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice requests public comment on the 
Department's request for extension of the Office of Management and 
Budget's (OMB) approval of ICRs contained in the rules and prohibited 
transactions described below. The Department is not proposing any 
changes to the existing ICRs at this time. An agency may not conduct or 
sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, an information 
collection unless it displays a valid OMB control number. A summary of 
the ICRs and the current burden estimates follows:

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 86-128.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0059.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 27,900.
    Responses: 1,199,800.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 63,800.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $736,800.
    Description: 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 the benefit of employee benefit plans whose 
assets are maintained in pooled separate accounts managed by insurance 
companies. This exemption provides relief from certain prohibitions in 
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).
    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 five information collection requirements. The 
first requirement is

[[Page 61904]]

written authorization executed in advance by an independent fiduciary 
of the plan whose assets are involved in the transaction with the 
broker-fiduciary. The second requirement is, within three months of the 
authorization, the broker-fiduciary furnish the independent fiduciary 
with any reasonably available information necessary for the independent 
fiduciary to determine whether an authorization should be made. The 
information must include a copy of the exemption, a form for 
termination, and a description of the broker-fiduciary's brokerage 
placement practices. The third requirement is that the broker-fiduciary 
must provide a termination form to the independent fiduciary annually 
so that the independent fiduciary may terminate the authorization 
without penalty to the plan; failure to return the form constitutes 
continuing authorization. The fourth requirement is for the broker-
fiduciary to report all transactions to the independent fiduciary, 
either by confirmation slips or through quarterly reports. The fifth 
requirement calls for the broker-fiduciary to provide an annual summary 
of the transactions. The annual summary must contain all security 
transaction-related charges incurred by the plan, the brokerage 
placement practices, and a portfolio turnover ratio. The ICR was 
approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB Control 
Number 1210-0059 and is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Consent to Receive Employee Benefit Plan Disclosures 
Electronically.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    OMB Number: 1210-0121.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 37,086.
    Responses: 3,176,585.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 15,453.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $158,829.
    Description: The Department established a safe harbor pursuant to 
which all pension and welfare benefit plans covered by Title I of ERISA 
may use electronic media to satisfy disclosure obligations under Title 
I of ERISA (29 CFR 2520.104b-1). Employee benefit plan administrators 
will be deemed to satisfy their disclosure obligations when furnishing 
documents electronically only if a participant who does not have access 
to the employer's electronic information system in the normal course of 
his duties, or a beneficiary or other person entitled to documents, has 
affirmatively consented to receive disclosure documents. Prior to 
consenting, the participant or beneficiary must also be provided with a 
clear and conspicuous statement indicating the types of documents to 
which the consent would apply, that consent may be withdrawn at any 
time, procedures for withdrawing consent and updating necessary 
information, the right to obtain a paper copy, and any hardware and 
software requirements. In the event of a hardware or software change 
that creates a material risk that the individual will be unable to 
access or retain documents that were the subject of the initial 
consent, the individual must be provided with information concerning 
the revised hardware or software, and an opportunity to withdraw a 
prior consent. The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 
1210-0121 and is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Furnishing Documents to the Secretary of Labor on Request 
Under ERISA 104(a)(6).
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0112.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 300.
    Responses: 300.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 22.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $1,300.
    Description: As a result of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA 
97), the plan administrators of ERISA-covered employee benefit plans no 
longer need to file copies of the summary plan descriptions and 
summaries of material modifications that are publicly available. TRA 97 
added paragraph (6) to section 104(a) of ERISA. Prior to the TRA 97 
amendments, ERISA required certain documents be filed with the 
Department so that plan participants and beneficiaries could obtain the 
documents without having to turn to the plan administrator. The new 
section 104(a)(6) authorizes the Department to request these documents 
on behalf of plan participants and beneficiaries. The Department issued 
a final implementing guidance on this matter on January 7, 2002 (67 FR 
772). The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0112 
and is scheduled to expire on February 28, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Affordable Care Act Section 2715 Summary Disclosures.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0147.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 858.
    Responses: 79,500,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 622,750.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$4,842,500.
    Description: Section 2715 of the PHS Act directs the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the 
Department of the Treasury (collectively, the Departments), in 
consultation with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners 
(NAIC) and a working group comprised of stakeholders, to ``develop 
standards for use by a group health plan and a health insurance issuer 
in compiling and providing to applicants, enrollees, and policyholders 
and certificate holders a summary of benefits and coverage explanation 
that accurately describes the benefits and coverage under the 
applicable plan or coverage.'' To implement these disclosure 
requirements, collection of information requests relate to the 
provision of the following: Summary of benefits and coverage, which 
includes coverage examples; a uniform glossary of health coverage and 
medical terms; and a notice of modifications. The ICR was approved by 
OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0147 and is scheduled to expire on 
February 28, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: ERISA Section 408(b)(2) Regulation.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0133.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 62,137.
    Responses: 1,274,255.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,643,941.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$4,199,584.
    Description: On February 3, 2012, the Department published a final 
regulation under ERISA section 408(b)(2) (the ``408(b)(2) 
regulation''), requiring that certain service providers to pension

[[Page 61905]]

plans disclose information about the service providers' compensation 
and potential conflicts of interest. These disclosure requirements were 
established to provide guidance for compliance with a statutory 
exemption from ERISA's prohibited transaction provisions. If the 
disclosure requirements of the 408(b)(2) regulation are not satisfied, 
a prohibited provision of services under ERISA section 406(a)(1)(C) 
will occur, with consequences for both the responsible plan fiduciary 
and the covered service provider. The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB 
Control Number 1210-0133 and is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2015. 
Note: The Department issued a proposed amendment to this ICR on March 
12, 2014, that would, upon adoption, require covered service providers 
to furnish a guide to assist plan fiduciaries in reviewing the 
disclosures required by the final rule if the disclosures are contained 
in multiple or lengthy documents. The comment period for the proposal 
closed on June 10, 2014, and the Department currently is reviewing the 
comments.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: ERISA Procedure 76-1 Advisory Opinion Procedure.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0066.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 56.
    Responses: 56.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 573.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$1,250,218.
    Description: Under ERISA, the Department has responsibility to 
administer the reporting, disclosure, fiduciary and other standards for 
pension and welfare benefit plans. In 1976, the Department issued ERISA 
Procedure 76-1, Procedure for ERISA Advisory Opinions (ERISA 
Procedure), in order to establish a public process for requesting 
guidance from EBSA on the application of ERISA to particular 
circumstances. The ERISA Procedure sets forth specific administrative 
procedures for requesting either an advisory opinion or an information 
letter and describes the types of questions that may be submitted. As 
part of the ERISA Procedure, requesters are instructed to provide 
information to EBSA concerning the circumstances governing their 
request. EBSA relies on the information provided by the requester to 
analyze the issue presented and provide guidance. The ERISA Procedure 
has been in use since 1976, and the Department has issued hundreds of 
advisory opinions and information letters under its rules. The ICR was 
approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0066 and is scheduled to 
expire on June 30, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: ERISA Technical Release 91-1.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0084.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 12.
    Responses: 82,518.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,392.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $20,715.
    Description: The information collection requirements arise from 
ERISA section 101(e), which establishes notice requirements that must 
be satisfied before an employer may transfer excess assets from a 
defined benefit pension plan to a retiree health benefit account, as 
permitted under the conditions set forth in section 420 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986.
    The notice requirements of section 101(e) are two-fold. First, 
subsection (e)(1) requires plan administrators to provide advance 
written notification of such transfers to participants and 
beneficiaries. Second, subsection (e)(2)(A) requires employers to 
provide advance written notification of such transfers to the 
Secretaries of Labor and the Treasury, the plan administrator, and each 
employee organization representing participants in the plan. Both 
notices must be given at least 60 days before the transfer date. The 
two subsections prescribe the information to be included in each type 
of notice and further give the Secretary of Labor the authority to 
prescribe how notice to participants and beneficiaries must be given 
and any additional reporting requirements deemed necessary.
    Although the Department of Labor has not issued regulations under 
section 101(e), on May 8, 1991, the Department published ERISA 
Technical Release 91-1, to provide guidance on how to satisfy the 
notice requirements prescribed by this section.
    The Technical Release made two changes in the statutory 
requirements for the second type of notice. First, it required the 
notice to include a filing date and the intended asset transfer date. 
Second, it simplified the statutory filing requirements by providing 
that filing with the Department of Labor would be deemed sufficient 
notice to both the Department and the Department of the Treasury as 
required under the statute. The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB 
Control Number 1210-0084 and is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Disclosures by Insurers to General Account Policyholders.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0114.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 104.
    Responses: 96,223.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 408,948.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $33,678.
    Description: Section 1460 of the Small Business Job Protection Act 
of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-188) (SBJPA) amended added a new section 401(c) to 
the Employee Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). This new section, 
inter alia, required the Department to promulgate a regulation 
providing guidance, applicable only to insurance policies issued on or 
before December 31, 1998, to or for the benefit of employee benefit 
plans, to clarify the extent to which assets held in an insurer's 
general account under such contracts are ``plan assets'' within the 
meaning of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), because 
the policies are not ``guaranteed benefit policies'' within the meaning 
of section 401(b) of ERISA. SBJPA further directed the Department to 
set standards for how insurers should manage the specified insurance 
policies (called Transition Policies). Pursuant to the authority and 
direction given under SBJPA, the Department promulgated a regulation, 
issued in final form on January 5, 2000 (65 FR 714), and codified at 29 
CFR 2550.401c-1. This regulation has not been amended subsequently. The 
ICR was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0114 and is 
scheduled to expire on June 30, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Registration for EFAST-2 Credentials.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0117.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 400,000.

[[Page 61906]]

    Responses: 400,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 133,333.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: ERISA Section 104 requires administrators of pension 
and welfare benefit plans (collectively, employee benefit plans), and 
employers sponsoring certain fringe benefit plans and other plans of 
deferred compensation, to file returns/reports annually with the 
Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) concerning the financial condition 
and operation of the plans. Reporting requirements are satisfied by 
filing the Form 5500 in accordance with its instructions and the 
related regulations. Beginning with plan year filings for 1999, Form 
5500 filings were processed under the ERISA Filing Acceptance System 
(EFAST), which was designed to simplify and expedite the receipt and 
processing of the Form 5500 by relying on computer scannable forms and 
electronic filing technologies.
    Beginning with plan year filings for 2009, Form 5500 filings are 
processed under a new system, the ERISA Filing Acceptance System 2 
(EFAST-2), which is designed to simplify and expedite the receipt and 
processing of the Form 5500 by relying on Internet-based forms and 
electronic filing technologies. In order to file electronically, 
employee benefit plan filing authors, schedule authors, filing signers, 
Form 5500 transmitters, and entities developing software to complete 
and/or transmit the Form 5500 are required to register for EFAST-2 
credentials through the EFAST-2 Web site. Requested information 
includes: Applicant type (filing author, filing signer, schedule 
author, transmitter, or software developer); mailing address; fax 
number (optional); email address; company name, contact person; and 
daytime telephone number. Registrants must also provide an answer to a 
challenge question (``What is your date of birth?'' or ``Where is your 
place of birth?''), which enables users to retrieve forgotten 
credentials. In addition, registrants must accept a Privacy Agreement; 
PIN Agreement; and, under penalty of perjury, a Signature Agreement. 
The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0117 and is 
scheduled to expire on June 30, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Notice of Blackout Period Under ERISA.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0122.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 46,200.
    Responses: 6,100,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 195,800.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$1,900,000.
    Description: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA), enacted on July 30, 
2002, added ERISA section 101(i), which requires individual account 
pension plans to furnish a written notice to participants and 
beneficiaries in advance of any ``blackout period'' during which their 
existing rights to direct or diversify their investments under the 
plan, or obtain a loan or distribution from the plan will be 
temporarily suspended. Under 306(b)(2) of SOA, the Secretary of Labor 
was directed to issue interim final rules necessary to implement the 
SOA amendments. The Department's regulation for this purpose is 
codified at 29 CFR 2520.101-3. The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB 
Control Number 1210-0122 and is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2015.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Affordable Care Act Internal Claims and Appeals and External 
Review Procedures for Non-Grandfathered Plans.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0144.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits; Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 1,020,074.
    Responses: 117,864.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 886.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $642,461.
    Description: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public 
Law 111-148, (the Affordable Care Act) was enacted by President Obama 
on March 23, 2010. As part of the Act, Congress added Public Health 
Service Act (PHS Act) section 2719, which provides rules relating to 
internal claims and appeals and external review processes. The 
Department, in conjunction with the Departments of the Treasury and 
Department of Health and Human Services (collectively, the 
Departments), issued interim final regulations on July 23, 2010 (75 FR 
43330), which set forth rules implementing PHS Act section 2719 for 
internal claims and appeals and external review processes. With respect 
to internal claims and appeals processes for group health coverage, PHS 
Act section 2719 and paragraph (b)(2)(i) of the interim final 
regulations provide that group health plans and health insurance 
issuers offering group health insurance coverage must comply with the 
internal claims and appeals processes set forth in 29 CFR 2560.503-1 
(the DOL claims procedure regulation) and update such processes in 
accordance with standards established by the Secretary of Labor in 
paragraph (b)(2)(ii) of the regulations.
    Also, PHS Act section 2719 and the interim final regulations 
provide that group health plans and issuers offering group health 
insurance coverage must comply either with a State external review 
process or a Federal review process. The regulations provide a basis 
for determining when plans and issuers must comply with an applicable 
State external review process and when they must comply with the 
Federal external review process.
    The claims procedure regulation imposes information collection 
requirements as part of the reasonable procedures that an employee 
benefit plan must establish regarding the handling of a benefit claim. 
These requirements include third-party notice and disclosure 
requirements that the plan must satisfy by providing information to 
participants and beneficiaries of the plan.
    On June 24, 2011, the Department amended the interim final 
regulations. Two amendments revised the ICR. The first amendment 
provides that plans no longer are required to include diagnosis and 
treatment codes on notices of adverse benefit determination and final 
internal adverse benefit determination. Instead, they must notify 
claimants of the opportunity to receive the codes on request and plans 
and issuers must provide the codes upon request.
    The second amendment also changes the method plans and issuers must 
use to determine who is eligible to receive a notice in a culturally 
and linguistically appropriate manner, and the information that must be 
provided to such persons. The previous rule was based on the number of 
employees at a firm. The new rule is based on whether a participant or 
beneficiary resides in a county where ten percent or more of the 
population residing in the county is literate only in the same non-
English language.
    The ICR was approved by OMB under OMB Control Number 1210-0144 and 
is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2015.

II. Focus of Comments

    The Department is particularly interested in comments that:
    <bullet> Evaluate whether the collections of information are 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the

[[Page 61907]]

agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;
    <bullet> Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
collections of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used;
    <bullet> Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    <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., by 
permitting electronic submissions of responses.

Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or 
included in the ICRs for OMB approval of the extension of the 
information collection; they will also become a matter of public 
record.

Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2014-24447 Filed 10-14-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P