Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted the following public information collection requests (ICRs) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). A copy of each ICR, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by contacting the Department of Labor (DOL). To obtain documentation, contact Darrin King on 202-693-4129 (this is not a toll-free number) or e-mail: king.darrin@dol.gov.

Comments should be sent to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Office of Management and Budget, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, 202-395-7316 (this is not a toll-free number), within 30 days from the date of this publication in the Federal Register.

The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:

• 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;
• 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;
• 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.

Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.

Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 92-6: Sale of Individual Life Insurance or Annuity Contracts by a Plan.

OMB Number: 1210-0063.

Frequency: On occasion.

Type of Response: Third party disclosure.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions; and Individuals or households.

Number of Respondents: 8,360.

Number of Annual Responses: 8,360.

Estimated Time Per Response: 12 minutes.

Total Burden Hours: 1,671.

Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.

Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing services): $3,093.

Description: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 92-6 exempts from the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) the sale of individual life insurance or annuity contracts by a plan to participants, relatives of participants, employers any of whose employees are covered by the plan, other employee benefit plans, owner-employees or shareholder-employees. In the absence of this exemption, certain aspects of these transactions might be prohibited by section 406 of ERISA.

The disclosure requirements protect plan participants by putting them on notice of the plan's intention to sell insurance or annuity contracts under which they are insured, and by giving the participants the right of first refusal to purchase such contracts.

Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.

Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 91-55: Transactions between Individual Retirement Accounts and Authorized Purchases of American Eagle Coins.

OMB Number: 1210-0079.

Frequency: On occasion.

Type of Response: Recordkeeping and Third party disclosure.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions; and Individuals or households.

Number of Respondents: 2.

Number of Annual Responses: 12,800.

Estimated Time Per Response: 1 minute for recordkeeping and 16 minutes to compose and distribute the disclosure document.

Total Burden Hours: 554.

Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.

Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing services): $0.

Description: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 91-55 permits purchases and sales by certain “individual retirement accounts,” as defined in Internal Revenue Code section 408 (IRAs) of American Eagle bullion coins (“Coins”) in principal transactions from or to broker-dealers in Coins that are “authorized purchasers” of Coins in bulk quantities from the United States Mint and which are also “disqualified persons,” within the meaning of Code section 4975(e)(2), with respect to IRAs. The exemption also describes the circumstances under which an interest-free extension of credit in connection with such sales and purchases is permitted. In the absence of an exemption, such purchases and sales and extensions of credit would be impermissible under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

The information collection request for this exemption includes three requirements. First, certain information related to covered transactions in Coins must be disclosed by the authorized purchaser to persons who direct the transaction for the IRA. Currently, it is standard industry practice that most of this information is provided to persons directing investments in an IRA when transactions in Coins occur. The exemption also requires that the disqualified person maintain for a period of at least six years such records as are necessary to allow accredited persons, as defined in the exemption, to determine whether the conditions of the transaction have been met. Finally, an authorized purchaser must provide a confirmation statement with respect to each covered transaction to the person who directs the transaction for the IRA.

The recordkeeping requirement facilitates the Department's ability to make findings under section 408 of ERISA and section 4975(c) of the Code. The confirmation and disclosure requirements protect a participant or beneficiary who invests in IRAs and transacts in Coins with authorized purchasers by providing the investor or the person directing his or her investments with timely information about the market in Coins and about the individual's account in particular.

Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Type of Review: Extension of currently approved collection.

Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 85-68 to Permit Employee Benefit Plans to Invest in Customer Notes of Employers.

OMB Number: 1210-0094.

Frequency: On occasion.

Type of Response: Recordkeeping.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions; and Individuals or households.

Number of Respondents: 69.

Number of Annual Responses: 325.

Estimated Time Per Response: 1 hour.

Total Burden Hours: 1.

Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.

Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or purchasing services): $0.

Description: Pursuant to section 408 of ERISA, the Department has authority to grant an exemption from the prohibitions of sections 406 and 407(a) if it can determine that the exemption is administratively feasible, in the interest of participants and beneficiaries, and protective of the rights of participants and beneficiaries of the plan.

Prohibited

Transaction Class Exemption 85-68 describes the conditions under which a plan is permitted to acquire customer notes accepted by an employer of employees covered by the plan in the ordinary course of the employer's primary business activity. The exemption covers sales as well as contributions of customer notes by an employer to its plan. Specifically, the exemption requires that the employer provide a written guarantee to repurchase a note which becomes more than 60 days delinquent, that such notes be secured by a perfected security interest in the property financed by the note, and that the collateral be insured. This ICR requires that records pertaining to the transaction be maintained for a period of six years for the purpose of ensuring that the transactions are protective of the rights of participants and beneficiaries.

The Department believes that the applicable financial records would normally be maintained for purposes satisfying the requirement of the annual financial report (Form 5500) that is approved under OMB control number 1210-0110; therefore, only 1 burden hour is requested for this OMB control number.