Proposed Extension of Information Collection Requests Submitted for Public Comment: Definition of “Plan Assets”-Participant Contributions; Final Rules and Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2006-16 Relating to Terminated Individual Account Plans; Etc., 20650-20654 [2012-8206]

Agencies

• Employee Benefits Security Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 66 (Thursday, April 5, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20650-20654]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-8206]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Proposed Extension of Information Collection Requests Submitted 
for Public Comment: Definition of ``Plan Assets''--Participant 
Contributions; Final Rules and Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 
2006-16 Relating to Terminated Individual Account Plans; Etc.

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 (https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain).

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the 
Addresses section on or before June 4, 2012.

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

I. 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: Definition of ``Plan Assets''--Participant Contributions.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved information 
collection.
    OMB Number: 1210-0100.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; not-for-profit 
institutions; individuals.
    Respondents: 1.
    Responses: 251.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $1,025.
    Description: The regulation concerning plan assets and participant 
contributions provides guidance for fiduciaries, participants, and 
beneficiaries of employee benefit plans regarding how participant 
contributions to pension plans must be handled when they are either 
paid to the employer by the participant or directly withheld by the 
employer from the employee's wages for transmission to the pension 
plan. In particular, the regulation sets standards for the timely 
delivery of such participant contributions, including an outside time 
limit for the employer's holding of participant contributions. In 
addition, for those employers who may have difficulty meeting the 
regulation's outside deadlines for transmitting participant 
contribution, the regulation (29 CFR 2510.3-102(d) provides the 
opportunity for the employer to obtain an extension of the time limit 
by providing participants and the Department with a notice that 
contains specified information. The ICR pertains to this notice 
requirement. The Department previously requested review of this 
information collection and obtained approval from the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under OMB control number 1210-0100. That 
approval is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2012.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Final Rules and Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2006-
16 relating to Terminated Individual Account Plans.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0127.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 37,822.
    Responses: 100.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,433.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$3,366,300.
    Description: The abandoned plan initiative includes the following 
actions, which impose the following information collections:
    1. Qualified Termination Administrator (QTA) Regulation: The QTA 
regulation creates an orderly and efficient process by which a 
financial institution that holds the assets of a plan that is deemed to 
have been abandoned may undertake to terminate the plan and distribute 
its assets to participants and beneficiaries holding accounts under the 
plan, with protections and approval of the Department under the 
standards of the regulation. The regulation requires the QTA to provide 
certain notices to the Department, to participants and beneficiaries, 
and to the plan sponsor (or service providers to the plan, if 
necessary), and to keep certain records pertaining to the termination.
    2. Abandoned Plan Terminal Report Regulation: The terminal report 
regulation provides an alternative, simplified method for a QTA to 
satisfy the annual report requirement otherwise applicable to a 
terminating plan by filing a special simplified terminal report with 
the Department after terminating an abandoned plan and

[[Page 20651]]

distributing its accounts to participants and beneficiaries.
    3. Terminated Plan Distribution Regulation: The terminated plan 
distribution regulation establishes a safe harbor method by which 
fiduciaries who are terminating individual account pension plans 
(whether abandoned or not) may select an investment vehicle to receive 
account balances distributed from the terminated plan when the 
participant has failed to provide investment instructions. The 
regulation requires the fiduciaries to provide advance notice to 
participants and beneficiaries of how such distributions will be 
invested, if no other investment instructions are provided.
    4. Abandoned Plan Class Exemption: The exemption permits a QTA that 
terminates an abandoned plan under the QTA regulation to receive 
payment for its services from the abandoned plan and to distribute the 
account balance of a participant who has failed to provide investment 
direction into an individual retirement account (IRA) maintained by the 
QTA or an affiliate. Without the exemption, financial institutions 
could be unable to receive payment for services rendered out of plan 
assets without violating ERISA's prohibited transaction provisions and 
would therefore be highly unlikely to undertake the termination of 
abandoned plans. The exemption includes the condition that the QTA keep 
records of the distributions for a period of six years and make such 
records available on request to interested persons (including the 
Department and participants and beneficiaries). If a QTA wishes to be 
paid out of plan assets for services provided prior to becoming a QTA, 
the exemption requires that the QTA enter into a written agreement with 
a plan fiduciary or the plan sponsor prior to receiving payment and 
that a copy of the agreement be provided to the Department.
    5. PTE 2004-16 (Automatic Rollover Exemption): Also included in 
this ICR are the notice and recordkeeping requirements contained in PTE 
2004-16, which permits a pension plan fiduciary that is a financial 
institution and is also the employer maintaining an individual account 
pension plan for its employees to establish, on behalf of its separated 
employees, an IRA at a financial institution that is either the 
employer or an affiliate, which IRA would receive mandatory 
distributions that the fiduciary ``rolls over'' from the plan when an 
employee terminates employment.
    Because all of these regulations and exemptions relate to 
terminating or abandoned plans and/or to distribution and rollover of 
distributed benefits for which no participant investment election has 
been made, the Department has combined the paperwork burden for all of 
these actions into one ICR. In the Department's view, this combination 
allows the public to have a better understanding of the aggregate 
burden imposed on the public for these related regulatory actions. OMB 
approved the ICR under OMB control number 1210-0127, which is scheduled 
to expire on July 31, 2012.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: ERISA Summary Annual Report.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0040.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 716,000.
    Responses: 156,047,000.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 2,142,100.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): 
$46,551,000.
    Description: Section 104(b)(3) of ERISA and the regulation 
published at 29 CFR 2520.104b-10 require, with certain exceptions, that 
administrators of employee benefit plans furnish annually to each 
participant and certain beneficiaries a summary annual report (SAR) 
meeting the requirements of the statute and regulation. The regulation 
prescribes the content and format of the SAR and the timing of its 
delivery. The SAR provides current information about the plan and 
assists those who receive it in understanding the plan's current 
financial operation and condition. It also explains participants' and 
beneficiaries' rights to receive further information on these issues.
    EBSA previously submitted the information collection provisions in 
the regulation at 29 CFR 2520.104b-10 to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review in an information collection request (ICR). OMB 
approved the ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-0040. The ICR approval is 
scheduled to expire on August 31, 2012.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2002-12, Cross-Trades of 
Securities by Index and Model-Driven Funds.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0115.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 60.
    Responses: 840.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 855.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $509.
    Description: PTE 2002-12 exempts certain transactions that would be 
prohibited under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
(the Act or ERISA) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act 
(FERSA), and provides relief from certain sanctions of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). The exemption permits cross-trades of 
securities among Index and Model-Driven Funds (Funds) managed by 
managers (Managers), and among such Funds and certain large accounts 
(Large Accounts) that engage such Managers to carry out a specific 
portfolio restructuring program or to otherwise act as a ``trading 
adviser'' for such a program. By removing existing barriers to these 
types of transactions, the exemption increases the incidences of cross-
trading, thereby lowering the transaction costs to plans in a number of 
ways from what they would be otherwise.
    In order for the Department to grant an exemption for a transaction 
or class of transactions that would otherwise be prohibited under 
ERISA, the statute requires the Department to make a finding that the 
exemption is administratively feasible, in the interest of the plan and 
its participants and beneficiaries, and protective of the rights of the 
participants and beneficiaries. To ensure that Managers have complied 
with the requirements of the exemption, the Department has included in 
the exemption certain recordkeeping and disclosure obligations that are 
designed to safeguard plan assets by periodically providing information 
to plan fiduciaries, who generally must be independent about the cross-
trading program. Initially, where plans are not invested in Funds, 
Managers must furnish information to plan fiduciaries about the cross-
trading program, provide a statement that the Manager will have a 
potentially conflicting division of loyalties, and obtain written 
authorization from a plan fiduciary for a plan to participate in a 
cross-trading program. For plans that are currently invested in Funds, 
the Manager must provide annual notices to update the plan fiduciary 
and provide the plan with an opportunity to withdraw from the program. 
For Large Accounts, prior to the cross-trade, the Manager must

[[Page 20652]]

provide information about the cross-trading program and obtain written 
authorization from the fiduciary of a Large Account to engage in cross-
trading in connection with a portfolio restructuring program. Following 
completion of the Large Account's restructuring, information must be 
provided by the Manager about all cross-trades executed in connection 
with a portfolio-restructuring program. Finally, the exemption requires 
that Managers maintain for a period of 6 years from the date of each 
cross-trade the records necessary to enable plan fiduciaries and 
certain other persons specified in the exemption (e.g., Department 
representatives or contributing employers), to determine whether the 
conditions of the exemption have been met.
    EBSA previously submitted the information collection provisions of 
PTE 2002-12 to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review in 
connection with promulgation of the prohibited transaction exemption. 
OMB approved the information collection request (ICR) under OMB Control 
No. 1210-0115. The ICR approval is currently scheduled to expire on 
August 31, 2012.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 91-38; Exemption for 
Certain Transactions Involving Bank Collective Investment Funds.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0082.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 3,600.
    Responses: 3,600.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 600.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: PTE 91-38 provides an exemption from the prohibited 
transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 (ERISA) for certain transactions between a bank collective 
investment fund and persons who are parties in interest with respect to 
an employee benefit plan. Without the exemption, sections 406 and 
407(a) of ERISA and section 4975(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code may 
prohibit transactions between the collective investment fund (CIF) and 
a party in interest to one or more of the employee benefit plans 
participating in the collective investment fund. Under PTE 91-38, a 
collective investment fund generally may engage in transactions with 
parties in interest to a plan that invests in the fund as long as the 
plan's total investment in the fund does not exceed a specified 
percentage of the total assets of the fund. The PTE also contains more 
limited or differently defined relief for funds holding more than the 
specified percentage, for multiemployer plans, and for transactions 
involving employer securities and employer real property. In order to 
ensure that the rights of participants and beneficiaries are protected, 
and that bank collective investment funds can demonstrate compliance 
with the terms of the exemption, the Department requires a bank to 
maintain records regarding the exempted transactions and make them 
available for inspection to specified interested persons (including the 
Department and the Internal Revenue Service) on request for a period of 
six years.
    EBSA previously submitted the information collection provisions of 
PTE 91-38 to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review in an 
ICR that was approved under the OMB Control No. 1210-0083. The current 
approval is scheduled to expire on August 31, 2012.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: PTE 90-1--Pooled Separate Accounts.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0083.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 60.
    Responses: 60.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 100.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: PTE 90-1 provides an exemption from certain provisions 
of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) relating 
to transactions involving insurance company pooled separate accounts in 
which employee benefit plans participate. Without the exemption, 
sections 406 and 407(a) of ERISA and section 4975(c)(1) of the Internal 
Revenue Code might prohibit a party in interest to a plan from 
furnishing goods or services to an insurance company pooled separate 
account in which the plan has an interest, or prohibit engaging in 
other transactions. Under the exemption, persons who are parties in 
interest to a plan that invests in a pooled separate account, such as a 
service provider, may engage in otherwise prohibited transactions with 
the separate account if the plan's participation in the separate 
account does not exceed specified limits and other conditions are met. 
These other conditions include a requirement that the party in interest 
not be the insurance company, or an affiliate thereof, that holds the 
plan assets in its pooled separate account or other separate account. 
The terms of the transaction to which the exemption is applied must be 
at least as favorable to the pooled separate account as those that 
would be obtained in a separate arms-length transaction with an 
unrelated party, and the insurance company must maintain records of any 
transaction to which the exemption applies for a period of six years. 
This ICR covers this recordkeeping requirement.
    The Department previously submitted this information collection to 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in an ICR that was approved 
under the OMB Control Number 1210-0083. The current approval is 
scheduled to expire on August 31, 2012.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Foreign Exchange Transactions; PTE 94-20.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0085.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for profit institutions.
    Respondents: 279.
    Responses: 1,395.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 230.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: PTE 94-20 permits the purchase and sale of foreign 
currencies between an employee benefit plan and a bank, broker-dealer, 
or an affiliate thereof, that is a trustee, custodian, fiduciary, or 
other party in interest with respect to the plan. The exemption is 
available provided that the transaction is directed (within the meaning 
of section IV(e) of the exemption) by a plan fiduciary that is 
independent of the bank, broker-dealer, or affiliate and all other 
conditions of the exemption are satisfied. Without this exemption, 
certain aspects of these transactions might be prohibited by section 
406(a) of ERISA. To protect the interests of participants and 
beneficiaries of the employee benefit plan, the exemption requires that 
the party wishing to take advantage of the exemption (1) Develop 
written policies and procedures applicable to trading in foreign 
currencies on behalf of an employee

[[Page 20653]]

benefit plan; (2) provide a written confirmation with respect to each 
transaction in foreign currency to the independent plan fiduciary, 
disclosing specified information; and (3) maintain records pertaining 
to the transaction for a period of six years. This ICR relates to the 
foregoing disclosure and recordkeeping requirements.
    EBSA previously submitted the information collection provisions of 
PTE 94-20 to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review in 
connection with promulgation of the prohibited transaction exemption. 
OMB approved the information collection request (ICR) under OMB Control 
No. 1210-0085. The ICR approval is currently scheduled to expire on 
August 31, 2012.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: PTE 97-41, Collective Investment Funds Conversion 
Transactions.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0104.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 50.
    Responses: 105.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,756.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $310,000.
    Description: Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 97-41 provides 
an exemption from the prohibited transaction provisions of the 
Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and from 
certain taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The 
exemption permits employee benefit plans to purchase shares of one or 
more open-end investment companies (funds) registered under the 
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 by transferring in-kind, to the 
investment company, assets of the plan that are part of a collective 
investment fund (CIF) maintained by a bank or plan advisor that is both 
a fiduciary of the plan and an investment advisor to the investment 
company offering the fund.
    The exemption requires that an independent fiduciary receive 
advance written notice of any covered transaction, as well as specific 
written information concerning the mutual funds to be purchased. The 
independent fiduciary must also provide written advance approval of 
conversion transactions and receive written confirmation of each 
transaction, as well as additional on-going disclosures as defined in 
PTE 97-41. These disclosures are the basis for this ICR.
    EBSA previously submitted the information collection provisions of 
PTE 97-41 to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review in 
connection with promulgation of the prohibited transaction exemption. 
OMB approved the information collection request (ICR) under OMB Control 
No. 1210-0104. The ICR approval is currently scheduled to expire on 
August 31, 2012.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2004-07, Transactions with 
Trust REIT Shares.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0124.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 38.
    Responses: 79,800.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 3,990.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $201,894.
    Description: PTE 2004-07 exempts from certain prohibited 
transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 (ERISA) and from certain taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 (the Code), the acquisition, holding, sale, and 
contribution in kind of publicly traded shares of beneficial interest 
in a real estate investment trust that is structured under State law as 
a business trust (Trust REIT), on behalf of and to individual account 
plans sponsored by the REIT or its affiliates, provided that certain 
conditions are met.
    The exemption allows individual account plans (Plans) established 
by Trust REITS to offer a beneficial interest in the Trust REIT in the 
form of Qualifying REIT Shares, as defined in the exemption, to 
participants in Plans sponsored by the REIT or its employer affiliates, 
to require that employer contributions be used to purchase such shares, 
and to permit ``contributions in kind'' of such shares to these Plans 
by employers.
    The exemption conditions relief on compliance with a number of 
information collection requirements. These information collections are 
to be provided or made available to plan participants and fiduciaries 
in order to inform them about investments in Qualifying REIT Shares and 
the conditions of the exemption permitting share transactions. Records 
sufficient to allow them to determine whether the exemption conditions 
are met must also be maintained, and made available to them upon 
request, for a period of six years. These records must also be made 
available on request to employers and employee organizations with 
employees and members covered by a Plan of the Trust REIT or one of its 
employer affiliates, and to authorized employees and representatives of 
the Department and the Internal Revenue Service. EBSA submitted an ICR 
for the information collections in PTE 2004-07 to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in connection with 
proposal of the class exemption, which was published in the Federal 
Register on June 3, 2003 (68 FR 33185). OMB approved the ICR under OMB 
control number 1210-0124. The ICR approval is currently scheduled to 
expire on August 31, 2012.

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Notice of Research Exception Under The Genetic Information 
Nondiscrimination Act.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0136.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
    Respondents: 3.
    Responses: 3.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $10.
    Description: The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 
(GINA), Public Law 110-233, was enacted on May 21, 2008. Title I of 
GINA amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 
(ERISA), the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 (Code), and the Social Security Act (SSA) to prohibit 
discrimination in health coverage based on genetic information. 
Sections 101 through 103 of Title I of GINA prevent employment-based 
group health plans and health insurance issuers in the group and 
individual markets from discriminating based on genetic information, 
and from collecting such information. The interim final regulations, 
which are codified at 29 CFR 2590.702A, only interpret Sections 101 
through 103 of Title I of GINA.
    While GINA does not mandate any specific benefits for health care 
services related to genetic tests, diseases, conditions, or genetic 
services, GINA establishes rules that generally prohibit a group health 
plan and a health insurance issuer in the group market from:

[[Page 20654]]

     Increasing the group premium or contribution amounts based 
on genetic information;
     Requesting or requiring an individual or family member to 
undergo a genetic test; and
     Requesting, requiring or purchasing genetic information 
prior to or in connection with enrollment, or at any time for 
underwriting purposes.
    GINA and the interim final regulations (29 CFR 2590.702A(c)(5)) 
provide a research exception to the limitations on requesting or 
requiring genetic testing that allow a group health plan or group 
health insurance issuer to request, but not require, a participant or 
beneficiary to undergo a genetic test if all of the following 
conditions of the research exception are satisfied:
     The request must be made pursuant to research that 
complies with 45 CFR Part 46 (or equivalent Federal regulations) and 
any applicable State or local law or regulations for the protection of 
human subjects in research. To comply with the informed consent 
requirements of 45 CFR 46.116(a)(8), a participant must receive a 
disclosure that participation in the research is voluntary, refusal to 
participate cannot involve any penalty or loss of benefits to which the 
participant is otherwise entitled, and the participant may discontinue 
participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which 
the participant is entitled (the Participant Disclosure). The interim 
final regulations provide that when the Participant Disclosure is 
received by participants seeking their informed consent, no additional 
disclosures are required for purposes of the GINA research exception.
     The plan or issuer must make the request in writing and 
must clearly indicate to each participant or beneficiary (or in the 
case of a minor child, to the legal guardian of such beneficiary) to 
whom the request is made that compliance with the request is voluntary 
and noncompliance will have no effect on eligibility for benefits or 
premium or contribution amounts.
     None of the genetic information collected or acquired as a 
result of the research may be used for underwriting purposes.
     The plan or issuer must complete a copy of the ``Notice of 
Research Exception under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination 
Act'' (the Notice) and provide it to the address specified in its 
instructions. The Notice and instructions are available on the 
Department of Labor's Web site (https://www.dol.gov/ebsa).
    The Participant Disclosure and the Notice are the information 
collection requests (ICRs) contained in the interim final rules. The 
Department previously requested review of this information collection 
and obtained approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
under OMB control number 1210-0136. The ICR is scheduled to expire on 
August 31, 2012.

II. Focus of Comments

    The Department is particularly interested in comments that:
     Evaluate whether the collections of information are 
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 
collections 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., 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.

    Dated: March 30, 2012.
Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2012-8206 Filed 4-4-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P