Agency Information Collection Activities; Request for Public Comment, 62208-62212 [2021-24498]

Agencies

• Employee Benefits Security Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 9, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62208-62212]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24498]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Request for Public 
Comment

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Department of 
Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act, 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 January 10, 2022.

ADDRESSES: James Butikofer, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5718, 
Washington, DC 20210, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Current Actions

    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 transaction exemptions 
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: Bank Collective Investment Funds, Prohibited Transaction 
Class Exemption 1991-38.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0082.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions..
    Respondents: 7,719.
    Responses: 7,719.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,287.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 91-38 
provides an exemption from the restrictions of sections 406(a), 
406(b)(2), and 407(a) of ERISA for certain transactions between a bank 
collective investment fund in which an employee benefit plan has 
invested assets and persons who are parties in interest to the employee 
benefit plan, as long as the plan's total participation in the 
collective investment fund does not exceed 10 percent of the total 
assets in the collective investment fund. In addition, the bank 
managing the common investment fund must not itself be a party in 
interest to the participating plan, the terms of the transaction must 
be at least as favorable to the collective investment fund as those 
available in an arm's length transaction with an unrelated party, and 
the bank must maintain records of the transactions for six years and 
make the records available for inspection to specified interested 
persons (including the Department and the Internal Revenue Service).
    The information collections relates to recordkeeping and disclosure 
on request to the Department and other interested persons. The 
information collection requirements allow the Department, the Internal 
Revenue Service, and other interested persons to verify that the bank 
collective investment fund has complied with the conditions of the 
exemption. These conditions are necessary, as required under section 
408(a) of ERISA, to ensure that respondents rely on the exemption only 
in the circumstances protective of plan participants and beneficiaries. 
The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under OMB 
Control No. 1210-0082. The current approval is scheduled to expire on 
April 30, 2022.

[[Page 62209]]

    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: PTE 1990-1; Insurance Company Pooled Separate Accounts.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0083.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 102.
    Responses: 1,020.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 170.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 90-1 
provides an exemption from the restrictions of section 406, in part, 
for certain transactions between insurance company pooled separate 
accounts and parties in interest to plans that invest assets in the 
pooled separate accounts. PTE 90-1 provides a general exemption for any 
transaction between a party in interest with respect to a plan and an 
insurance company pooled separate account in which the plan has an 
interest (or any acquisition or holding by the pooled separate account 
of employer securities or employer real estate), provided that the 
party in interest is not the insurance company (or an affiliate of the 
insurance company) and that the amount of the plan's investment in the 
separate account does not exceed certain specified percentages (or that 
the separate account is a specialized account with a policy of 
investing substantially all of its assets in short-term obligations).
    PTE 90-1 also provides specific, additional relief for the 
following types of transactions with a party in interest: (1) 
Furnishing goods to an insurance company pooled separate account, (2) 
leasing of real property of the pooled separate account, (3) 
transactions involving persons who are parties in interest to a plan 
merely because they are service providers or provide nondiscretionary 
services to the plan; (4) the insurance company's provision of real 
property management services in connection with real property 
investments of the pooled separate account, and (5) furnishing of 
services, facilities and goods by a place of public accommodation owned 
by the separate account.
    In addition to other specified conditions, the insurance company 
intending to rely on the general exemption or any of the specific 
exemptions must maintain records of the transactions to which the 
exemption applies for a period of six years and make the records 
available on request to specified interested persons (including plan 
fiduciaries, the Department, and the Internal Revenue Service). This 
information collection requirement is considered necessary in order to 
ensure that the exemption meets the standards of section 408(a) of 
ERISA. The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under 
OMB Control No. 1210-0083. The current approval is scheduled to expire 
on April 30, 2022.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Foreign Currency Transactions, Prohibited Transaction Class 
Exemption 1994-20.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0085.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Respondents: 243.
    Responses: 1,215.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 203.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.
    Description: PTE 94-20 permits banks, broker-dealers, and their 
affiliates that are parties in interest to a plan to engage in foreign 
currency transactions with the plan, provided the transaction is 
directed by a plan fiduciary independent of the bank, broker-dealer, 
and their affiliates and that certain other conditions are satisfied.
    To protect the interests of participants and beneficiaries of the 
employee benefit plan, the exemption requires, among other things, that 
a bank, broker-dealer, and their affiliates wishing to rely on the 
exemption (1) maintain written policies and procedures applicable to 
trading in foreign currencies with an employee benefit plan; (2) 
provide a written confirmation statement of each foreign currency 
transaction to the independent plan fiduciary directing the transaction 
for the plan; and (3) maintain records of the transactions for a period 
of six years and make them available upon request to specified 
interested persons, including plan fiduciaries, participants and 
beneficiaries, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department. The 
Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under OMB 
Control No. 1210-0085. The current approval is scheduled to expire on 
April 30, 2022.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Settlement Agreements Between a Plan and a Party in 
Interest.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0091.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 4.
    Responses: 1,080.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 23.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $275.
    Description: This information collection request (ICR) relates to 
two prohibited transaction class exemptions (PTEs) that the Department 
has granted, both of which involve settlement agreements.
    Granted on October 7, 1994, PTE 94-71 exempts from certain 
restrictions of ERISA and certain taxes imposed by the Code, a 
transaction or activity that is authorized, prior to the execution of 
the transaction or activity, by a settlement agreement resulting from 
an investigation of an employee benefit plan conducted by the 
Department. The following information collections are among the 
conditions for the exemption: (1) Written Notice. A party engaging in a 
settlement agreement arising out of a Department investigation must 
provide written notice to the affected participants and beneficiaries 
of the plan. The notice must contain an objective description of the 
transaction or activity, the approximate date on which the transaction 
will occur, the address of the regional or district office of the 
Department that negotiated the settlement agreement, and a statement 
informing participants and beneficiaries of their right to forward 
their comments to such office. (2) Pre-Approval. A copy of the notice 
and a description of the method by which it will be distributed must be 
approved in advance by the regional or district office of the 
Department which negotiated the settlement.
    Granted on December 31, 2003, and later amended on June 15, 2010, 
PTE 2003-39 exempts from certain restrictions of ERISA and certain 
taxes imposed by the Code, transactions arising out of the settlement 
of litigation that involve the release of claims against parties in 
interest in exchange for payment by or on behalf of the party in 
interest, provided that certain conditions are met, such as the 
requirement of an independent fiduciary who has no relationship to any 
parties in the litigation to authorize the settlement. The other 
conditions include the following information collections: (1) Written 
Agreement. The terms of the settlement must be specifically described 
in a written agreement or consent decree. (2) Acknowledgement by 
Fiduciary. The fiduciary acting on behalf of the plan must acknowledge 
in writing that s/he

[[Page 62210]]

is a fiduciary with respect to the settlement of the litigation.
    The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under 
OMB Control No. 1210-0091. The current approval is scheduled to expire 
on April 30, 2022.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Definition of Plan Assets--Participant Contributions.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0100.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 1.
    Responses: 251.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 8.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $1,626.
    Description: The Department's regulation at 29 CFR 2510.3-102 
states that monies that a participant pays to, or has withheld by, an 
employer for contribution to an employee benefit plan become ``plan 
assets'' for purposes of Title I of ERISA and the related prohibited 
transaction provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) as of 
the earliest date on which such monies can be reasonably segregated 
from the employer's general assets. With respect to employee pension 
benefit plans, the regulation further sets a maximum time limit for 
such contributions: The 15th business day following the end of the 
month in which the participant contribution amounts are received or 
withheld by the employer. Under ERISA, ``plan assets'' cannot be held 
by the employer as part of its general assets, but must be contributed 
to the employee benefit plan to which they belong and, with few 
exceptions, held in trust. With respect to small plans (those with less 
than 100 participants), a safe harbor period exists under which 
participant contributions will be deemed to comply with the law if 
those amounts are deposited with the plan within seven business days of 
receipt or withholding.
    The regulation includes a procedure through which an employer 
receiving or withholding participant contributions for an employee 
pension benefit plan may obtain a 10-business-day extension of the 15-
day maximum time period if certain requirements, including information 
collection requirements, are met. The regulation requires, among other 
things, that the employer provide written notice to plan participants, 
within five business days after the end of the extension period and the 
employer's transfer of the contributions to the plan, which the 
employer elected to take the extension for that month. The notice must 
explain why the employer could not transfer the participant 
contributions within the maximum time period, state that the 
participant contributions in question have in fact been transmitted to 
the plan, and provide the date on which this was done. The employer 
must also provide a copy of the participant notice to the Secretary, 
along with a certification that the notice was distributed to 
participants and that the other requirements under the extension 
procedure were met, within five business days after the end of the 
extension period.
    The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under 
OMB Control No. 1210-0100. The current approval is scheduled to expire 
on April 30, 2022.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Collective Investment Funds Conversion Transactions, 
Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 1997-41.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0104.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits, Not-for-profit 
institutions..
    Respondents: 50.
    Responses: 105.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 1,760.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $508,282.
    Description: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 97-41 permits 
an employee benefit plan to purchase shares of a registered open-end 
investment company (mutual fund) in exchange for plan assets 
transferred from a collective investment fund (CIF) maintained by a 
bank or plan adviser, even though the bank or plan adviser is the 
investment adviser for the mutual fund and also serves as a fiduciary 
for the plan, provided that the purchase and transfer is in connection 
with a complete withdrawal of the plan's investment in the CIF and 
certain other conditions are met.
    Among other conditions, the exemption requires the bank or plan 
adviser to provide an independent fiduciary of the plan with advance 
written notice of the proposed transfer and full written disclosure of 
information concerning the mutual fund, including the current 
prospectus; disclosure of the investment advisory and other fees the 
plan will be charged or pay to the bank or any unrelated third party, 
including the nature and extent of any differential between the rates 
of the fees; the reasons why the bank or plan adviser considers the in-
kind transfers appropriate for the plan; and a statement of whether 
there are any limitations applicable to the bank with respect to which 
plan assets may be invested in the mutual fund and, if so, the nature 
of such limitations; and the identity of securities that will have to 
be valued for the transfer. The independent fiduciary must give prior 
written approval of the transfer (and written approval of any 
electronic transmission of subsequent confirmations from the bank or 
plan adviser); and the bank or adviser must send written (or 
electronic, if approved) confirmation of the transfer. Subsequent to a 
transfer, the bank or plan adviser must provide the plan with updated 
prospectuses at least annually for mutual funds in which the plan 
remains invested; the bank or plan adviser must also provide, upon the 
independent fiduciary's request, a report or statement of all fees paid 
by the mutual fund to the bank or plan adviser, which may be in the 
form of the most recent financial report.
    The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under 
OMB Control No. 1210-0104. The current approval is scheduled to expire 
on April 30, 2022.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption for Cross-Trades of 
Securities by Index and Model-Driven Funds (PTE 2002-12).
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0115.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 60.
    Responses: 840.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 855.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $1,146.
    Description: PTE 2002-12 permits private-sector pension plans and 
the Federal Thrift Savings Plan to invest plan assets in certain types 
of investment funds that participate in passive or model-driven 
``cross-trading'' (purchase and sale of securities) programs pursuant 
to objective criteria specified in the exemption. Cross-trades occur 
whenever a manager causes the purchase and sale of a particular 
security to be made directly between two or more investment funds under 
his/her management. If one or both of the funds contain invested assets 
of a pension plan, the cross-trade could constitute a prohibited 
transaction, in the absence of the exemption.
    In order to grant a class exemption under section 408(a) of ERISA, 
section 8477(c)(3) of FERSA, and section

[[Page 62211]]

4975(c)(2) of the Code, the Department must determine 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. In order to protect the participants 
and beneficiaries of plans that invest in cross-traded Funds, the 
Department included specific disclosure and recordkeeping requirements 
as conditions to the exemption. These information collections are 
designed to safeguard plan assets by requiring that managers relying on 
the exemption both periodically provide information on the cross-
trading programs to independent plan fiduciaries and keep detailed 
records about cross-trades conducted in reliance on the exemption. The 
Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under OMB 
Control No. 1210-0115. The current approval is scheduled to expire on 
April 30, 2022.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of 
Labor.
    Title: Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0118.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 1,621.
    Responses: 207,209.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,295.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $551,111.
    Description: This information collection arises from two related 
actions: The Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (the VFC Program or 
the Program) and Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 2002-51 
(the VFC Exemption or the Exemption). The Department adopted the 
Program and the Exemption in order to encourage members of the public 
to voluntarily correct transactions that violate (or are suspected of 
violating) the fiduciary or prohibited transaction provisions of the 
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The 
information collection provisions of the Program and the Exemption 
include third-party disclosures, recordkeeping, and disclosures to the 
Federal government, which enable the Department to oversee the 
appropriate use of the Program and the Exemption. The Department has 
received approval from OMB for this ICR under OMB Control No. 1210-
0118. The current approval is scheduled to expire on April 30, 2022.
    Title: Acquisition and Sale of Trust Real Estate Investment Trust 
Shares by Individual Account Plans Sponsored by Trust Real Estate 
Investment Trusts.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0124.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 69.
    Responses: 144,900.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,457.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $459,333.
    Description: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2004-07 permits an 
individual account pension plan sponsored by a real estate investment 
trust (REIT) that is organized as a business trust under State law 
(Trust REIT), or by its affiliates, to purchase, hold and sell publicly 
traded shares of beneficial interest in the Trust REIT. The relief also 
covers contributions in-kind of REIT shares. Such purchases, holdings, 
and sales would otherwise be prohibited under sections 406 of ERISA and 
4975 of the Code.
    The class exemption requires, among other conditions, that the 
Trust REIT (or its agent) provide the person who has authority to 
direct acquisition or sale of REIT shares with the most recent 
prospectus, quarterly report, and annual report concerning the Trust 
REIT immediately before an initial investment in the Trust REIT. The 
person with such authority may be, under the terms of the plan, either 
an independent fiduciary or a participant exercising investment rights 
pertaining to his or her individual account under the plan. Updated 
versions of the reports must be provided to the directing person as 
subsequently published. The exemption further requires the plan to 
maintain records concerning investments in a Trust REIT, subject to 
appropriate confidentiality procedures, for a period of six years and 
make them available to interested persons including the Department and 
participants and beneficiaries. The confidentiality procedures must be 
designed to protect against the possibility that an employer may exert 
undue influence on participants regarding share-related transactions, 
and the participants and beneficiaries of the plan must be provided 
with a statement describing the confidentiality procedures in place and 
the fiduciary responsible for monitoring these procedures. The 
Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under OMB 
Control No. 1210-0124. The current approval is scheduled to expire on 
April 30, 2022.
    Title: Abandoned Individual Account Plan Termination, 404a-3.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0127.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Respondents: 25,105.
    Responses: 1,014,463.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 37,680.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $562,225.
    Description: This information collections relates to the three 
regulations and exemption 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 abandoned plan 
initiative includes the following actions, which impose the following 
information collections.
    (1) The Qualified Termination Administrator (QTA) Regulation (29 CR 
2578.1) 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) The Abandoned Plan Terminal Report Regulation (29 CFR 2520.103-
11) 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 distributing its 
accounts to participants and beneficiaries.
    (3) The Terminated Plan Distribution Regulation (29 CFR 2550.404a-
3) 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.

[[Page 62212]]

    (4) The Abandoned Plan Class Exemption (PTE 2006-06) 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. One of the conditions of the exemption requires 
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 the QTA to enter into a written 
agreement with a plan fiduciary or the plan sponsor prior to receiving 
payment and a copy of the agreement to be provided to the Department.
    The Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under 
OMB Control No. 1210-0127. The current approval is scheduled to expire 
on April 30, 2022.
    Title: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 Research 
Exception Notice.
    Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of 
information.
    OMB Number: 1210-0136.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions, Businesses or other 
for-profits.
    Respondents: 24.
    Responses: 24.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 6.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $83.
    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 (the 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.
    GINA and the interim final regulations (29 CFR 2590.702A(c)(5)) 
provide an exception to the limitations on requesting or requiring 
genetic testing that allows 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.
    (1) 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 anytime 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 when their informed consent is sought, no 
additional disclosures are required for purposes of the GINA research 
exception.
    (2) 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, premium, 
or contribution amounts.
    (3) None of the genetic information collected or acquired as a 
result of the research may be used for underwriting purposes.
    (4) 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 Department has received approval from OMB for this ICR under 
OMB Control No. 1210-0136. The current approval is scheduled to expire 
on April 30, 2022.

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.
     Evaluate the effectiveness of the additional demographic 
questions.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the ICR for OMB approval of the information 
collection; they will also become a matter of public record.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 29th day of October, 2021.
Ali Khawar,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, 
U.S. Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2021-24498 Filed 11-8-21; 8:45 am]
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