Employee Benefits Security Administration March 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains a notice of a proposed class exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and from certain taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). If granted, the proposed class exemption would permit a ``qualified termination administrator'' (QTA) of an individual account plan that has been abandoned by its sponsoring employer to select itself or an affiliate to provide services to the plan in connection with the termination of the plan, and to pay itself or an affiliate fees for those services. The proposed exemption also would permit a qualified termination administrator of an abandoned plan to: Designate itself or an affiliate as provider of an individual retirement plan or other account; select a proprietary investment product as the initial investment for the rollover distribution of benefits for a participant or beneficiary who fails to make an election regarding the disposition of such benefits; and pay itself or its affiliate fees in connection therewith. This exemption is being proposed in connection with the Department's proposed regulation to be promulgated at 29 CFR 2578, relating to the Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans, and 2550.404a-3, relating to the Safe Harbor For Rollover Distributions from Terminated Individual Account Plans, which are being published simultaneously in this issue of the Federal Register. The proposed exemption, if granted, would affect individual account plans, the participants and beneficiaries of such plans, certain plan service providers, and the fiduciaries of such plans.

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA 95). This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Employee Benefits Security Administration is soliciting comments on the proposed extension of an information collection request (ICR) incorporated in the Final Rules relating to the use of electronic communication and recordkeeping technologies by employee pension and welfare benefit plans (29 CFR 2520.104b-1). A copy of the information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the individual shown in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.