Employee Benefits Security Administration December 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This 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 concerning the extension of a currently approved collection of information, Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption T88- 1. A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

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) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). This 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 concerning the extension of a currently approved collection of information, Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 96-62. A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addresses section of this notice.

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 (EBSA) is soliciting comments concerning the proposed extension of a currently approved collection of information, Class Exemption 77-4 for certain transactions between investment companies and employee benefit plans. A copy of the proposed information collection request (ICR) can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

This document contains a proposed regulation that, upon adoption, would establish procedures relating to the assessment of civil penalties by the Department of Labor under section 502(c)(4) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act). The regulation is necessary to reflect recent amendments to section 502(c)(4) by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, under which the Secretary of Labor is granted authority to assess civil penalties not to exceed $1,000 per day for each violation of section 101(j), (k), or (l), or section 514(e)(3) of ERISA. The regulation would affect employee benefit plans, plan administrators and sponsors, fiduciaries, as well as participants, beneficiaries, employee representatives, and certain employers.

This document contains exemptions issued by the Department of Labor (the Department) from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). A notice was published in the Federal Register of the pendency before the Department of a proposal to grant such exemption. The notice set forth a summary of facts and representations contained in the application for exemption and referred interested persons to the application for a complete statement of the facts and representations. The application has been available for public inspection at the Department in Washington, DC. The notice also invited interested persons to submit comments on the requested exemption to the Department. In addition the notice stated that any interested person might submit a written request that a public hearing be held (where appropriate). The applicant has represented that it has complied with the requirements of the notification to interested persons. No requests for a hearing were received by the Department. Public comments were received by the Department as described in the granted exemption. The notice of proposed exemption was issued and the exemption is being granted solely by the Department because, effective December 31, 1978, section 102 of Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978, 5 U.S.C. App. 1 (1996), transferred the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to issue exemptions of the type proposed to the Secretary of Labor.

This document contains a notice of pendency before the Department of Labor (the Department) of a proposed class exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (the Act or ERISA). If granted, the proposed exemption would relieve a plan fiduciary from engaging in a transaction that constitutes a prohibited furnishing of services to an employee benefit plan. The exemption would apply to a plan fiduciary who enters into (or extends or renews) a written contract or arrangement for the provision of services to an employee benefit plan by a service provider to the plan when the resulting contract or arrangement between the plan and the service provider fails to constitute a ``reasonable contract or arrangement'' due to the service provider's failure to comply with its contractual obligation to disclose certain information as required by 29 CFR Sec. 2550.408b- 2(c)(1), as amended (``disclosure obligations''). The proposed exemption, if granted, would also affect participants and beneficiaries of employee benefit plans to the extent such plans enter into any contracts or arrangements for ``necessary services'' with entities that do not provide sufficient disclosures to the plan to enable the responsible plan fiduciary to determine that there is a ``reasonable contract or arrangement'' that complies with ERISA section 408(b)(2).

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved certain collections of information, listed in the Supplementary Information below, following EBSA's submission of requests for such approvals under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). This notice describes the information collections that have been approved or re-approved, their OMB control numbers, and their current expiration dates.