[Federal Register: January 30, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 19)]
[Notices]
[Page 4298-4299]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30ja07-115]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of the Secretary
Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request
January 24, 2007.
The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted the following public
information collection request (ICR) 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
this ICR, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained
from RegInfo.gov at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain or by
contacting Darrin King on 202-693-4129 (this is not a toll-free number)
/ 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, Telephone: 202-395-7316 / Fax: 202-395-6974
(these are not toll-free numbers), 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 without change of currently approved
collection.
Title: Summary Plan Description Requirements Under ERISA.
OMB Number: 1210-0039.
Type of Response: Third party disclosure.
Affected Public: Private Sector: Business or other for-profit and
Not-for-profit institutions.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 3,200,000.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 93,457,000.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 262,000.
Estimated Total Annualized capital/startup costs: $0.
Estimated Total Annual Costs (operating/maintaining systems or
purchasing services): $257,914,000.
Description: Section 104(b)(1) of the Employee Retirement Security
Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires the administrator of an employee benefit
plan to furnish each plan participant and each beneficiary receiving
benefits under the plan a copy of the plan's summary plan description
(SPD) within 90 days after an individual becomes a participant and (in
the case of a beneficiary) within 90 days after an individual first
receives benefits, or, if later, within 120 days after the plan first
becomes subject to Part 2 of Title I of ERISA. Section 104(b)(1)
further specifies that an updated SPD must be furnished subsequently
every fifth year, integrating all plan amendments made within such
five-year period. The information required to be contained in the SPD
is set forth in section 102(b) of ERISA.
If a plan is amended to make a material modification in its terms
or to change the information required to be contained in the SPD (other
than a material reduction in covered services or benefits under a group
health plan), section 104(b)(1) requires the plan administrator to
furnish participants and beneficiaries receiving benefits a summary of
the material modifications
[[Page 4299]]
(SMM) within 210 days following the end of the plan year in which the
change was adopted. Section 104(b)(1) separately provides that, in the
case of any modification or change that is a ``material reduction in
covered services or benefits provided under a group health plan,'' the
plan must provide a summary of such material reduction (SMR) not later
than 60 days after the adoption of the modification or change, unless
the plan routinely provides summaries of modifications or changes at
regular intervals of not more than 90 days.
Section 109(c) of ERISA grants the Secretary of Labor the authority
to prescribe the form and content of the SPD, as well as other
documents required to be furnished or made available to plan
participants and beneficiaries receiving benefits under a plan.
The Department has promulgated regulations governing the content
and furnishing of SPDs, SMMs, and SMRs at 29 CFR 102-2 (Style and
Format of Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 2520.102-3 (Contents of
Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 2520.102-4 (Option for Different
Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 2520.2520.104b-1 (Disclosure); 29
CFR 2520.104b-2 (Summary Plan Descriptions); 29 CFR 104b-3 (Summary of
Material Modifications to the Plan and Changes in the Information
Required to be Included in the Summary Plan Description); and 29 CFR
104b-4 (Alternative Methods of Compliance for Furnishing the Summary
Plan Description and Summaries of Material Modifications of a Pension
Plan to a Retired Participant, a Separated Participant, and a
Beneficiary Receiving Benefits). These regulations set standards for
the content of these disclosure documents, the methods of furnishing
that will satisfy the statutory disclosure requirements, and
alternative methods of compliance. In particular, regulations at 29 CFR
2520.104b-1(c) specifically describe the circumstances under which the
administrator of an employee benefit plan may furnish required
disclosure documents, including the SPD/SMM/SMR, through electronic
media.
The Department's regulations contain information collections that
constitute mandatory third-party disclosure requirements applicable to
the majority of ERISA-covered pension and welfare benefit plans. The
Department has determined that these information collections are
necessary in order to ensure the participants and beneficiaries in
employee benefit plans covered under ERISA receive adequate information
about the benefits due to them and their rights under the plans.
The information collections covered by the subject regulations are
necessary to ensure that participants and beneficiaries are adequately
and timely informed about their rights and benefits under their plans.
The SPD, together with the revelant SMMs and SMRs, constitutes the
single most important source of information about a plan for the plan
participants, and, if properly updated through SMMs and SMRs, it
provides participants and beneficiaries with complete knowledge about
how to manage their benefits, including how to file benefit claims,
what rights they may have under different situations, under what
circumstances benefits can be lost, whom to contact about benefits, and
many other essential matters. In order to insure that participants and
beneficiaries receive this information, the regulations require SPDs to
be written in language calculated to be understood by the average plan
participant and to be provided through a method that ensures receipt.
ERISA also requires that the information in the SPD be kept current.
This is accomplished through the use of the SMM or SMR, which inform
plan participants and beneficiaries about material plan changes, and
the requirement for periodic updated SPDs.
Darrin A. King,
Acting Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. E7-1387 Filed 1-29-07; 8:45 am]
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