Federal Register, Volume 78 Issue 14 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4458-4459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01156]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public
Comment; Survey Regarding Pension Benefit Statements
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 information collection request (ICR) 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 (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain).
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the
Addresses section on or before March 25, 2013.
ADDRESSES: G. Christopher Cosby, Department of Labor, Employee Benefits
Security Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., N-5718,
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 proposed
collection of information regarding a survey and focus groups that will
ask respondents to answer questions related to information presented in
benefit statements received from their retirement plans. A summary of
the ICR and the current burden estimates follows:
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Household survey questions and experiments related to
pension benefit statements.
Type of Review: New collection of information.
OMB Number: 1210-NEW.
Respondents: 2,950.
Number of Annual Responses: 2,950.
Total Burden Hours: 945 hours.
Total Annualized Capital/Startup Costs: $0.
Total Annual Costs: $244,800.
Description: The Department is planning to survey participants in
an existing household Internet panel called the American Life Panel
(ALP) and conduct four focus groups consisting of non-panel members to
explore whether information presented in retirement plan benefit
statements can be presented in a manner that is understandable for
participants and beneficiaries and makes them better prepared for
retirement. Topics probed in the survey include participants' current
allocations to their retirement accounts, their expectations for how
long they will need to keep working, their financial goals for
retirement, the basis for calculating those goals, how frequently they
view their current benefits statement, whether they receive benefit
statements in paper or electronic format, and what information from the
statements do they primarily focus on. Survey participants will then be
provided with two different benefits statements that provide slightly
different information and will be asked to answer several questions
based on those statements to better assess what they understand about
the statements.
The study results will be used to support the Department's
rulemaking pursuant to section 105(a) of the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974 as amended by the Pension Protection Act of 2006,
which requires administrators of ERISA-covered individual account plans
to furnish periodic benefit statements to participants and
beneficiaries and the Department to develop model benefits statements.
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;
[[Page 4459]]
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.
Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-01156 Filed 1-18-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P