Focus Groups for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Employee Retirement Income Security Act Section 408(b)(2) Disclosure Requirements

ICR 201408-1210-004

OMB: 1210-0154

Federal Form Document

Forms and Documents
Document
Name
Status
Supplementary Document
2014-12-04
Supplementary Document
2014-12-04
Supporting Statement A
2014-12-03
Supplementary Document
2014-11-25
Supplementary Document
2014-09-24
Supporting Statement B
2014-09-10
Supplementary Document
2014-08-21
ICR Details
1210-0154 201408-1210-004
Historical Active
DOL/EBSA
Focus Groups for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Employee Retirement Income Security Act Section 408(b)(2) Disclosure Requirements
New collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)   No
Regular
Approved without change 01/16/2015
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA) 12/05/2014
  Inventory as of this Action Requested Previously Approved
01/31/2018 36 Months From Approved
85 0 0
128 0 0
0 0 0

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires plan fiduciaries, when selecting and monitoring service providers and plan investments, to act prudently and solely in the interest of the plan's participants and beneficiaries. Responsible plan fiduciaries also must ensure that arrangements with their service providers are "reasonable" and that only "reasonable" compensation is paid for services. Fundamental to the ability of fiduciaries to discharge these obligations is obtaining information sufficient to enable them to make informed decisions about an employee benefit plan's services, the costs of such services, and the service providers. In February 2012, EBSA issued the ERISA section 408(b)(2) final regulations, which require covered service providers ("CSPs") to ERISA-covered pension plans to provide specified information to assist responsible plan fiduciaries ("RPFs") in assessing the reasonableness of the compensation paid for services and the conflicts of interest that may affect a service provider's performance of services. This ICR is designed to explore current practices and effects of EBSA's final 408(b)(2) regulation and to gather information about the need for a guide, summary, or similar tool to help RPFs navigate through and understand the disclosures. EBSA intends to use information collected from the focus groups to: (1) assess responsible plan fiduciaries' experience in receiving the 408(b)(2) regulation's required disclosures; (2) assess the effectiveness of these disclosures in helping plan fiduciaries make decisions; (3) determine how well plan fiduciaries understood the disclosures, especially in the small plan marketplace (100 participants or less); and (4) evaluate whether, and how, a guide, summary, or similar tool would help fiduciaries understand the disclosures. The focus group results will be used to inform and support the Department's notice of final rulemaking for the guide requirement.

None
None

Not associated with rulemaking

  79 FR 14085 03/12/2014
79 FR 72213 12/05/2014
Yes

1
IC Title Form No. Form Name
Focus Groups Evalulating the Effectiveness of the 408(b)2 Regulations

  Total Approved Previously Approved Change Due to New Statute Change Due to Agency Discretion Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate Change Due to Potential Violation of the PRA
Annual Number of Responses 85 0 0 85 0 0
Annual Time Burden (Hours) 128 0 0 128 0 0
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars) 0 0 0 0 0 0
Yes
Miscellaneous Actions
No
This is a new information collection, conducting focus groups to evaluate effectiveness of ERISA section 408(b)(2) regulations and to help determine if fiduciaries need additional assistance.

$119,611
Yes Part B of Supporting Statement
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Chris Cosby 202 693-8540

  No

On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    (i) Why the information is being collected;
    (ii) Use of information;
    (iii) Burden estimate;
    (iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
    (v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
    (vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
 
 
 
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
12/05/2014


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