On December 4, 2007, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) proposed a new rule requiring a defined benefit pension plan administrator to disclose information it submits to the agency in connection with a distress termination filing. The proposed rule would allow a court to limit disclosure of the confidential information to an authorized representative of the participants and beneficiaries who agree to keep the information confidential.

Under the rule, a plan administrator who has filed a Notice of Intent to Terminate with the PBGC must provide to an affected party, upon request, information submitted to the agency in connection with the filing no later than 15 days after receipt of such request. The PBGC’s rule would also apply in situations where the agency initiated the termination. Once the plan administrator received a Notice of Determination from the agency, the plan sponsor, plan administrator, and PBGC would have to provide the requested information to an affected party upon request. The proposed rule would be applicable to both plan-initiated and agency-initiated terminations on or after Aug. 17, 2006.

The complete text of the proposal is available at http://www.pbgc.gov/docs/E7-23577.pdf.