(1) Any person or persons required to file any plan description or annual report under section 6 or section 7 of the Act;

(2) Any person or persons who may be required to publish a report upon request pursuant to section 7(a) of the Act; and

(3) Any insurance carrier or service or other organization required under section 7(g) of the Act to certify any information necessary for the preparation or filing of any such description or report.

(b) The statutory duty on such persons to maintain records cannot be avoided by contract, delegation or otherwise. Thus, if the administrator of a plan arranges with an independent contractor (such as a corporate trustee or benefit plan consultant) to perform functions with respect to the plan and, pursuant to the arrangement, such independent contractor prepares or receives the type of records contemplated by § 486.3 and keeps physical custody of such records, the statutory requirement to see that such records are retained for the required period remains with the administrator and he must make such agreements and arrangements with the independent contractor as are necessary to insure that they are so retained.

§ 486.3 Records to be retained.

(a) The records required to be retained are all documents which will provide in sufficient detail the necessary basic information and data from which the description and reports which are required or may be required under the Act may be verified, explained or clarified, and checked for accuracy and completeness.

(b) Such records include (but are not limited to) resolutions and matters relating to the plan for which a description or annual report is or may be required to be filed, journals, ledgers, checks, invoices, bank statements, contracts, agreements, vouchers, worksheets, receipts, claim records and payrolls of any party described in § 486.2 which would tend to support information required in any report under the Act.

(c) Records maintained shall also include, where appropriate, information certified to the Administrator by an in

surance carrier or service or other organization. Other records such as payrolls from contributing employers, which the reporting person, trustee, or organization, as described in § 486.2 obtains in the regular course of its operations, to the extent such records may be used for said verifying or checking shall also be retained.

§ 486.4 Manner of keeping records.

(a) Records must be kept in reasonable order, in a safe and accessible place and in such a manner that they may be readily inspected and examined by the Director, Office of Labor-Management and Welfare-Pension Reports or his duly authorized representative.

(b) The preservation of records on microfilm for the periods required by the Act will satisfy the requirements relating to the retention of records, provided that adequate projection or other viewing equipment is available for inspecting the microfilm and provided further that the microfilmed records are clear reproductions of the original records, and identifiable as to dates.

(c) Nothing in this section precludes the use of punch cards or magnetic tape for processing records; Provided, however, That where records of original entry or worksheets are converted to punch cards or tape, the original records and worksheets must be retained for the required period.

Persons described in § 486.2 are required to maintain the described records for a period of not less than five years after the filing of the documents based on the information which they contain. It should be noted that even though a plan administrator need not publish an annual report pursuant to section 7(a) of the Act (unless specifically required to do so), because such plan covers more than 25, but fewer than 100 participants, every person or organization described in § 486.2 must retain for a period of not less than five years after the date that an annual report would have been due (but for the exemption) the records described in § 486.3 which relate to information which would have been required in such report. § 487-499

[Reserved]