§ 1.7 - Fees.

§ 1.7 Fees for services.

(a) In general. This fee schedule is applicable uniformly throughout the Department of the Treasury and pertains to requests processed under the Freedom of Information Act. Specific levels of fees are prescribed for each of the following categories of requesters. Requesters are asked to identify the applicable fee category they belong to in their initial request in accordance with § 1.5(b).

(1) Commercial use requesters. These requesters are assessed charges which recover the full direct costs of searching for, reviewing, and duplicating the records sought. Commercial use requesters are not entitled to two hours of free search time or 100 free pages of duplication of documents. Moreover, when a request is received for disclosure that is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, the Department is not required to consider a request for a waiver or reduction of fees based upon the assertion that disclosure would be in the public interest. The Department may recover the cost of searching for and reviewing records even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records, or no records are located.

(2) Educational and Non-Commercial Scientific Institution Requesters. Records shall be provided to requesters in these categories for the cost of duplication alone, excluding charges for the first 100 pages. To be eligible, requesters must show that the request is

Components may charge for processing requests under the FOIA in accordance with the provisions of this section or may issue their own fee schedules as long as they are consistent with the OMB Guidelines. In order to resolve any fee issues that arise under this section, a component may contact a requester for additional information. A component ordinarily will collect all applicable fees before sending copies of records to a requester. Requesters must pay fees by check or money order made payable to the Treasury of the United States, or by other means specified at https://home.treasury.gov/footer/freedom-of-information-act.

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section:

(1) Commercial-use request is a request for information for a use or a purpose that furthers a commercial, trade, or profit interest, which can include furthering those interests through litigation.

(2) Direct costs are those expenses that a component expends in searching for and duplicating (and, in the case of commercial-use requests, reviewing) records in order to respond to a FOIA request. For example, direct costs include the salary of the employee performing the work (i.e., the basic rate of pay for the employee, plus 16 percent of that rate to cover benefits) and the cost of operating computers and other electronic equipment, such as photocopiers and scanners. Direct costs do not include overhead expenses such as the costs of space, and of heating or lighting a facility. Components shall ensure that searches, review, and duplication are conducted in the most efficient and the least expensive manner.

(3) Duplication is reproducing a copy of a record or of the information contained in it, necessary to respond to a FOIA request. Copies can take the form of paper, audiovisual materials, or electronic records, among others.

(4) Educational institution is any school that operates a program of scholarly research. A requester in this category must show that the request is made in connection with the requester's role at the educational institution. Components may seek assurance from the requester that the request is in furtherance of scholarly research and will advise requesters of their placement in this category.

(5) Noncommercial scientific institution is an institution that is not operated on a “commercial” basis, as defined in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, and that is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research, the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry. A requester in this category must show that the request is authorized by and is made under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that the records are sought to further scientific research and not

sought

for a commercial use

, but are sought in furtherance of scholarly (if the request is from an educational institution) or scientific (if the request is from a non-commercial scientific institution) research. These categories do not include requesters who want records for use in meeting individual academic research or study requirements.

(3) Requesters who are Representatives of the News Media. Records shall be provided to requesters in this category for the cost of duplication alone, excluding charges for the first 100 pages.

(4) All Other Requesters. Requesters who do not fit any of the categories described above shall be charged fees that will recover the full direct cost of searching for and duplicating records that are responsive to the request, except that the first 100 pages of duplication and the first two hours of search time shall be furnished without charge. The Department may recover the cost of searching for records even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records, or no records are located. Requests from persons for records about themselves filed in the Department's systems of records shall continue to be treated under the fee provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 which permit fees only for duplication, after the first 100 pages are furnished free of charge.

(b) Fee waiver determination. Where the initial request includes a request for reduction or waiver of fees, the responsible official shall determine whether to grant the request for reduction or waiver before processing the request and notify the requester of this decision. If the decision does not waive all fees, the responsible official shall advise the requester of the fact that fees shall be assessed and, if applicable, payment must be made in advance pursuant to § 1.7(e)(2).

(c) When fees are not charged.

(1) No fee shall be charged for monitoring a requester's inspection of records.

(2) Fees shall be charged in accordance with the schedule contained in paragraph (g) of this section for services rendered in responding to requests for records, unless any one of the following applies:

(i) Services were performed without charge;

(ii) The cost of collecting a fee would be equal to or greater than the fee itself; or,

(iii) The fees were waived or reduced in accordance with paragraph (d) of this section.

(d) Waiver or reduction of fees.

(1) Fees may be waived or reduced on a case-by-case basis in accordance with this paragraph by the official who determines the availability of the records, provided such waiver or reduction has been requested in writing. Fees shall be waived or reduced by this official when it is determined, based upon the submission of the requester, that a waiver or reduction of the fees is in the public interest because furnishing the information is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. Fee waiver/reduction requests shall be evaluated against the fee waiver policy guidance issued by the Department of Justice on April 2, 1987.

(2) Normally no charge shall be made for providing records to state or foreign governments, international governmental organizations, or local government agencies or offices.

(3) Appeals from denials of requests for waiver or reduction of fees shall be decided in accordance with the criteria set forth

.

(6) Representative of the news media is any person or entity that actively gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. The term “news” means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities include television or radio stations broadcasting news to the public at large and publishers of periodicals that disseminate “news” and make their products available through a variety of means to the general public. A request for records that supports the news-dissemination function of the requester shall not be considered to be for a commercial use. “Freelance” journalists who demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through a news media entity shall be considered as a representative of the news media. A publishing contract would provide the clearest evidence that publication is expected; however, components shall also consider a requester's past publication record in making this determination.

(7) Other requester refers to a requester who does not fall within any of the previously described categories.

(8) Review is the examination of a record located in response to a request in order to determine whether any portion of it is exempt from disclosure. Review time includes time spent processing any record for disclosure, such as doing all that is necessary to prepare the record for disclosure, including the process of redacting the record and marking the appropriate exemptions. Review time also includes time spent obtaining and considering any formal objection to disclosure made by a confidential commercial information submitter under § 1.5 of this subpart, but it does not include time spent resolving general legal or policy issues regarding the application of exemptions. Review costs are properly charged even if a record ultimately is not disclosed.

(9) Search is the process of looking for and retrieving records or information responsive to a request. Search time includes time devoted to page-by-page or line-by-line identification of information within records; and the reasonable efforts expended to locate and retrieve information from electronic records.

(c) Charging fees. Unless a component has issued a separate fee schedule, or a waiver or reduction of fees has been granted under paragraph (k) of this section, components shall charge the following fees. Because the fee amounts provided below already account for the direct costs associated with a given fee type, components should not add any additional costs to those charges.

(1) Search.

(i) Search fees shall be charged for all requests, subject to the restrictions of paragraph (d) of this section. Components will charge search fees for all other requesters, subject to the restrictions of paragraph (d) of this section. Components may properly charge for time spent searching even if they do not locate any responsive records or if they determine that the records are entirely exempt from disclosure.

(ii) For each quarter hour spent by personnel searching for requested records, including electronic searches that do not require new programming, the fees shall be as follows: executive - $21; professional - $16.50; and administrative - $13.00.

(iii) In addition, requesters will be charged the direct costs associated with the creation of any new computer program required to locate the requested records.

(2) Duplication. Duplication fees will be charged to all requesters, subject to the restrictions of paragraph (d) of this section. A component shall honor a requester's preference for receiving a record in a particular form or format where it is readily reproducible by the component in the form or format requested. Where photocopies are supplied, the component will provide one copy per request at a cost of $0.15 per page. For copies of records produced on tapes, disks, other forms of duplication, or other electronic media, components will charge the direct costs of producing the copy, including operator time. Where paper documents must be scanned in order to comply with a requester's preference to receive the records in an electronic format, the requester shall pay the direct costs associated with scanning those materials, including operator's time. For other forms of duplication, components will charge the direct costs.

(3) Review. Review fees will only be charged to requesters who make commercial-use requests. Review fees will be assessed in connection with the initial review of the record, i.e., the review conducted by a component to determine whether an exemption applies to a particular record or portion of a record. No charge will be made for review at the administrative appeal stage of exemptions applied at the initial review stage. However, when the appellate authority determines that a particular exemption no longer applies, any costs associated with a component's re-review of the records in order to consider the use of other exemptions may be assessed as review fees. Review costs are properly charged even if a record ultimately is not disclosed. Review fees will be charged at the same rates as those charged for a search under paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section.

(d) Restrictions on charging fees.

(1) No search fees will be charged for requests by educational institutions, noncommercial scientific institutions, or representatives of the news media (unless the records are sought for commercial use).

(2) If a component fails to comply with the FOIA's time limits in which to respond to a request, it may not charge search fees, or, in the instances of requests from requesters described in paragraph (d)(1) of this section

by the official authorized to decide appeals from denials of access to records. Appeals shall be addressed in writing to the office or officer specified in the appropriate appendix to this subpart within 35 days of the denial of the initial request for waiver or reduction and shall be decided within 20 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays).

(4) Appeals from an adverse determination of the requester's category as described in § 1.5(b)(2) and provided in § 1.5(i)(1) shall be decided by the official authorized to decide appeals from denials of access to records and shall be based upon a review of the requester's submission and the bureau's own records. Appeals shall be addressed in writing to the office or officer specified in the appropriate appendix to this subpart within 35 days of the date of the bureau's determination of the requester's category and shall be decided within 20 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays).

(e) Advance notice of fees.

(1) When the fees for processing the request are estimated to exceed the limit set by the requester, and that amount is less than $250, the requester shall be notified of the estimated costs. The requester must provide an agreement to pay the estimated costs; however, the requester shall also be given an opportunity to reformulate the request in an attempt to reduce fees.

(2) If the requester has failed to state a limit and the costs are estimated to exceed $250.00, the requester shall be notified of the estimated costs and must pre-pay such amount prior to the processing of the request, or provide satisfactory assurance of full payment if the requester has a history of prompt payment of FOIA fees. The requester shall also be given an opportunity to reformulate the request in such a way as to constitute a request for responsive records at a reduced fee.

(3) When the Department or a bureau of the Department acts under paragraphs (e)(1) or (2) of this section, the administrative time limits of 20 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) from receipt of initial requests or appeals, plus extensions of these time limits, shall begin only after fees have been paid, a written agreement to pay fees has been provided, or a request has been reformulated.

(f) Form of payment.

(1) Payment may be made by check or money order payable to the Treasury of the United States or the relevant bureau of the Department of the Treasury.

(2) The Department of the Treasury reserves the right to request prepayment after a request is processed and before documents are released.

(3) When costs are estimated or determined to exceed $250, the Department shall either obtain satisfactory assurance of full payment of the estimated cost where the requester has a history of prompt payment of FOIA fees or require a requester to make an advance payment of the entire estimated or determined fee before continuing to process the request.

(4) If a requester has previously failed to pay a fee within 30 days of the date of the billing, the requester shall be required to pay the full amount owed plus any applicable interest, and to

, may not charge duplication fees, except as described in paragraphs (d)(2)(i) through (iii) of this section.

(i) If a component has determined that unusual circumstances as defined by the FOIA apply and the agency provided timely written notice to the requester in accordance with the FOIA, a failure to comply with the time limit shall be excused for an additional ten days.

(ii) If a component has determined that unusual circumstances as defined by the FOIA apply, and more than 5,000 pages are necessary to respond to the request, the component may charge search fees, or, in the case of requesters described in paragraph (d)(1) of this section, may charge duplication fees if the following steps are taken. The component must have provided timely written notice of unusual circumstances to the requester in accordance with the FOIA and the component must have discussed with the requester via written mail, email, or telephone (or made not less than three good-faith attempts to do so) how the requester could effectively limit the scope of the request in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(B)(ii). If this exception is satisfied, the component may charge all applicable fees incurred in the processing of the request.

(iii) If a court has determined that exceptional circumstances exist as defined in the FOIA, a failure to comply with the time limits shall be excused for the length of time provided by the court order.

(3) No search or review fees will be charged for a quarter-hour period unless more than half of that period is required for search or review.

(4) Except for requesters seeking records for a commercial use, components will provide without charge:

(i) The first 100 pages of duplication (or the cost equivalent for other media); and

(ii) The first two hours of search.

(5) When, after first deducting the 100 free pages (or its cost equivalent) and the first two hours of search, a total fee calculated under paragraph (c) of this section is $25.00 or less for any request, no fee will be charged.

(e) Notice of anticipated fees in excess of $25.00. When a component determines or estimates that the fees to be assessed in accordance with this section will exceed $25.00, the component shall notify the requester of the actual or estimated amount of the fees, including a breakdown of the fees for search, review or duplication, unless the requester has indicated a willingness to pay fees as high as those anticipated. If only a portion of the fee can be estimated readily, the component shall advise the requester accordingly. In cases in which a requester has been notified that the actual or estimated fees are in excess of $25.00, the request shall not be considered received and further work will not be completed until the requester commits in writing to pay the actual or estimated total fee. Such a commitment must be made by the requester in writing, must indicate a given dollar amount the requester is willing to pay, and must be received by the component within 30 calendar days from the date of notification of the fee estimate. If a commitment is not received within this period, the requester shall be notified, in writing, that the request shall be closed. Components will inform the requester of their right to seek assistance from the appropriate component FOIA Public Liaison or other FOIA professional to assist the requester in reformulating request in an effort to reduce fees. Components are not required to accept payments in installments. If the requester has indicated a willingness to pay some designated amount of fees, but the component estimates that the total fee will exceed that amount, the component will toll the processing of the request when it notifies the requester of the estimated fees in excess of the amount the requester has indicated a willingness to pay. The Component will inquire whether the requester wishes to revise the amount of fees the requester is willing to pay or modify the request. Once the requester responds, the time to respond will resume from where it was at the date of the notification.

(f) Charges for other services. Although not required to provide special services, if a component chooses to do so as a matter of administrative discretion, the direct costs of providing the service will be charged. Examples of such services include certifying that records are true copies, providing multiple copies of the same document, or sending records by means other than first class mail.

(g) Charging interest. Components may charge interest on any unpaid bill starting on the 31st day following the date of billing the requester. Interest charges will be assessed at the rate provided in 31 U.S.C. 3717 and will accrue from the billing date until payment is received by the component. Components will follow the provisions of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365, 96 Stat. 1749), as amended, and its administrative procedures, including the use of consumer reporting agencies, collection agencies, and offset.

(h) Aggregating requests. When a component reasonably believes that a requester or a group of requesters acting in concert is attempting to divide a single request into a series of requests for the purpose of avoiding fees, the component may aggregate those requests and charge accordingly. Components may presume that multiple requests of this type made within a 30-day period have been made in order to avoid fees. For requests separated by a longer period, components will aggregate them only where there is a reasonable basis for determining that aggregation is warranted in view of all the circumstances involved. Multiple requests involving unrelated matters will not be aggregated.

(i) Advance payments.

(1) For requests other than those described in paragraphs (i)(2) and (i)(3) of this section, a component shall not require the requester to make an advance payment before work is commenced or continued on a request. Payment owed for work already completed (i.e., payment before copies are sent to a requester) is not an advance payment.

(2) When a component determines or estimates that a total fee to be charged under this section will exceed $250.00, it may require that the requester make an advance payment up to the amount of the entire anticipated fee before beginning to process the request. A component may elect to process the request prior to collecting fees when it receives a satisfactory assurance of full payment from a requester with a history of prompt payment.

(3) Where a requester has previously failed to pay a properly charged FOIA fee to any component or agency within 30 calendar days of the billing date, a component may require that the requester pay the full amount due, plus any applicable interest on that prior request and the component may require that the requester make an advance payment of the full amount of

the estimated

any anticipated fee before the

Department

component begins to process a new request or

the

continues to process a pending request

. Whenever interest is charged, the Department shall begin assessing interest on the 31st day following the day on which billing was sent. Interest shall be at the rate prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717. In addition, the Department shall take all steps authorized by the Debt Collection Act of 1982, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, including administrative offset pursuant to 31 CFR Part 5, disclosure to consumer reporting agencies and use of collection agencies, to effect payment.

(g) Amounts to be charged for specific services. The fees for services performed by a bureau of the Department of the Treasury shall be imposed and collected as set forth in this paragraph.

(1) Duplicating records. All requesters, except commercial requesters, shall receive the first 100 pages duplicated without charge. Absent a determination to waive fees, a bureau shall charge requesters as follows:

(i) $.20 per page, up to 81⁄2 × 14″, made by photocopy or similar process.

(ii) Photographs, films, and other materials - actual cost of duplication.

(iii) Other types of duplication services not mentioned above - actual cost.

(iv) Material provided to a private contractor for copying shall be charged to the requester at the actual cost charged by the private contractor.

(2) Search services. Bureaus shall charge for search services consistent with the following:

(i) Searches for other than electronic records. The Department shall charge for search time at the salary rate(s) (basic pay plus 16 percent) of the employee(s) making the search. However, where a single class of personnel is used exclusively (e.g., all administrative/clerical, or all professional/executive), an average rate for the range of grades typically involved may be established. This charge shall include transportation of personnel and records necessary to the search at actual cost. Fees may be charged for search time as prescribed in § 1.7, even if the search does not yield any responsive records, or if records are denied.

(ii) Searches for electronic records. The Department shall charge for actual direct cost of the search, including computer search time, runs, and the operator's salary. The fee for computer output shall be actual direct costs. For requesters in the “all other” category, when the cost of the search (including the operator time and the cost of operating the computer to process a request) equals the equivalent dollar amount of two hours of the salary of the person performing the search (i.e., the operator), the charge for the computer search will begin.

(3) Review of records. The Department shall charge commercial use requesters for review of records at the salary rate(s) (i.e., basic pay plus 16 percent) of the employee(s) making the review. However, when a single class of personnel is used exclusively (e.g., all administrative/clerical, or all professional/executive), an average rate for the range of grades typically involved may be established. Fees may be charged for review time as prescribed in § 1.7, even if records ultimately are not disclosed.

(4) Inspection of records. Fees for all services provided shall be charged whether or not copies are made available to the requester for inspection.

(5) Other services. Other services and materials requested which are not covered by this part nor required by the FOIA are chargeable at the actual cost to the Department. This includes, but is not limited to:

(i) Certifying that records are true copies;

(ii) Sending records by special methods such as express mail, etc.

(h) Aggregating requests. When the Department or a bureau of the Department reasonably believes that a requester or group of requesters is attempting to break a request down into a series of requests for the purpose of evading the assessment of fees, the agency shall aggregate any such requests and charge accordingly.

, or any pending appeal. Where a component has a reasonable basis to believe that a requester has misrepresented his or her identity in order to avoid paying outstanding fees, it may require that the requester provide proof of identity.

(4) In cases in which a component requires advance payment, the request shall not be considered received and further work will not be completed until the required payment is received. If the requester does not pay the advance payment within 30 calendar days after the date of the component's fee determination letter, the request will be closed.

(j) Other statutes specifically providing for fees. The fee schedule of this section does not apply to fees charged under any statute that specifically requires an agency to set and collect fees for particular types of records. In instances where records responsive to a request are subject to a statutorily-based fee schedule program, the component will inform the requester of the contact information for that source.

(k) Requirements for waiver or reduction of fees.

(1) Requesters may seek a waiver of fees by submitting a written application demonstrating how disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.

(2) A component must furnish records responsive to a request without charge or at a reduced rate when it determines, based on all available information, that disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. In deciding whether this standard is satisfied the component must consider the factors described in paragraphs (k)(2)(i) through (iii) of this section:

(i) Disclosure of the requested information would shed light on the operations or activities of the government. The subject of the request must concern identifiable operations or activities of the Federal Government with a connection that is direct and clear, not remote or attenuated.

(ii) Disclosure of the requested information would be likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of those operations or activities. This factor is satisfied when the following criteria are met:

(A) Disclosure of the requested records must be meaningfully informative about government operations or activities. The disclosure of information that is already in the public domain, in either the same or a substantially identical form, would not be meaningfully informative if nothing new would be added to the public's understanding.

(B) The disclosure must contribute to the understanding of a reasonably broad audience of persons interested in the subject, as opposed to the individual understanding of the requester. A requester's expertise in the subject area as well as the requester's ability and intention to effectively convey information to the public must be considered. Components will presume that a representative of the news media will satisfy this consideration.

(iii) The disclosure must not be primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. To determine whether disclosure of the requested information is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, components will consider the following criteria:

(A) Components must identify whether the requester has any commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure. A commercial interest includes any commercial, trade, or profit interest. Requesters must be given an opportunity to provide explanatory information regarding this consideration.

(B) If there is an identified commercial interest, the component must determine whether that is the primary interest furthered by the request. A waiver or reduction of fees is justified when the requirements of paragraphs (k)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section are satisfied and any commercial interest is not the primary interest furthered by the request. Components ordinarily will presume that when a news media requester has satisfied the requirements of paragraphs (k)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section, the request is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. Disclosure to data brokers or others who merely compile and market government information for direct economic return will not be presumed to primarily serve the public interest.

(3) Where only some of the records to be released satisfy the requirements for a waiver of fees, a waiver shall be granted for those records.

(4) Requests for a waiver or reduction of fees should be made when the request is first submitted to the component and should address the criteria referenced above. A requester may submit a fee waiver request at a later time so long as the underlying record request is pending or on administrative appeal. When a requester who has committed to pay fees subsequently asks for a waiver of those fees and that waiver is denied, the requester shall be required to pay any costs incurred up to the date the fee waiver request was received.

(5) The requester shall be notified in writing of the decision to grant or deny the fee waiver.