§ 7.93 - Payment of fees.

(a) The fees prescribed in this subpart may be paid by check, draft, or money order, payable to the Treasury of the United States. However, in the case of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, all fees resulting from a request to that operating element shall be made payable to the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.

(b) Charges may be assessed by the Department for time spent searching for requested records even if the search fails to locate the records or the records located are determined to be exempt from disclosure. In addition, if records are requested for commercial use, the Department may assess a fee for time spent reviewing any responsive records located to determine whether they are exempt from disclosure.

(c) When it is estimated that the search charges, review charges, duplication fees or any combination of fees that could be charged to the requester will likely exceed $25, the requester shall be notified of the estimated amount of the fees, unless the requester has indicated in advance his or her willingness to pay fees as high as those anticipated. The notice shall also inform the requester how to consult with appropriate Departmental officials with the object of reformulating the request to meet his or her needs at a lower cost.

(d) Payment of fees may be required by the Department prior to actual duplication of delivery of any releasable records to a requester. However, advance payment of fees, i.e., payment before work is commenced or continued on a request, may not be required unless:

(1) Allowable charges that a requester may be required to pay are likely to exceed $250; or

(2) The requester has failed to pay within 30 days of the billing date fees charged for a previous FOIA request.

(e) When paragraph (d)(1) of this section applies, the requester shall be notified of the likely cost and, where he or she has a history of prompt payment of FOIA fees, requested to furnish satisfactory assurance of full payment. Where no history of payment exists, the requester may be required to make advance payment of any amount up to the full estimated charges.

(f) When paragraph (d)(2) of this section applies, the requester shall be required to demonstrate that the fee has, in fact, been paid or to pay the full amount owed, including any applicable interest, late handling charges and penalty charges as discussed below. The requester shall also be required to make an advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fee before processing of a new request or continuation of a pending request is begun.

(g) The Department will assess interest on an unpaid bill starting on the 31st day following the day on which the notice of the amount due is first mailed to the requester. Interest will accrue from the date of the notice of amount due and will be at the rate prescribed in section 3717 of title 31, U.S.C. Receipt by the Department of a payment for the full amount of the fees owed within 30 calendar days after the date of the initial billing will stay the accrual of interest, even if the payment has not been processed.

(h) If payment of fees charged is not received within 30 calendar days after the date the initial notice of the amount due is first mailed to the requester, an administrative charge will be assessed by the Department to cover the cost of processing and handling the delinquent claim. In addition, a penalty charge will be applied with respect to any principal amount of a debt that is more than 90 days past due. Where appropriate, other steps permitted by federal debt collection statutes, including disclosure to consumer reporting agencies and use of collection agencies, will be utilized by the Department to encourage payment of amounts overdue.

(i) In any instance where the Department reasonably believes that a requester or a group of requesters acting in concert is attempting to break down a single FOIA request into a series of requests for the sole purpose of evading the payment of otherwise applicable fees, the Department will aggregate the requests and determine the applicable fees on the basis of the aggregation.

(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subpart, when the total amount of fees that could be charged for a particular request (or aggregation of requests) under subpart F, after taking into account all services which must be provided at no charge or at a reduced charge, is less than $10.00 the Department will not make any charge for fees.