[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 36, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 36CFR404.7]

[Page 41-42]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
                       CHAPTER IV--AMERICAN BATTLE
                          MONUMENTS COMMISSION
 
PART 404--PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 404.7  Assessment and collection of fees.

    (a) Assessment of fees. (1) ABMC shall assess interest charges on an 
unpaid bill starting on the 31st day following the day on which the 
billing was dispatched. Once the fee has been received by ABMC, even if 
not processed, accrual of interest will cease. Interest will be at the 
rate prescribed in section 3717 of title 31 U.S.C. and will accrue from 
the date billing is sent.
    (2) Charges for unsuccessful searches. If ABMC estimates that 
charges for an unsuccessful search may exceed $10.00, it shall so inform 
the requester unless the requester has indicated in advance a 
willingness to pay fees as high as those anticipated. Such notice shall 
offer the requester the opportunity to confer with agency personnel with 
the object of reformulating the request to meet the requester's needs at 
a lower cost. Dispatch of such a notice shall temporarily suspend the 
ten day period for response by ABMC until a reply is received from the 
requester.
    (3) Aggregating requests. Except for requests that are for a 
commercial use, ABMC shall not charge for the first two hours of search 
time or for the first 100 pages of reproduction. However, a requester 
may not file multiple requests at the same time, each seeking portions 
of a document or documents, solely in order to avoid payment of fees. 
When ABMC believes that a group of requesters are acting in concert and 
attempting to divide a request into a series of requests for the purpose 
of evading the assessment of fees, ABMC shall aggregate any such 
requests and charge accordingly. One element to be considered is the 
time period in which the requests have been made. Before aggregating 
requests from more than one requester, ABMC must be reasonably certain 
that the requesters are acting specifically to avoid payment of fees. In 
no case shall ABMC aggregate multiple requests on unrelated subjects 
from one requester.
    (4) Advance payments. ABMC shall not require payment for fees before 
work has commenced or continued on a request unless:
    (i) ABMC estimates that the charges may exceed $25.00. In such an 
event, ABMC shall notify the requester of the estimated cost and may 
require an advance payment of an amount up to the full amount of 
estimated charges; or
    (ii) A requester has previously failed to pay a fee within 30 days 
of the date

[[Page 42]]

of billing. In this event, ABMC shall require the requester to pay the 
full amount owed plus any applicable interest and make an advance 
payment of the full amount of the estimated fee before ABMC begins to 
process a new request or a pending request from that requester.
    (iii) When ABMC acts under paragraph (a)(4)(i) or (ii) of this 
section, the administrative time limits prescribed in Sec. 404.3 will 
begin only after ABMC has received fee payments described above.
    (5) Form of payment. Remittances shall be in the form of a personal 
check or bank draft drawn on any bank in the United States, a postal 
money order, or cash. Remittances shall be made payable to the American 
Battle Monuments Commission.
    (6) ABMC will not defray cost sending records by special methods 
such as express mail or for transportation of personnel.
    (b) Restrictions on assessing fees. With the exception of requesters 
seeking documents for commercial use, section (a)(4)(A)(iv) of the 
Freedom of Information Act, as amended, requires ABMC to provide the 
first 100 pages of duplication and the first two hours of search time 
without charge. ABMC shall not charge fees to any requester, including 
commercial use requesters, if the cost of collecting a fee would be 
equal to or greater than the fee itself. ABMC will not begin to assess 
fees until it has first provided the free search and reproduction 
authorized.