[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: 36CFR902.82]

[Page 157-160]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
         CHAPTER IX--PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
 
PART 902--FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents
 
                             Subpart I--Fees
 
Sec. 902.82  Fee schedule.

    (a) Definitions. For purposes of this section--
    (1) A commercial use request is a request from or on behalf of one 
who seeks information for a use or purpose that furthers the commercial, 
trade, or profit interests of the requester or the person on whose 
behalf the request is made. In determining whether a requester properly 
belongs in this category, the Corporation will determine the use to 
which the requester will put the records sought. Where the Corporation 
has reasonable cause to doubt the use to which a requester will put the 
records sought, or where that use is not clear from the request itself, 
the Corporation will seek additional clarification before assigning the 
request to a specific category.

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    (2) Direct costs means those expenditures the Corporation actually 
incurs in searching for and duplicating (and in the case of commercial 
requesters, reviewing) records to respond to an FOIA request. Direct 
costs include, for example, the salary of the employee performing work 
(the basic rate of pay for the employee plus 16 percent of that rate to 
cover benefits) and the cost of operating duplicating machinery. Not 
included in direct costs are overhead expenses such as costs of space, 
and heating or lighting the facility in which the records are stored.
    (3) Duplication means the process of making a copy of a record 
necessary to respond to an FOIA request. Such copies can take the form 
of paper copy, microform, audio-visual materials, or machine-readable 
documentation (e.g., magnetic tape or disk), among others. The copy 
provided must be in a form that is reasonably usable by requesters.
    (4) Educational institution means a preschool, a public or private 
elementary or secondary school, an institution of graduate higher 
education, an institution of undergraduate higher education, an 
institution of professional education, and an institution of vocational 
education, which operates a program or programs of scholarly research.
    (5) Non-commercial scientific institution means an institution that 
is not operated on a commercial basis, within the meaning of paragraph 
(a)(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.
    (6) Representative of the new media means any person actively 
gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to publish 
or broadcast news to the public. The term news means information that is 
about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. 
Examples of new media entities include television or radio stations 
broadcasting to the public at large, and publishers of periodicals (but 
only in those instances when they can qualify as disseminators of news) 
who make their products available for purchase or subscription by the 
general public. These examples are not intended to be all-inclusive. 
Moreover, as traditional methods of news delivery evolve (e.g., 
electronic dissemination of newspapers through telecommunications 
services), such alternative media would be included in this category. 
Freelance journalists may be regarded as working for a news organization 
if they can demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through 
that organization, even though not actually employed by it. A 
publication contract would be the clearest proof, but the Corporation 
may also look to the past publication record of a requester in making 
this determination.
    (7) Review means the process of examining records located in 
response to a request that is for a commercial use (see paragraph (a)(1) 
of this section) to determine whether any portion of any record located 
is permitted to be withheld. It also includes processing any records for 
disclosure, e.g., doing all that is necessary to excise them and 
otherwise prepare them for release. Review does not include time spent 
resolving general legal or policy issues regarding the application of 
exemptions.
    (8) Search includes all time spent looking for material that is 
responsive to a request, including page-by-page or line-by-line 
identification of material within records. A line-by-line search will 
not be conducted when merely duplicating an entire record would be the 
less expensive and quicker method of complying with the request. Search 
does not include review of material to determine whether the material is 
exempt from disclosure (see paragraph (a)(7) of this section). Searches 
may be done manually or by computer using existing programming.
    (b) The following provisions shall apply with respect to services 
rendered to the public in processing requests for disclosure of the 
Corporation's records under this part:
    (1) Fee for duplication of records: $0.25 per page. When the 
Corporation estimates that duplication charges are likely to exceed 
$25.00, it will notify the requester of the estimated amount of fees, 
unless the requester has indicated in advance his willingness to pay 
fees as high as those anticipated. The

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Corporation will offer the requester the opportunity to confer with the 
Corporation's staff in order to reformulate the request to meet the 
requester's needs at a lower cost.
    (2) Search and review fees. (i) Searches for records by clerical 
personnel: $7.00 per hour, including the time spent searching for and 
copying any records.
    (ii) Search for and review of records by professional and 
supervisory personnel: $11.50 per hour spent searching for any record or 
reviewing any record to determine whether it may be disclosed, including 
time spent in copying any record.
    (iii) Except for requests seeking records for a commercial use, the 
Corporation will provide the first 100 pages of duplication and the 
first two hours of search time without charge. The word pages means 
paper copies of a standard size, either 8\1/2\" by 11" or 14" by 14".
    (3) Duplication of architectural drawings, maps, and similar 
materials: (per copy) $10.00.
    (4) Reproduction of 35 mm slides: (per copy) $1.00.
    (5) Reproduction of enlarged, black and white photographs: (per 
copy) $10.00.
    (6) Reproduction of enlarged color photographs: (per copy) $17.00.
    (7) Certification and validation fee: $1.75 for each certification 
or validation of a copy of any record.
    (8) Categories of FOIA requesters and fees to be charged--(i) 
Commercial use requesters. When the Corporation receives a request for 
records for commercial use, it will assess charges to recover the full 
direct costs of searching for, reviewing for release, and duplicating 
the records sought. Requesters must reasonably describe the records 
sought.
    (ii) Educational and non-commercial scientific institution 
requesters. The Corporation shall provide copies of records to 
requesters in this category for the cost of reproduction alone, 
excluding charges for the first 100 pages. To be eligible for inclusion 
in this category, requesters must show that the request is being made as 
authorized by and under the auspices of a qualifying institution and 
that the records are 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. Requesters must reasonably describe 
the records sought.
    (iii) Requesters who are representatives of the news media. The 
Corporation shall provide documents to requesters in this category for 
the cost of reproduction alone, excluding charges for the first 100 
pages. To be eligible for inclusion in this category, a requester must 
meet the criteria in the definition of representative of the news media 
in paragraph (a)(6) of this section, and his or her request must not be 
made for a commercial use. In reference to this class of requester, a 
request for records supporting the news dissemination function of the 
requester shall not be considered to be a request that is for a 
commercial use. Requestors must reasonably describe the records sought.
    (iv) All other requesters. The Corporation will charge requesters 
who do not fit into any of the categories above fees which recover the 
full reasonable direct cost of searching for and reproducing records 
that are responsive to the request, except that the first 100 pages of 
reproduction and the first two hours of search time shall be furnished 
without charge. Requests from record subjects for records about 
themselves filed in the Corporation's systems of records will be treated 
under the fee provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 which permit fees 
only for reproduction. Requesters must reasonably describe the records 
sought.
    (9) Interest. In the event a requester fails to remit payment of 
fees charged for processing a request under this part within 30 days 
from the date such fees were billed, interest on such fees may be 
assessed beginning on the 31st day after the billing date at the rate 
prescribed in section 3717 of title 31 U.S.C., and will accrue from the 
date of the billing.
    (10) Unsuccessful searches. Except as provided in paragraph 
(b)(8)(iv) of this section, the cost of searching for a requested record 
shall be charged even if the search fails to locate such record or it is 
determined that the record is exempt from disclosure.
    (11) Aggregating requests. A requester must not file multiple 
requests at the same time, each seeking portions of a

[[Page 160]]

record or records, solely in order to avoid payment of fees. When the 
Corporation reasonably believes that a requester, or a group of 
requesters acting in concert, is attempting to break a request down into 
a series of requests for the purpose of evading the assessment of fees, 
the Corporation may aggregate any such requests and charge accordingly.
    (12) Advance payments. The Corporation will not require a requester 
to make an advance payment, i.e., payment before work is commenced or 
continued on a request unless:
    (i) The Corporation estimates or determines that allowable charges 
that a requester may be required to pay are likely to exceed $250; or
    (ii) If a requester has previously failed to make timely payments 
(i.e., within 30 days of billing date) of fees charged under this part, 
the requester may be required to pay the full amount owed plus any 
applicable interest accrued thereon or demonstrate that he has, in fact, 
paid the fee, and to make an advance payment of the full amount of the 
estimated fee before the Corporation begins to process a new request or 
a pending request from this requester.
    (iii) With regard to any request coming within paragraphs (b)(12) 
(i) and (ii) of this section, the administrative time limits set forth 
in Secs. 902.60, 902.61, and 902.62 of this part will begin to run only 
after the Corporation has received the requisite fee payments.
    (iv) Non-payment. In the event of nonpayment of billed charges for 
disclosure of records, the provisions of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 
(Pub. L. 97-365), including disclosure to consumer credit reporting 
agencies and referral to collection agencies, where appropriate, may be 
utilized to obtain payment.

[52 FR 26677, July 16, 1987]