[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 28]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR1601.31]

[Page 517-518]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
       CHAPTER VI--CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD
 
PART 1601--PROCEDURES FOR DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents
 
                             Subpart D--Fees
 
Sec. 1601.31  Fees to be charged--categories of requesters.

    (a) Fees for various requester categories. Paragraphs (b) through 
(e) of this section state, for each category of requester, the types of 
fees generally charged by the CSB. However, for each of these 
categories, the fees may be limited, waived or reduced in accordance 
with the provisions set forth in Sec. 1601.32(c). If the CSB has 
reasonable cause to doubt the purpose specified in the request for which 
a requester will use the records sought, or where the purpose is not 
clear from the request itself, the CSB will seek clarification before 
assigning the request a specific category.
    (b) Commercial use requester. The CSB shall charge fees for records 
requested by persons or entities making a commercial use request in an 
amount that equals the full direct costs for searching for, reviewing 
for release, and reproducing the records sought. Commercial use 
requesters are not entitled to 2 hours of free search time nor 100 free 
pages of reproduction of records. In accordance with Sec. 1601.30, 
commercial use requesters may be charged the costs of searching for and 
reviewing records even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records.
    (c) Educational and noncommercial scientific institutions. The CSB 
shall charge fees for records requested by, or on behalf of, educational 
institutions and noncommercial scientific institutions in an amount 
which equals the cost of reproducing the records responsive to the 
request, excluding the cost of reproducing the first 100 pages. No 
search fee shall be charged with respect to requests by educational and 
noncommercial scientific institutions. For a request to be included in 
this category, requesters must show that the request being made is 
authorized by and under the auspices of a qualifying institution, and 
that the records are not sought for commercial use but are

[[Page 518]]

sought in furtherance of scholarly research (if the request is from an 
educational institution) or scientific research (if the request is from 
a noncommercial scientific institution).
    (d) News media. The CSB shall charge fees for records requested by 
representatives of the news media in an amount which equals the cost of 
reproducing the records responsive to the request, excluding the costs 
of reproducing the first 100 pages. No search fee shall be charged with 
respect to requests by representatives of the news media. For a request 
to be included in this category, the requester must qualify as a 
representative of the news media and the request must not be made for a 
commercial use. A request for records supporting the news dissemination 
function of the requester shall not be considered to be a request that 
is for commercial use.
    (e) All other requesters. The CSB shall charge fees for records 
requested by persons or entities that are not classified in any of the 
categories listed in paragraphs (b), (c), or (d) of this section in an 
amount that equals the full reasonable direct cost of searching for and 
reproducing records that are responsive to the request, excluding the 
first 2 hours of search time and the cost of reproducing the first 100 
pages of records. In accordance with Sec. 1601.30, requesters in this 
category may be charged the cost of searching for records even if there 
is ultimately no disclosure of records, excluding the first 2 hours of 
search time.
    (f) For purposes of the exceptions contained in this section on 
assessment of fees, the word pages refers to paper copies of 8\1/2\ x 11 
inches or 11 x 14 inches. Thus, requesters are not entitled to 100 
microfiche or 100 computer disks, for example. A microfiche containing 
the equivalent of 100 pages or a computer disk containing the equivalent 
of 100 pages of computer printout meets the terms of the exception.
    (g) For purposes of paragraph (e) of this section, the term search 
time has as its basis, manual search. To apply this term to searches 
made by computer, the CSB will determine the hourly cost of operating 
the central processing unit and the operator's hourly salary plus 16 
percent. 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 2 hours of the salary plus 16 percent of the 
person performing the search, i.e., the operator, the CSB will begin 
assessing charges for the computer.