[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 41, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 41CFR105-60.305-12]

[Page 410-411]
 
           TITLE 41--PUBLIC CONTRACTS AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
 
              CHAPTER 105--GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 105-60--PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF AGENCY RECORDS AND INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS
--Table of Contents
 
     Subpart 105-60.3--Availability of Opinions, Orders, Policies, 
               Interpretations, Manuals, and Instructions
 
Sec. 105-60.305-12  Administrative actions to improve assessment and 
collection of fees.

    (a) Charging interest. GSA may charge requesters who fail to pay 
fees interest on the amount billed starting on the 31st day following 
the day on which the billing was sent. Interest will be at the rate 
prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717.
    (b) Effect of the Debt Collection Act of 1982. GSA will take any 
action authorized by the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365, 96 
Stat. 1749), including disclosure to consumer reporting agencies, use of 
collection agencies, and assessment of penalties and administrative 
costs, where appropriate, to encourage payment.
    (c) Aggregating requests. When GSA reasonably believes that a 
requester, or

[[Page 411]]

group of requesters acting in concert, is attempting to break down a 
request into a series of requests related to the same subject for the 
purpose of evading the assessment of fees, GSA will combine any such 
requests and charge accordingly, including fees for previous requests 
where charges were not assessed. GSA will presume that multiple requests 
of this type within a 30-day period are made to avoid fees.
    (d) Advanced payments. Whenever a requester is delinquent in paying 
the fee for a previous request (i.e., within 30 days of the date of the 
billing), GSA will require the requester to pay the full amount owed 
plus any applicable interest penalties and administrative costs as 
provided in paragraph (a) of this section or to demonstrate that he or 
she has, in fact, paid the fee. In such cases, GSA will also require 
advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fee before the 
agency begins to process a new request or a pending request from that 
requester. When advance payment is required under this selection, the 
administrative time limits in subsection (a)(6) of the FOIA (i.e., 10 
working days from receipt of appeals from initial denial plus 
permissible time extensions) will begin only after GSA has received the 
fee payments described in Sec. 105-60.305-8.