[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1401.36]

[Page 42-44]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
                        AND CONCILIATION SERVICE
 
PART 1401_PUBLIC INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
            Subpart B_Production or Disclosure of Information
 
Sec. 1401.36  Freedom of Information Act fee schedules.

    (a) Definitions. For purposes of Sec. 1401.36, the following 
definitions apply:
    (1) Direct costs means those expenditures which are actually 
incurred in searching for and duplicating and, in the case of commercial 
use requesters, reviewing to respond to a FOIA request.
    (2) Search includes all time spent looking for material that is 
responsive to a request, including page-by-page and line-by-line 
identification of material within documents. Searches may be done 
manually or by computer.
    (3) Duplication refers to the process of making a copy of a document 
necessary to respond to a FOIA request. Copies may be in various forms 
including machine readable documentation (e.g. magnetic tape or disk) 
among others. The copy provided shall be in a form that is reasonably 
usable by the requester.
    (4) Review refers to the process of examining documents located in 
response to a request that is for commercial use, to determine whether a 
document or any portion of any document located is permitted to be 
withheld. It includes processing any documents for disclosure to the 
requester, e.g., doing all that is necessary to excise them or otherwise 
prepare them for release.
    (5) Commercial use request refers to a request from or on behalf of 
one who seeks information for a use or purpose that furthers the 
commercial trade or profit interest of the requester or the person on 
whose behalf the request is made.
    (6) Educational institution refers to a preschool, a public or 
private elementary or secondary school, an institution of undergraduate 
higher education, an institution of graduate or professional education 
or an institution of vocational education, which operates a program or 
programs of scholarly research.
    (7) Representative of the news media refers to 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

[[Page 43]]

interest to the public. In the case of ``freelance'' journalists, they 
may be regarded as working for a news organization if they can 
demonstrate a reasonable expectation of publication through the 
organization, even though not actually employed by it.
    (8) Non-commercial scientific institution refers to an institution 
that is not operated on a commercial basis as defined under ``commercial 
use request'' in paragraph (a)(5) of this section, and which is operated 
solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research, the results of 
which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry.
    (b) Fee schedules and waivers. Requests submitted shall be subject 
to direct costs, including search, duplication and review, in accordance 
with the following schedules, procedures and conditions.
    (1) Schedule of charges--(i) Clerical time. For each one-quarter 
hour or portion thereof of clerical time, $2.25.
    (ii) Professional time. For each one-quarter hour or portion thereof 
of professional time, $7.00.
    (iii) Duplication. For each sheet of duplication (not to exceed 8\1/
2\ by 14 inches) of requested records, $.20.
    (iv) Computer time. For computer time, $3.00 per minute of time 
expended for production programming, searching and production of any 
record. Computer time expressed in fractions of minutes will be rounded 
to the next whole minute.
    (v) Certification or authorization of records. The fee per 
certification or authentication is $2.00.
    (vi) Forwarding material to destination. No charge will be assessed 
for ordinary packaging and mailing costs. The FMCS may assess a charge 
if compliance with the request requires special handling procedures such 
as express mail or other unusual procedures. Such charges will be made 
on the basis of actual costs.
    (vii) Other costs. All other direct costs of preparing a response to 
a request shall be charged to requester in the same amount as incurred 
by FMCS. Charges may also be assessed for searches even if the records 
requested are not found, or the records are determined to be exempted 
from disclosure.
    (2) Rules of construction. (i) In providing the foregoing the 
schedules pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A), it is the 
intent of FMCS to apply 29 CFR part 70 and the user charge statute, 31, 
U.S.C. 9701, to cover those situations in which the Agency is performing 
for a requester services which are not required under the Freedom of 
Information Act.
    (ii) For those matters coming within the scope of this regulation, 
the FMCS will look to the provisions of the guidance published by the 
Office of Management and Budget (52 FR 10012, March 27, 1987) and the 
Department of Justice (Attorney General's memorandum on the 1986 
Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, December 1987) for making 
such interpretations as may be necessary.
    (3) Fee categories. Fees shall be determined in accordance with the 
following categories of requesters.
    (i) Commercial use requesters will be assessed charges to recover 
the full direct cost of searching for, reviewing for release, and 
duplicating the records sought. This includes the full direct costs of 
computer production programming, searching and production of records. 
Commercial use requesters are not entitled to 2 hours of free search 
time nor 100 free pages of reproduction of documents, as described 
below.
    (ii) Educational and non-commercial scientific institution 
requesters will be assessed charges for the cost of duplication 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 
under the auspices of a qualifying institution pursuant to the criteria 
in paragraphs (a)(6) and (a)(8) of this section, and that the records 
are not sought for commercial use, but are sought in furtherance of 
scholarly or scientific research.
    (iii) Requesters who are representatives of the news media will be 
assessed charges for the cost of duplication alone, excluding charges 
for the first 100 pages. To be eligible for inclusion in this category, 
a requester must meet the criteria in paragraph (a)(7) of this section, 
and the request must not be made for a commercial use. A request

[[Page 44]]

for records supporting the news dissemination function of the requester 
shall not be considered to be a request that is for commercial use.
    (iv) All other requesters will be assessed charges to recover the 
full reasonable direct costs of searching for and reproducing records 
that are responsive to the request, including costs of computer 
production programming, searching and production, except that the first 
100 pages of reproduction, and the first 2 hours of search time shall be 
furnished without charge.
    (v) In no event shall fees be charged when the total charges are 
less than $50.00, which is the Agency cost of collecting and processing 
the fee itself.
    (4) Waiver or reduction of charge. Documents are to be furnished 
without charge or at reduced levels if disclosure of the information is 
in the public interest; that is, because it is likely to contribute 
significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of 
the Government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the 
requester.
    (c) Fee payments. (1) Payments shall be made by check or money order 
payable to ``Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service'' and shall be 
sent to: Director, Financial Management Staff, Federal Mediation and 
Conciliation Service, 2100 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20427.
    (2) If a requester fails to pay chargeable fees that were incurred 
as a result of this Agency's processing of the information request, the 
Agency beginning on the 31st day following the date on which the 
notification of charges was sent, may assess interest charges against 
the requester in the manner prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 37l7.
    (3) The Agency may use the provisions of the Debt Collection Act of 
1982, (Pub. L. 97-365, 29 CFR part 1450) including disclosure to 
consumer reporting agencies, for the purpose of obtaining payment.
    (d) Advance payments. FMCS may require a requester to make an 
advance payment of anticipated fees under the following circumstances:
    (1) If the anticipated charges are likely to exceed $250, FMCS may 
notify the requestor of the likely cost and obtain satisfactory 
assurance of full payment when the requester has a history of prompt 
payment of FOIA fees, or require an advance payment of an amount up to 
the full estimated charges in the case of requesters with no history of 
payments.
    (2) If a requester has previously failed to pay fees that have been 
charged in processing a request, within 30 days of the date when the 
notification of fees was sent, the requester may be required to:
    (i) Pay the entire amount of fees that are owed, plus any applicable 
interest as provided for in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, and
    (ii) To make an advance payment of the full amount of the estimated 
fee before the Agency will process the new pending request.

[55 FR 17602, Apr. 26, 1990]