[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 45, Volume 4]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 45CFR1602.13]



[Page 374-377]

 

                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE

 

                 CHAPTER XVI--LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

 

PART 1602_PROCEDURES FOR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION UNDER THE FREEDOM 

OF INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents

 

Sec. 1602.13  Fees.



    (a) No fees will be charged for information routinely provided in 

the normal course of doing business.

    (b) Fees shall be limited to reasonable standard charges for 

document search, review, and duplication, when records are requested for 

commercial use;



[[Page 375]]



    (c) Fees shall be limited to reasonable standard charges for 

document duplication after the first 100 pages, when records are sought 

by a representative of the news media or by an educational or non-

commercial scientific institution; and

    (d) For all other requests, fees shall be limited to reasonable 

standard charges for search time after the first 2 hours and duplication 

after the first 100 pages.

    (e) The schedule for charges for services regarding the production 

or disclosure of the Corporation's records is as follows:

    (1) Manual search for and review of records will be charged as 

follows:

    (i) Band 1: $16.15

    (ii) Band 2: $26.66

    (iii) Band 3: $39.15

    (iv) Band 4: $51.41

    (v) Band 5: $54.59

    (vi) Charges for search and review time less than a full hour will 

be billed by quarter-hour segments;

    (2) Computer time: actual charges as incurred;

    (3) Duplication by paper copy: 13 cents per page;

    (4) Duplication by other methods: actual charges as incurred;

    (5) Certification of true copies: $1.00 each;

    (6) Packing and mailing records: no charge for regular mail;

    (7) Express mail: actual charges as incurred.

    (f) Fee waivers. A requester may seek a waiver or reduction of fees 

below the fees established under paragraph (e) of this section. A fee 

waiver or reduction request will be granted where LSC has determined 

that the requester has demonstrated that disclosure of the information 

is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute 

significantly to public understanding of the operations of the 

Corporation or Federal government and is not primarily in the commercial 

interest of the requester.

    (1) In order to determine whether disclosure of the information is 

in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly 

to public understanding of the operations or activities of the 

Corporation or Federal government, the Corporation shall consider the 

following four factors:

    (i) The subject of the request: Whether the subject of the requested 

records concerns ``the operations or activities of the Corporation or 

Federal government.'' The subject of the requested records must concern 

identifiable operations or activities of the Corporation or Federal 

government, with a connection that is direct and clear, not remote or 

attenuated.

    (ii) The informative value of the information to be disclosed: 

Whether the disclosure is ``likely to contribute'' to an understanding 

of Corporation or Federal government operations or activities. The 

requested records must be meaningfully informative about government 

operations or activities in order to be likely to contribute to an 

increased public understanding of those operations or activities. The 

disclosure of information that is already in the public domain, in 

either a duplicative or a substantially identical form, would not be 

likely to contribute to such understanding where nothing new would be 

added to the public's understanding.

    (iii) The contribution to an understanding of the subject by the 

public likely to result from disclosure: Whether disclosure of the 

requested records will contribute to ``public understanding.'' The 

disclosure must contribute to a reasonably broad audience of persons 

interested in the subject, as opposed to the personal interest of the 

requester. A requester's expertise in the subject area and ability and 

intention to effectively convey information to the public shall be 

considered. It shall be presumed that a representative of the news media 

will satisfy this consideration.

    (iv) The significance of the contribution to public understanding: 

Whether the disclosure is likely to contribute ``significantly'' to 

public understanding of Corporation or Federal government operations or 

activities. The public's understanding of the subject in question, as 

compared to the level of public understanding existing prior to the 

disclosure, must be enhanced by the disclosure to a significant extent.

    (2) In order to determine whether disclosure of the information is 

not primarily in the commercial interest of



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the requester, the Corporation will consider the following two factors:

    (i) The existence and magnitude of a commercial interest: Whether 

the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the 

requested disclosure. LSC shall consider any commercial interest of the 

requester (with reference to the definition of ``commercial use'' in 

this Part) or of any person on whose behalf the requester may be acting, 

that would be furthered by the requested disclosure.

    (ii) The primary interest in disclosure: Whether the magnitude of 

the identified commercial interest is sufficiently large, in comparison 

with the public interest in disclosure, that disclosure is ``primarily'' 

in the commercial interest of the requester. A fee waiver or reduction 

is justified where the public interest is greater in magnitude than that 

of any identified commercial interest in disclosure. LSC ordinarily 

shall presume that where a news media requester has satisfied the public 

interest standard, the public interest will be the interest primarily 

served by disclosure to that requester. Disclosure to data brokers or 

others who merely compile and market government information for direct 

economic return shall not be presumed primarily to serve a public 

interest.

    (3) Where LSC has determined that a fee waiver or reduction request 

is justified for only some of the records to be released, LSC shall 

grant the fee waiver or reduction for those records.

    (4) Requests for fee waivers and reductions shall be made in writing 

and must address the factors listed in this paragraph as they apply to 

the request.

    (g) No fee will be charged under this section unless the cost of 

routine collection and processing of the fee payment is likely to exceed 

$6.50.

    (h) Requesters must agree to pay all fees charged for services 

associated with their requests. The Corporation will assume that 

requesters agree to pay all charges for services associated with their 

requests up to $25 unless otherwise indicated by the requester. For 

requests estimated to exceed $25, the Corporation will first consult 

with the requester prior to processing the request, and such requests 

will not be deemed to have been received by the Corporation until the 

requester agrees in writing to pay all fees charged for services.

    (i) No requester will be required to make an advance payment of any 

fee unless:

    (1) The requester has previously failed to pay a required fee within 

30 days of the date of billing, in which case an advance deposit of the 

full amount of the anticipated fee together with the fee then due plus 

interest accrued may be required. (The request will not be deemed to 

have been received by the Corporation until such payment is made.); or

    (2) The Corporation determines that an estimated fee will exceed 

$250, in which case the requester shall be notified of the amount of the 

anticipated fee or such portion thereof as can readily be estimated. 

Such notification shall be transmitted as soon as possible, but in any 

event within 5 working days of receipt by the Corporation, giving the 

best estimate then available. The notification shall offer the requester 

the opportunity to confer with appropriate representatives of the 

Corporation for the purpose of reformulating the request so as to meet 

the needs of the requester at a reduced cost. The request will not be 

deemed to have been received by the Corporation for purposes of the 

initial 20-day response period until the requester makes a deposit on 

the fee in an amount determined by the Corporation.

    (j) When a requester has previously failed to pay a properly charged 

FOIA fee within 30 days of the date of billing, the Corporation may 

require the requester to pay the full amount due, plus any applicable 

interest, and to make an advance payment of the full amount of any 

anticipated fee before the Corporation begins to process a new request 

or continues to process a pending request (including appeals) from that 

requester.

    (k) Interest may be charged to those requesters who fail to pay the 

fees charged. Interest will be assessed on the amount billed, starting 

on the 31st day following the day on which the billing was sent. The 

rate charged will be as prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717.



[[Page 377]]



    (l) If the Corporation reasonably believes that a requester or group 

of requesters is attempting to break a request into a series of requests 

for the purpose of evading the assessment of fees, the Corporation shall 

aggregate such requests and charge accordingly. Likewise, the 

Corporation will aggregate multiple requests for documents received from 

the same requester within 45 days.

    (m) The Corporation reserves the right to limit the number of copies 

that will be provided of any document to any one requester or to require 

that special arrangements for duplication be made in the case of bound 

volumes or other records representing unusual problems of handling or 

reproduction.



[63 FR 41196, Aug. 3, 1998, as amended by 68 FR 7437, Feb. 14, 2003]