[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 22, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2006]

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

[CITE: 22CFR171.15]



[Page 755]

 

                       TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS

 

                     CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF STATE

 

PART 171_AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION AND RECORDS TO THE PUBLIC--Table 

of Contents

 

             Subpart B_Freedom of Information Act Provisions

 

Sec.  171.15  Fees to be charged--categories of requesters.



    Under the FOIA, there are four categories of requesters: Commercial 

use requesters, educational and non-commercial scientific institutions, 

representatives of the news media, and all other requesters. The fees 

for each of these categories are:

    (a) Commercial use requesters. When the Department receives a 

request for documents for commercial use as defined in Sec.  171.11(l), 

it will assess charges that recover the full direct costs of searching 

for, reviewing for release, and duplicating the record sought. 

Commercial use requesters are not entitled to two hours of free search 

time or 100 free pages of reproduction of documents. The Department may 

recover the cost of searching for and reviewing records even if there is 

ultimately no disclosure of records (see Sec.  171.16(b)).

    (b) Educational and non-commercial scientific institution 

requesters. The Department 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 show that the request is being made as authorized by and 

under the auspices of a qualifying institution, as defined in Sec.  

171.11(m) and (n), 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.

    (c) Representatives of the news media. The Department 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 Sec.  

171.11(o), 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 commercial use request.

    (d) All other requesters. The Department shall charge requesters who 

do not fit into any of the categories above fees that 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.