Section

[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 24, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2006]

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

[CITE: 24CFR15.110]

[Page 184-186]

TITLE 24--HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

PART 15_PUBLIC ACCESS TO HUD RECORDS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

AND TESTIMONY AND PRODUCTION OF INFORMATION BY HUD EMPLOYEES--Table of

Contents

Subpart B_FOIA Disclosure of Information

Sec. 15.110 What fees will HUD charge?

(a) How will HUD determine your fee? HUD will determine your fee

based on which category of requester you are in and on the other

provisions of this section. With your request, you should submit

information to help HUD determine the proper category. If HUD cannot

tell from your request, or if HUD has reason to doubt the use to which

the records will be put, HUD will ask you to provide additional

information before assigning the request to a specific category.

(b) What are the categories of requesters?--(1) Commercial use

requester. You are a commercial use requester if you request information

for a use or purpose that furthers your commercial, trade, or profit

interests or those interests of the person on whose behalf you have made

the request. In determining whether your request properly belongs in

this category, HUD determines the use to which you will put the

documents requested.

(2) Educational requester. You are an educational requester if your

request is on behalf of an educational institution and you do not seek

the records for a commercial use, but to further scholarly research.

(3) Non-commercial scientific requester. You are a non-commercial

scientific requester if you are not a commercial use requester and your

request is on behalf of an organization that is operated solely for the

purpose of conducting scientific research the results of which are not

intended to promote any particular product or industry.

(4) Representative of the news media requester. (i) You are a

representative of the news media requester if you actively gather news

for an entity that is primarily organized and operated to publish or

broadcast news to the public.

(ii) Examples of news media entities include television or radio

stations broadcasting to the public at large, and publishers of

periodicals (but only in those instances when they can qualify as

disseminators of news) who make their products available for purchase or

subscription by the general public.

(iii) Freelance journalists may be regarded as working for a news

organization if they can demonstrate a solid

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basis for expecting publication through that organization, even though

not actually employed by it. A publication contract would be the

clearest proof, but HUD may also look to the past publication record of

a requester in making this determination.

(iv) If you are a representative of the news media requester, HUD

will not consider you to be a commercial use requester.

(5) Other requester. You are considered an ``other'' requester if

you do not fall within the categories of requesters described in this

paragraph (b).

that HUD uses to determine your fee. The rates for professional and

clerical search and review includes the salary of the employee

performing the work. The duplication cost includes the cost of operating

duplicating machinery. The computer run time includes the cost of

operating a central processing unit for that portion of the operating

time attributable to searching for responsive records, as well as the

costs of operator/programmer salary apportionable to the search. HUD's

fee schedule does not include overhead expenses such as costs of space

and heating or lighting the facility in which the records are stored.

FOIA Fee Schedule

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News media,

educational

Activity Rate Commercial use research, or Other requester

requester scientific

research requester

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) Professional search......... $37.00 per hour... Applies........... Does not apply.... Applies. No charge

for first two

hours of

cumulative search

time.

(2) Professional review......... $37.00 per hour... Applies........... Does not apply.... Does not apply.

(3) Clerical search............. $16.35 per hour... Applies........... Does not apply.... Applies. No charge

for first two

hours of

cumulative search

time.

(4) Clerical review............. $16.35 per hour... Applies........... Does not apply.... Does not apply.

(5) Programming services........ $35.00 per hour... Applies........... Does not apply.... Applies.

(6) Computer run time (includes The direct cost of Applies........... Does not apply.... Applies.

only mainframe search time not conducting the

printing). search.

(7) Duplication costs........... $0.15 per page.... Applies........... Applies. No charge Applies. No charge

for first 100 for first 100

pages. pages.

(8) Duplication costs--tape, CD Actual Cost....... Applies........... Applies........... Applies.

ROM or diskette.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(d) How does HUD assess review charges? HUD will assess review

charges only for the first time it analyzes the applicability of a

specific exemption to a particular record or portion of a record. HUD

will not charge for its review at the administrative appeal level of an

exemption already applied. If HUD has withheld in full a record or

portions of a record under an exemption which is subsequently determined

not to apply, HUD will assess charges for its review to determine the

applicability of other exemptions not previously considered.

(e) How does HUD handle multiple requests? If you, or others acting

with you, make multiple requests at or about the same time for the

purpose of dividing one request into a series of requests for the

purpose of evading the assessment of fees, HUD will aggregate your

requests for records. In no case will HUD give you more than the first

two hours of search time, or more than the first 100 pages of

duplication without charge.

(f) Unsuccessful searches. If HUD's search for records is

unsuccessful, HUD will still bill you for the search.

(g) No charge for costs under $25. HUD will not charge you a fee if

the total amount calculated under this section is less than $25.00.

(h) Reducing fees in the public interest. If HUD determines that

disclosure of

[[Page 186]]

the information you seek is in the public interest because it is likely

to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or

activities of the government, and that you are not seeking the

information for your own commercial interests, HUD may waive or reduce

the fee.

(i) When do I pay the fee? HUD will bill you when it responds to

your request. You must pay within thirty-one calendar days. If the fee

is more than $250.00 or you have a history of failing to pay FOIA fees

in a timely manner, HUD will ask you to remit the estimated amount and

any past due charges before sending you the records.

(j) What happens if I do not pay the fees? (1) If you do not pay by

the thirty-first day after the billing date, HUD will charge interest at

the maximum rate allowed under 31 U.S.C. 3717.

(2) If you do not pay the amount due within ninety calendar days of

the due date, HUD may notify consumer credit reporting agencies of your

delinquency.

(3) If you owe fees for previous FOIA responses, HUD will not

respond to further requests unless you pay the amount due.

(k) Contract services. HUD will contract with private sector sources

to locate, reproduce and disseminate records in response to FOIA

requests when that is the most efficient method. When doing so HUD will

charge the cost to the requester that the private sector source has

charged HUD for performing these tasks. In some instances, these costs

may be higher than the charges HUD would ordinarily charge if the

processing tasks had been done by the agency itself. In no case will HUD

contract out responsibilities which the FOIA provides that HUD alone may

discharge, such as determining the applicability of an exemption, or

determining whether to waive or reduce fees. HUD will ensure that, when

documents that would be responsive to a request are maintained for

distribution by agencies operating statutory-based fee schedule programs

such as the National Technical Information Service, HUD will inform

requesters of the steps necessary to obtain records from those sources.

Information provided routinely in the normal course of business will be

provided at no charge.