[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 31]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

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

[CITE: 40CFR1601.32]



[Page 923-925]

 

                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

 

       CHAPTER VI--CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD

 

PART 1601_PROCEDURES FOR DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF 

INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents

 

                             Subpart D_Fees

 

Sec.  1601.32  Limitations on charging fees.



    (a) In general. Except for requesters seeking records for a 

commercial use as described in Sec.  1601.31(b), the CSB will provide, 

without charge, the first 100 pages of duplication and the first 2 hours 

of search time, or their cost equivalent.

    (b) No fee charged. The CSB will not charge fees to any requester, 

including commercial use requesters, if the cost of collecting a fee 

would be equal to or greater than the fee itself. The elements to be 

considered in determining



[[Page 924]]



the cost of collecting a fee are the administrative costs of receiving 

and recording a requester's remittance and of processing the fee.

    (c) Waiver or reduction of fees. The CSB may grant a waiver or 

reduction of fees if the CSB determines that the 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 Federal government, and the disclosure of the information is not 

primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. Requests for a 

waiver or reduction of fees will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

The following factors will be considered by the CSB in determining 

whether a waiver or reduction of fees is in the public interest:

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

records concerns the operations or activities of the government. The 

subject matter of the requested records, in the context of the request, 

must specifically concern identifiable operations or activities of the 

Federal government with a connection that is direct and clear, not 

remote or attenuated. Furthermore, the records must be sought for their 

informative value with respect to those government operations or 

activities; a request for access to records for their intrinsic 

informational content alone will not satisfy this threshold 

consideration.

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

Whether the disclosure is likely to contribute to an understanding of 

government operations or activities. The disclosable portions of the 

requested records must be meaningfully informative on specific 

government operations or activities in order to hold potential for 

contributing to increased public understanding of those operations and 

activities. The disclosure of information that is already in the public 

domain, in either a duplicative or substantially identical form, would 

not be likely to contribute to such understanding, as nothing new would 

be added to the public record.

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

general public. Whether disclosure of the requested information will 

contribute to the public understanding. The disclosure must contribute 

to the understanding of the public at large, as opposed to the 

individual understanding of the requester or a narrow segment of 

interested persons. A requester's identity and qualifications, e.g., 

expertise in the subject area and ability and intention to convey 

information to the general public, will be considered.

    (iv) The significance of the contribution in public understanding. 

Whether the disclosure is likely to significantly enhance the public 

understanding of government operations or activities. The public's 

understanding of the subject matter in question, as compared to the 

level of public understanding existing prior to the disclosure, must be 

likely to be enhanced by the disclosure to a significant extent. The 

FOIA Officer shall not make a separate value judgment as to whether 

information, even though it in fact would contribute significantly to 

public understanding of the operations or activities of the government, 

is ``important'' enough to be made public.

    (2) In order to determine whether the second fee waiver requirement 

is met, i.e., that disclosure of the requested information is not 

primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, the CSB shall 

consider the following two factors in sequence:

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

the requester, or any person on whose behalf the requester may be 

acting, has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the 

requested disclosure. In assessing the magnitude of identified 

commercial interests, consideration will be given to the effect that the 

information disclosed would have on those commercial interests, as well 

as to the extent to which FOIA disclosures serve those interests 

overall. Requesters shall be given a reasonable opportunity in the 

administrative process to provide information bearing upon this 

consideration.

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

the identified commercial interest of the requester 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



[[Page 925]]



warranted only where, once the public interest standard set out in 

paragraph (c)(1) of this section is satisfied, that public interest can 

fairly be regarded as greater in magnitude than that of the requester's 

commercial interest in disclosure. The CSB will ordinarily presume that, 

where a news media requester has satisfied the public interest standard, 

the public interest will be serviced primarily by disclosure to that 

requester. Disclosure to requesters who compile and market Federal 

government information for direct economic gain will not be presumed to 

primarily serve the public interest.

    (3) Where only a portion of the requested record satisfies the 

requirements for a waiver or reduction of fees under this paragraph, a 

waiver or reduction shall be granted only as to that portion.

    (4) A request for a waiver or reduction of fees must accompany the 

request for disclosure of records and should include:

    (i) A clear statement of the requester's interest in the records;

    (ii) The proposed use of the records and whether the requester will 

derive income or other benefit from such use;

    (iii) A statement of how the public will benefit from release of the 

requested records; and

    (iv) If specialized use of the documents is contemplated, a 

statement of the requester's qualifications that are relevant to the 

specialized use.

    (5) A requester may appeal the denial of a request for a waiver or 

reduction of fees in accordance with the provisions of Sec.  1601.23.