[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR1303.60]

[Page 125-126]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
              CHAPTER III--OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
 
PART 1303_PUBLIC INFORMATION PROVISIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT--
 
Sec. 1303.60  Miscellaneous fee provisions.

    (a) Charging interest--notice and rate. OMB may begin assessing 
interest charges on an unpaid bill starting on the 31st day following 
the day on which the billing was sent. The fact that the fee has been 
received by OMB within the thirty day grace period, even if not 
processed, will suffice to stay the accrual of interest. Interest will 
be at the rate prescribed in section 3717 of title 31 of the United 
States Code and will accrue from the date of the billing.
    (b) Charges for unsuccessful search. OMB may assess charges for time 
spent searching, even if it fails to locate the records or if records 
located are determined to be exempt from disclosure. If OMB estimates 
that search charges are likely to exceed $25, it shall notify the 
requester of the estimated amount of fees, unless the requester has 
indicated in advance his willingness to pay fees as high as those 
anticipated. Such a notice shall offer the requester the opportunity to 
confer with agency personnel with the object of reformulating the 
request to meet his or her needs at a lower cost.
    (c) Aggregating requests. A requester may not file multiple requests 
at the same time, each seeking portions of a document or documents, 
solely in order to avoid payment of fees. When OMB reasonably believes 
that a requester, or a group of requestors acting in concert, has 
submitted requests that constitute a single request, involving clearly 
related matters, OMB may aggregate those requests and charge 
accordingly. One element to be considered in determining whether a 
belief would be reasonable is the time period over which the requests 
have occurred.
    (d) Advance payments. OMB may not require a requester to make an 
advance payment, i.e., payment before work is commenced or continued on 
a request, unless:
    (1) OMB estimates or determines that allowable charges that a 
requester may be required to pay are likely to exceed $250. Then, OMB 
will notify the requester of the likely cost and obtain satisfactory 
assurance of full payment where 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 
payment; or
    (2) A requester has previously failed to pay a fee charged in a 
timely fashion (i.e., within 30 days of the date of the billing). Then, 
OMB may require the requester to pay the full amount owed plus any 
applicable interest as provided above or demonstrate that he or she has, 
in fact, paid the fee, and to make

[[Page 126]]

an advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fee before the 
agency begins to process a new request or a pending request from that 
requester.
    (3) When OMB acts under paragraph (d)(1) or (2) of this section, the 
administrative time limits prescribed in the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6) 
(i.e., 20 working days from receipt of initial requests and 20 working 
days from receipt of appeals from initial denial, plus permissible 
extensions of these time limits), will begin only after OMB has received 
fee payments described in paragraphs (d)(1) and (2) of this section.
    (e) Effect of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365). OMB 
should comply with provisions of the Debt Collection Act, including 
disclosure to consumer reporting agencies and use of collection 
agencies, where appropriate, to encourage repayment.

[52 FR 49154, Dec. 30, 1987, as amended at 63 FR 20515, Apr. 27, 1998]