29 CFR 70.41 Reduction or waiver of fees.

Office of the Secretary of Labor

§ 70.41

professional employee shall be deducted from the total costs of computer processing time.
(d)(1) Search costs. When a search for
records is performed by a clerical employee, a rate of $2.50 per quarter hour
will be applicable. When a search is
performed by professional or supervisory personnel, a rate of $5.00 per
quarter hour will be applicable. If the
search for requested records requires
transportation of the searcher to the
location of the records or transportation of the records to the searcher,
all transportation costs in excess of
$5.00 may be added to the search cost.
When an existing computer program is
employed to locate records responsive
to a request, the disclosure officer may
charge the actual cost of providing the
service.
(2) Reproduction costs. The standard
copying charge for documents in paper
copy is $.15 per page. When responsive
information is provided in a format
other than paper copy, such as in the
form of computer tapes and discs, the
requester may be charged the direct
costs of the tape, disc or whatever medium is used to produce the information, as well as any related reproduction costs.
(3) Review costs. Costs associated with
the review of documents, as defined in
§ 70.38(c), will be applicable at a rate of
$5.00 per quarter hour. Except as noted
below, charges may only be assessed
for review at the initial level, i.e. the
review undertaken the first time the
documents are analyzed to determine
the applicability of specific exemptions
to the particular record or portion of
the record. Thus a requester would not
be charged for review at the administrative appeal level with regard to the
applicability of an exemption already
applied at the initial level. When, however, a record has been withheld pursuant to an exemption which is subsequently determined not to apply and is
reviewed again at the appellate level to
determine the potential applicability
of other exemptions, the costs attendant to such additional review may be
assessed.
(4) Mailing cost. Where requests for
copies are made by mail, no postage
charge will be made for transmitting
by regular mail a single copy of the re-

quested record to the requester, or for
mailing additional copies where the
total postage cost does not exceed $1.
However, where the volume of page
copy or method of transmittal requested is such that transmittal
charges to the Department are in excess of $1, the transmittal costs will be
added, unless appropriate stamps or
stamped envelopes are furnished with
the request, or authorization is given
for collection of shipping charges on
delivery.
(e) Privacy Act requesters. Requests
from individuals for records about
themselves which are contained within
agency systems of records shall be
treated under the fee provisions of the
Privacy Act of 1974 which permit the
assessment of reproduction costs only,
after providing the first copy of a file
at no cost.
[54 FR 23144, May 30, 1989; 54 FR 30503, July
20, 1989]

§ 70.41 Reduction or waiver of fees.
This section sets forth conditions
under which the applicable charges for
records responsive to a request under 5
U.S.C. 552, as set forth in § 70.40, are
subject to reduction or waiver by the
disclosure officer.
(a) Statutorily required waiver or reduction in fees. Documents shall be furnished without charge or at a charge
below the fees set forth in § 70.40 if all
of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) The subject of the requested
records concerns the operations or activities of the United States Government;
(2) The disclosure of the requested
records is likely to contribute to an
understanding of Government operations or activities;
(3) The disclosure is likely to contribute to a public understanding of
such operations or activities;
(4) The contribution to public understanding of government operations and
activities will be significant; and
(5) The public’s interest in disclosure
exceeds the requester’s commercial interest in disclosure.
(b) De minimis costs. Where the cost of
collecting a fee to be assessed to a requester exceeds the amount of the fee
which would otherwise be assessed, no

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§ 70.42

29 CFR Subtitle A (7–1–05 Edition)

fee need be charged. Under normal circumstances, fees which do not exceed
$5.00 need not be collected.
(c) Reformulating requests. When the
estimated reproduction costs are likely
to exceed $25.00, the requester may be
notified of the estimated amount of
fees, unless the requester has indicated
in advance its willingness to pay fees
as high as those anticipated. Such notice may invite the requester to reformulate the request to satisfy his or her
needs at a lower cost.
§ 70.42

Ancillary considerations.

(a) Costs assessed when no records are
disclosed. The costs of searching for
and, in the case of a commercial use request, reviewing records may be assessed even where ultimately no documents are disclosed or located.
(b) Aggregating requests. A requester
may not file multiple requests, each
seeking portions of a document or documents in order to avoid the payment
of fees. When there is reason to believe
that a requester or a group of requesters acting in concert, is attempting to
break a request down into a series of
requests for the purpose of evading the
assessment of fees, any such requests
may be aggregated and the requesters
charged as if there were only a single
request.
(c) Advance payments. An advance
payment before work is commenced or
continued on a request, may not be required unless:
(1) It is estimated or determined that
the allowable charge that a requester
may be required to pay are likely to
exceed $250. When a determination is
made that the allowable charges are
likely to exceed $250, the requester
shall be notified of the likely cost and
be required to provide satisfactory assurance of full payment where the requester has a history of prompt payment of FOIA fees, or be required to
tender advance payment of at least 50%
of 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) in which case the requester
may be required:

(i) To pay the full amount owed plus
any applicable interest as provided in
§ 70.41(e), when an outstanding balance
is due and owing, and
(ii) To make an advance payment of
the full amount of the estimated fee
before the component begins to process
a new request.
(3) In any case, the payment of outstanding fees may be required before
responsive materials are actually disclosed to a requester.
(d) Time limits to respond extended
when advance payments requested. When
an advance payment of fees in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section
has been requested the administrative
time limits prescribed in subsection
(a)(6) of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6),
will only begin to run after such advance payment has been received by
the agency.
(e) Interest charges. Interest charges
on an unpaid bill may be assessed
starting on the 31st day following the
day on which the billing was sent. Interest shall be at the rate prescribed in
section 3717 of title 31 U.S.C. and shall
accrue from the date of the billing.
(f) Authentication of copies—(1) Fees.
The Freedom of Information Act does
not require certification or attestation
under seal of copies of records furnished in accordance with its provisions. Pursuant to provisions of the
general user-charger statute, 31 U.S.C.
9701 and subchapter II of title 29 U.S.C.,
the following charges may be made
where such services are requested:
(i) For certification of true copies,
each $1.
(ii) For attestation under the seal of
the Department, each $3.
(2) Authority and form for attestation
under seal. Authority is hereby given to
any officer or officers of the Department of Labor designated as authentication officer or officers of the Department to sign and issue attestations
under the seal of the Department of
Labor.
(g) Transcripts. All transcripts shall
be made available in accordance with
the terms set forth in § 70.40.

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