FOIA Memo, Attachment A

In accordance the FOIA, OMB Fee Guidelines, and 29 C.F.R. § 70.40(a) of the regulations, there are three types of charges that may be assessed in connection with the production of agency records in response to a FOIA request.  The charges are as follows:

1.              Search costs, which are the costs for searching for and locating responsive records, and can include the cost of transporting the searcher to the records or the records to the searcher.

2.              Review costs, which are reviewing the records to determine whether any materials are exempt from disclosure.

3.              Reproduction costs, which are the charges for copying the records.

Also in accordance with the statute, OMB Fee Guidelines, and DOL regulations, there are four types of FOIA requesters:

1.         Commercial use requesters, which are requesters who will use the information to further a commercial, trade, or profit interest.

2.         Educational and non-commercial scientific institutions, which are certain schools and institutions of higher learning or vocational education that conduct a program of scholarly research.

3.         Representatives of the news media, which are persons actively gathering information of interest to the public for an organization that is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the general public.

4.         All other requesters, which are all requesters that do not fall within the first two categories.

Depending upon the nature of the requester, one or all of the foregoing costs may be assessed.  The following list sets forth the extent to which the foregoing costs may be assessed against each type of requester.  Lawyers are charged as if their client was making the request.

Commercial use requesters

Search, review and reproduction costs.  Commercial requesters pay all three charges.

News media and educational or non-commercial scientific institutions

Only reproduction cost after the first 100 pages, which are free.

All other requesters

Only search and reproduction costs, after the first 2 hours search and first 100 pages, which are free.

Where computer searches are involved, i.e., executing an existing program, the monetary equivalent of two hours of search time by a professional employee shall be deducted from the total costs of computer processing time.

Current FOIA Fee Charges

The fee schedules for FOIA requests are located at 29 C.F.R. § 70.40 et seq. The fees are as follows:

Search Costs:

            Clerical                         $2.50/Quarter Hour

            Professional/Supervisory            $5.00/Quarter Hour

            Computer Search                     Direct Cost of Conducting the Search

            Transportation                         All Costs in Excess of $5.00

            (records or searcher)

Reproduction:

            Paper                                       $0.15/Page

            Computer Tape/                      Direct Cost of the Media

Review:                                                $5.00/Quarter Hour

Mailing:                                                Any Costs in Excess of $1.00

Interest Charges:                                   Accrue on the 31^st Day After the Billing Date

                                                            (Rate Set pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3717)

De Minimis Fees

No fees are to be charged if the costs of routine collection and processing of the fee is likely to equal or exceed the fee.  The current regulations set the cost of collection and processing at $5.00.  Therefore, if the fee is less than $5.00, it should not be collected.

Note:  A forthcoming proposed rule updating the Department's FOIA Regulations will update the amounts listed above.

Advance Payment

Under the Department's FOIA regulations, when it is estimated that the costs to process the request including search, review and copying will exceed $25.00, the agency may so notify the requester and secure an agreement to pay the fees.  Also, the regulations state that filing a request constitutes an agreement by the FOIA requester to pay fees up to $25.00.  If the fees are determined to exceed $250.00, the requester should be notified of the likely cost and be required to provide assurance of full payment in those cases where the requester has a history of prompt payment or a 50% deposit should be obtained in those cases where the requester has no history of payment.  See 29 C.F.R. § 70.42.

In those cases where the requester owes fees from previous FOIA requests, all outstanding fees and applicable interest should be collected prior to processing the new request, and advanced payment should be required for the new request.