12 C.F.R. § 1703.23 Fees to be charged—categories of requesters.
Title 12 - Banks and Banking
(a) Fees for various requester categories. Paragraphs (b) through (e) of this section state, for each category of requester, the types of fees generally charged by OFHEO. However, for each of these categories, the fees may be limited, waived or reduced in accordance with the provisions set forth in paragraph (c) of §1703.24. If OFHEO has reasonable cause to doubt the purpose specified in the request for which a requester will use the records sought, or where the purpose is not clear from the request itself, OFHEO will seek clarification before assigning the request a specific category. (b) Commercial use requester. OFHEO shall charge fees for records requested by persons or entities making a commercial use request in an amount that equals the full direct costs for searching for, reviewing for release, and reproducing the records sought. Commercial use requesters are not entitled to 2 hours of free search time nor 100 free pages of reproduction of records. In accordance with §1703.22, commercial use requesters may be charged the costs of searching for and reviewing records even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records. (c) Educational and noncommercial scientific institutions. OFHEO shall charge fees for records requested by, or on behalf of, educational institutions and noncommercial scientific institutions in an amount which equals the cost of reproducing the records responsive to the request, excluding the cost of reproducing the first 100 pages. No search fee shall be charged with respect to requests by educational and noncommercial scientific institutions. For a request to be included in this category, requesters must show that the request being made is authorized by and under the auspices of a qualifying institution, and that the records are not sought for commercial use but are sought in furtherance of scholarly research (if the request is from an educational institution) or scientific research (if the request is from a noncommercial scientific institution). (d) News media. OFHEO shall charge fees for records requested by representatives of the news media in an amount which equals the cost of reproducing the records responsive to the request, excluding the costs of reproducing the first 100 pages. No search fee shall be charged with respect to requests by representatives of the news media. For a request to be included in this category, the requester must qualify as a representative of the news media and the request must not be made for a commercial use. A request for records supporting the news dissemination function of the requester shall not be considered to be a request that is for commercial use. (e) All other requesters. OFHEO shall charge fees for records requested by persons or entities that are not classified in any of the categories listed in paragraphs (b), (c), or (d) of this section in an amount that equals the full reasonable direct cost of searching for and reproducing records that are responsive to the request, excluding the first 2 hours of search time and the cost of reproducing the first 100 pages of records. In accordance with §1703.22, requesters in this category may be charged the cost of searching for records even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records, excluding the first 2 hours of search time. (f) For purposes of the exceptions contained in this section on assessment of fees, the word “pages” refers to paper copies of 8 (g) For purposes of paragraph (e) of this section, the term “search time” has as its basis, manual search. To apply this term to searches made by computer, OFHEO will determine the hourly cost of operating the computer equipment and the operator's time determined as described in paragraph (b)(1)(i) of §1703.22. When the cost of the search (including the operator's time and the cost of operating the computer equipment to process a request) equals the equivalent dollar amount of two hours of the time of the person performing the work, i.e., the operator, OFHEO will begin assessing charges for the computer. [63 FR 71005, Dec. 23, 1998, as amended at 65 FR 55174, Sept. 13, 2000. Redesignated and amended at 65 FR 81327, Dec. 26, 2000]
Title 12: Banks and Banking
PART 1703—RELEASE OF INFORMATION
Subpart D—Fees for Provision of Information
§ 1703.23 Fees to be charged—categories of requesters.
