22 C.F.R. § 171.15 Fees to be charged—categories of requesters.
Title 22 - Foreign Relations
Under the FOIA, there are four categories of requesters: Commercial use requesters, educational and non-commercial scientific institutions, representatives of the news media, and all other requesters. The fees for each of these categories are: (a) Commercial use requesters. When the Department receives a request for documents for commercial use as defined in §171.11(l), it will assess charges that recover the full direct costs of searching for, reviewing for release, and duplicating the record sought. Commercial use requesters are not entitled to two hours of free search time or 100 free pages of reproduction of documents. The Department may recover the cost of searching for and reviewing records even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records (see §171.16(b)). (b) Educational and non-commercial scientific institution requesters. The Department shall provide documents to requesters in this category for the cost of reproduction alone, excluding charges for the first 100 pages. To be eligible for inclusion in this category, a requester must show that the request is being made as authorized by and under the auspices of a qualifying institution, as defined in §171.11(m) and (n), and that the records are not sought for a commercial use, but are sought in furtherance of scholarly (if the request is from an educational institution) or scientific (if the request is from a non-commercial scientific institution) research. (c) Representatives of the news media. The Department shall provide documents to requesters in this category for the cost of reproduction alone, excluding charges for the first 100 pages. To be eligible for inclusion in this category, a requester must meet the criteria in §171.11(o), 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 commercial use request. (d) All other requesters. The Department shall charge requesters who do not fit into any of the categories above fees that recover the full reasonable direct cost of searching for and reproducing records that are responsive to the request, except that the first 100 pages of reproduction and the first two hours of search time shall be furnished without charge.
Title 22: Foreign Relations
PART 171—AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION AND RECORDS TO THE PUBLIC
Subpart B—Freedom of Information Act Provisions
§ 171.15 Fees to be charged—categories of requesters.
