47 C.F.R. § 0.465 Request for copies of materials which are available, or made available, for public inspection.
Title 47 - Telecommunication
(a) The Commission awards a contract to a commercial duplication firm to make copies of Commission records and offer them for sale to the public. In addition to the charge for copying, the contractor may charge a search fee for extracting the requested documents from the Commission's files. Note to paragraph (b) The Commission awards a contract to a commercial firm to transcribe Commission proceedings in which a verbatim record is kept and to offer copies of the transcript for sale to the public. Except as authorized by the Commission, the firm is required to retain the capacity to furnish copies of the transcript for a period of 5 years, and may retain that capacity for a longer period, even though another firm is currently transcribing Commission proceedings. Requests for copies of the transcript of the current proceedings should be directed to the current contractor. Requests for transcripts of older proceedings will be forwarded by the Commission to the firm which made the transcript in question; and the names of contracting firms for past years will be furnished upon request. Note to paragraph (c)(1) Contractual arrangements which have been entered into with commercial firms, as described in this section, do not in any way limit the right of the public to inspect Commission records or to extract therefrom whatever information may be desired. Coin-operated and debit card copy machines are available for use by the public. (2) The Commission has reserved the right to make copies of its records for its own use or for the use of other agencies of the U.S. Government. When it serves the regulatory or financial interests of the U.S. Government, the Commission will make and furnish copies of its records free of charge. In other circumstances, however, if it should be necessary for the Commission to make and furnish copies of its records for the use of others, the fee for this service shall be 17 cents per page. For copies prepared with other media, such as computer tapes, microfiche or videotape, the charge will be the actual direct cost including operator time. Requests for copying should be accompanied by a statement specifying the maximum copying fee the person making the request is prepared to pay. If the Commission estimates that copying charges are likely to exceed $25 or the amount which the requester has indicated that he/she is prepared to pay, then it shall notify the requester of the estimated amount of fees. Such a notice shall offer the requester the opportunity to confer with Commission personnel with the object of revising or clarifying the request. Note: The criterion considered in acting on a waiver request is whether “waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest because furnishing the information can be considered as primarily benefiting the general public.” 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A). The following factors are relevant in applying that criterion: the number of persons to be benefited, the significance of the benefit, the private interest of the requester which the release may further, the usefulness of the materials to be released to the general public and the likelihood that a tangible public benefit will be realized. (See Attorney General's 1974 FOI Amdts. Memorandum, at 15.) (3) Requests for copies by representatives of foreign governments or persons residing in foreign countries shall be submitted to the General Counsel and will be reviewed by the General Counsel under criteria established by the Department of Commerce for controlling the export of technical data. (4) Certified Documents. Copies of documents which are available or made available, for inspection under §§0.451 through 0.465, will be prepared and certified, under seal, by the Secretary, or for documents located in the Commission's Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Office by his deputy. Requests shall be in writing, specifying the exact documents, the number of copies desired, and the date on which they will be required. The request shall allow a reasonable time for the preparation and certification of copies. The fee for preparing copies shall be the same as that charged by the Commission as described in §0.465(c)(2). The fee for certification shall be $10 for each document. (d)(1) Computer maintained data bases produced by the Commission may be obtained from the FCC's internet web site at www.fcc.gov. Note: The Commission awards a contract to provide the public with direct electronic access to a portion of the non-Government Master Frequency File data base released for access and residing on the contractor's computer system. The name, address, telephone number, and schedule of fees for the current contractor are published annually at the time of contract award or renewal in a Public notice. This information may be obtained from the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, Consumer Assistance and Small Business Division, Telephone (202) 632–7000. (2) Copies of computer generated data stored as paper printouts or on microfiche may also be obtained from the Commission's duplicating contractor (see paragraph (a) of this section). (d)(3) Copies of computer source programs and associated documentation produced by the Commission shall be obtained from the Office of the Managing Director. (e) This section has no application to printed publications, which may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents or private firms (see §§0.411 through 0.420). Nor does it apply to application forms or information bulletins, which are prepared for the use and information of the public and are available upon request (see §§0.421 and 0.423). (f) Anyone requesting copies of documents pursuant to this section may select either the Commission or the contractor to fulfill the request. If a request goes directly to the contractor, the requester will be charged by the contractor pursuant to the price list set forth in the latest contract. If a request goes directly to the Commission, it shall be sent to the Office of the Managing Director for appropriate processing according to the fee standards established under the FOIA. (Secs. 4, 303, 307, 48 Stat., as amended, 1066, 1082, 1083; 47 U.S.C. 154, 303, 397; 47 CFR 0.231(d)) [32 FR 10573, July 19, 1967, as amended at 41 FR 51610, Nov. 23, 1976; 45 FR 85028, Dec. 24, 1980; 49 FR 13368, Apr. 4, 1984; 51 FR 34982, Oct. 1, 1986; 52 FR 36774, Oct. 1, 1987; 53 FR 39093, Oct. 5, 1988; 64 FR 60725, Nov. 8, 1999; 67 FR 13222, Mar. 21, 2002]
Title 47: Telecommunication
PART 0—COMMISSION ORGANIZATION
Subpart C—General Information
Public Information and Inspection of Records
§ 0.465 Request for copies of materials which are available, or made available, for public inspection.
