(a) In responding to FOIA requests, OPIC will charge the following fees unless a waiver or reduction of fees has been granted under Sec. 706.24.
(1) Search. (i) Search fees shall be charged for all requests subject to the restrictions of paragraph (b) of this section.
(i) Search fees shall be charged for all requests subject to the restrictions of paragraph (b) of this section.
(ii) For each hour spent by personnel searching for requested records, including electronic searches that do not require new programming, the fees will be as follows: Professional--$41.50; and administrative--$33.50.
(iii) Requesters will be charged the direct costs associated with conducting any search that requires the creation of a new program to locate the requested records.
(iv) For requests that require the retrieval of records stored at a Federal records center operated by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), additional costs shall be charged in accordance with the Transactional Billing Rate Schedule established by NARA.
(2) Duplication. Duplication fees will be charged to all requesters, subject to the restrictions of paragraph (b) of this section. OPIC will honor a requester's preference for receiving a record in a particular form or format where it is readily reproducible in the form or format requested. Where photocopies are supplied, OPIC will provide one copy per request at a cost of $0.15 per page. For copies of records produced on tapes, disks, or other electronic media, OPIC will charge the direct costs of producing the copy, including operator time. Where paper documents must be scanned in order to comply with a requester's preference to receive the records in an electronic format, the requester shall pay the direct costs associated with scanning those materials. For other forms of duplication OPIC will charge the direct costs.
(3) Review. Review fees will be charged to requesters who make commercial-use requests. Review fees will be assessed in connection with the initial review of the record, i.e., the review conducted by OPIC to determine whether an exemption applies to a particular record or portion of a record. No charge will be made for review at the administrative appeal stage of exemptions applied at the initial review stage. However, if the appellate authority determines that a particular exemption no longer applies, any costs associated with the re-review of the records in order to consider the use of other exemptions may be assessed as review fees. Review fees will be charged at the same rates as those charged for a search under paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section.
(b) Restrictions on charging fees. (1) No search fees will be charged for educational use requests, noncommercial scientific use requests, or news media requests as defined in Sec. 706.21. When OPIC fails to comply with the time limits in which to respond to a request, and if no unusual or exceptional circumstances apply to the processing of the request, OPIC may not charge search fees, or, in the instances of requests from requesters defined in Sec. 706.21(b) through (d), may not charge duplication fees.
(1) No search fees will be charged for educational use requests, noncommercial scientific use requests, or news media requests as defined in Sec. 706.21. When OPIC fails to comply with the time limits in which to respond to a request, and if no unusual or exceptional circumstances apply to the processing of the request, OPIC may not charge search fees, or, in the instances of requests from requesters defined in Sec. 706.21(b) through (d), may not charge duplication fees.
(2) Except for requesters seeking records for a commercial use, OPIC will provide without charge:
(i) The first 100 pages of duplication (or the cost equivalent for other media); and
(ii) The first two hours of search.
(3) When the total fee calculated under this section is $25.00 or less for any request, no fee will be charged.
(c) Notice of anticipated fees in excess of authorization. When OPIC determines or estimates that the fees to be assessed in accordance with this section will exceed the amount authorized, OPIC will notify the requester of the actual or estimated amount of the fees, including a breakdown of fees for search, review, and duplication. Processing will be halted until the requester commits in writing to pay the actual or estimated total fee. This time will not count against OPIC's twenty day processing time or any extension of that time. Such a commitment must be made by the requester in writing, must indicate a given dollar amount, and must be received by OPIC within thirty calendar days from the date of notification of the fee estimate. If a commitment is not received within this period, the request shall be closed. A FOIA Officer or FOIA Public Liaison is available to assist any requester in reformulating a request in an effort to reduce fees.
(d) Charges for other services. Although not required to provide special services, if OPIC chooses to do so as a matter of administrative discretion, the direct costs of providing the service will be charged. Examples of such services include certifying that records are true copies, providing multiple copies of the same document, or sending records by means other than first class mail.
(e) Charging interest. OPIC may charge interest on any unpaid bill starting on the thirty-first day following the billing date. Interest charges will be assessed at the rate provided in 31 U.S.C. 3717 and will accrue from the billing date until payment is received by OPIC. OPIC will follow the provisions of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-365, 96 Stat. 1749), as amended, and its administrative procedures, including the use of consumer reporting agencies, collection agencies, and offset.
(f) Aggregating requests. If OPIC reasonably believes that a requester or a group of requesters acting in concert is attempting to divide a single request into a series of requests for the purpose of avoiding fees, OPIC may aggregate those requests and charge accordingly. OPIC will not aggregate multiple requests that involve unrelated matters.
(g) Other statutes specifically providing for fees. The fee schedule of this section does not apply to fees charged under any statute that specifically requires an agency to set and collect fees for particular types of records. In instances where records responsive to a request are subject to a statutorily-based fee schedule program, OPIC will inform the requester of the contact information for that source.
(h) Remittances. All payments under this part must be in the form of a check or a bank draft denominated in U.S. currency. Checks should be made payable to the order of United States Treasury and mailed to the OPIC FOIA Office.