(a) Commercial use means a request from or on behalf of a person seeking information for a use or purpose that furthers the commercial, trade, or profit interests of the requester or person on whose behalf the request is made. In determining the applicability of this term, the use to which a requester will put the document is considered first; where reasonable doubt exists as to the use, the Commission may seek clarification before assigning the request to a category.

(b) Direct costs means the expenditures the Commission incurs in searching for, duplicating, and, where applicable, reviewing documents to respond to a request. They include (without limitation) the salary of the employee(s) performing work (the basic pay rate of such employee(s) plus 16 percent to cover benefits).

(c) Duplication means copying the documents necessary to respond to a request. Such copies may be paper, microform, audiovisual, or machine-readable.

(d) Educational institution means a preschool, a public or private elementary or secondary school, an institution of graduate or undergraduate higher education, an institution of professional education, and an institution of vocational education, which operates a program or programs of scholarly research.

(e) Noncommercial scientific institution means an institution, not operated on a commercial basis (as referenced above), which is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research whose results are not intended to promote any particular product or industry.

(f) Representative of the news media means any person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. The term “news” means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify as disseminators of “news”) who make their products available for purchase or by subscription or by free distribution to the general public. These examples are not all inclusive and may include alternate media to disseminate news. A freelance journalist shall be regarded as working for a news media entity if the journalist can demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through that entity (e.g., by a publication contract or prior publication record), whether or not the journalist is actually employed by the entity.

(g) Review means examining documents located in response to a request to determine whether any portion is exempt from disclosure, and processing or preparing documents for release, but not determination of general legal or policy issues regarding application of exemptions.

(h) Search includes all time spent looking for material responsive to a request, including identification of pages or lines within documents. The term covers both manual and computerized searching.

(a) Fees. The level of fee charged depends on the request category.

(1) Commercial use. A request appearing to be for commercial use will be charged the full direct costs of searching for, reviewing, and duplicating the records sought.

(2) Educational and noncommercial scientific institutions. A request from an educational or noncommercial scientific institution will be charged for the cost of duplication only (excluding charges for the first 100 pages). To be eligible for this category, a requester must show that the request is made under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that the records are not sought for commercial use but are in furtherance of scholarly (in the case of educational institutions) or scientific (in the case of noncommercial scientific institutions) research.

(3) News media. A request from a representative of the news media will be charged the cost of duplication only (excluding charges for the first 100 pages).

(4) Other requesters. A request from any other person will be charged the full direct cost of searching for, reviewing, and duplicating records responsive to the request, except that the first 100 pages of duplication and the first 2 hours of search/review will be furnished without charge.

(b) Privacy Act. A request by an individual for the individual's own records in a system of records will be charged fees as provided under the Commission's Privacy Act regulations in part 3005 of this chapter.

(a) The Commission may charge search fees even if no records are found or if the records found are exempt from disclosure.

(b) Except in the case of commercial use requesters, the first 100 pages of duplication and the first 2 hours of search time are provided without charge.

(1) A page for these purposes is a letter- or legal-size sheet, or the equivalent amount of information in a medium other than paper copy.

(2) Search time for these purposes refers to manual searching; if the search is performed by computer, the 2 hours provided without charge will be equal to 2 hours' salary of the person performing the search.

(c) No requester will be charged a fee when the Commission determines that the cost of collecting the fee would equal or exceed the fee itself. In determining whether cost of collection would equal or exceed the fee, the allowance for 2 hours' search or 100 pages of duplication will be made before comparing the remaining fee and the cost of collection.

(d) Records will be provided without charge or at a reduced charge if disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.

(e) No requester will be charged a fee after any search or response which occurs after the applicable time limits as described in §§ 3006.202 and 3006.203, unless:

(1) The Commission extends the time limit for its response due to unusual circumstances, pursuant to § 3006.201(d), and the Commission completes its response within the extension of time provided under that section; or

(2) The Commission extends the time limit for its response due to unusual circumstances and more than 5,000 pages are necessary to respond to the request and the Commission has discussed with the requester how they could effectively limit the scope of the request or made at least three good faith attempts to do so; or

(3) A court has determined that exceptional circumstances exist and excused the Commission from responding by court order.

(f) The Commission may, however, charge fees for review, and in some cases duplication, for a partial grant of a request while it reviews records that may be exempt and may be responsive to the request, so long as the partial grant is made within the applicable time limits.

(a) Fees will be calculated as follows:

(1) Manual search. At the salary rate (basic pay plus 16 percent) of the employee(s) making the search. Search time may be charged for even if the Commission fails to locate records or if records located are exempt from disclosure.

(2) Computer search. At the direct cost of providing the search, including computer search time directly attributable to searching for records responsive to the request runs and employee salary apportionable to the search.

(3) Review (commercial use). At the salary rate (basic pay plus 16 percent) of the employee(s) conducting the review. Charges are imposed only for the review necessary at the initial administrative level to determine the applicability of any exemption, and not for review at the administrative appeal level of an exemption already applied.

(4) Duplication. At 10 cents per page for paper copy, which the Commission has found to be the reasonable direct cost thereof. For copies of records prepared by computer the direct cost of production, including employee time, will be charged.

(5) Additional services. Postage, insurance, and other additional services that may be arranged for by the requester will be charged at actually incurred cost.

(b) In addition to the fee waiver provisions of § 3006.302(d), fees may be waived at the discretion of the Commission.

(a) Advance payment may be required if the requester failed to pay previous bills in a timely fashion or when the fees are likely to exceed $250.

(1) Where the requester has previously failed to pay within 30 days of the billing date, the Commission may require the requester to pay an advance payment of the estimated fee together with either the past due fees (plus applicable interest) or proof that the past fees were paid.

(2) When advance payment is required, the administrative time limits prescribed in 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6) (§ 3006.201) begin only after such payment has been received.

(b) Interest at the rate published by the Secretary of the Treasury as prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717 will be charged on unpaid fee bills starting on the 31st day after the bill was sent. Receipt of a fee by the Commission, whether processed or not, will stay the accrual of interest.