(a) Requests for a waiver or reduction of fees should be made when the FOIA request is first submitted to AmeriCorps and should address in specific detail the factors below. However, a requester may ask for a fee waiver at a later time, if their FOIA request is still pending or is on administrative appeal.

(b) AmeriCorps will grant a waiver of fees, or a one-time reduction of the rate established under § 2507.18, when it determines that the requester has demonstrated that disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.

(1) To determine whether disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government, AmeriCorps will consider the following factors:

(i) The subject of the request must concern identifiable operations or activities of the Federal Government, with a connection that is direct and clear, not remote or attenuated.

(ii) Disclosure of the requested records must be meaningfully informative about Federal Government operations or activities in order to be “likely to contribute” to an increased public understanding of those operations or activities. Disclosure of information that is already in the public domain, in either the same or a substantially identical form, would not contribute to such understanding.

(iii) Disclosure must contribute to the understanding of a reasonably broad audience of persons interested in the subject, as opposed to the individual understanding of the requester. A requester's expertise in the subject area, as well as their ability and intention to effectively convey information to the public, will be considered. A representative of the news media making the request for professional purposes satisfies this consideration.

(iv) The public's understanding of the subject in question must be enhanced by the disclosure to a significant extent. However, AmeriCorps will not make value judgments about whether the information at issue is “important” enough to be made public.

(2) To determine whether disclosure of the requested information is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, AmeriCorps will give requesters an opportunity to explain the purpose of the request. The Agency will consider the following factors:

(i) If there is an identified commercial interest, AmeriCorps will determine whether that is the primary interest furthered by the request.

(ii) The identified commercial interest is not the primary interest furthered by the request (such that a waiver or reduction of fees is justified) where the public interest in disclosure is greater than the identified commercial interest in disclosure. AmeriCorps ordinarily will presume that when a news media requester has satisfied the public interest standard, it is a public interest that is primarily served by disclosure to that requester. Disclosure to data brokers or others who merely compile and market government information for direct economic return will not be presumed to primarily serve the public interest.

(c) Where only some of the records to be released satisfy the requirements for a waiver of fees, a waiver will be granted for those records only.

(d) A requester may appeal the denial of a fee waiver.