There are four categories of FOIA requesters: Commercial use requesters; educational and non-commercial scientific institutions; representatives of the news media; and all other requesters. The specific levels of fees for each of these categories are:

(a) Commercial use requesters. When OMB receives a request for documents for commercial use, 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 entitled to neither two hours of free search time nor 100 free pages of duplication of documents. OMB may recover the cost of searching for and reviewing records even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records (see § 1303.93(b)).

(b) Educational and noncommercial scientific institution requesters. OMB will provide documents to educational and noncommercial scientific institution requesters that meet the criteria in § 1303.90(f) or (g) for the cost of duplication alone, excluding charges for the first 100 pages. OMB may seek evidence from the requester that the request is in furtherance of scholarly research and will advise requesters of their determination whether the requester has met the criteria in § 1303.90(f) or (g).

(c) Requesters who are representatives of the news media. OMB will provide documents to requesters who are representatives of the news media that meet the criteria in § 1303.90(h) and (i), and that do not make the request for commercial use, for the cost of duplication alone, excluding charges for the first 100 pages.

(d) All other requesters. OMB will charge requesters who do not fit into any of the categories described in paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section fees that recover only the full reasonable direct cost of searching for and duplicating records that are responsive to the request, except that the first 100 pages of duplication and the first two hours of search time will be furnished without charge. Moreover, requests for records about the requesters filed in OMB's systems of records will continue to be treated under the fee provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, which permit fees only for producing copies of records