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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 9, 2021 / Proposed Rules j 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, the components FOIA office shall inform the requester of the contact information for that program.
k Requirements for waiver or reduction of fees. 1 Records responsive to a request shall be furnished without charge or at a reduced rate below the rate established under paragraph c of this section, where the components FOIA office determines, based on all available information, that the requester has demonstrated that:
i 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, and ii Disclosure of the information is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.
2 In deciding whether disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of operations or activities of the government, the components FOIA office shall consider all four of 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 government operations or activities in order to be likely to contribute to an increased public understanding of those operations or activities. The disclosure of information that already is in the public domain, in either the same or a substantially identical form, would not contribute to such understanding where nothing new would be added to the publics understanding.
iii The 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
requesters expertise in the subject area as well as the requesters ability and intention to effectively convey information to the public shall be considered. It shall be presumed that a representative of the news media will satisfy this consideration.

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iv The publics understanding of the subject in question must be enhanced by the disclosure to a significant extent.
However, the components FOIA office shall not make value judgments about whether the information at issue is important enough to be made public.
3 To determine whether disclosure of the requested information is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, the components FOIA
office shall consider the following factors:
i The components FOIA office shall identify any commercial interest of the requester, as defined in paragraph b1
of this section, that would be furthered by the requested disclosure. Requesters shall be given an opportunity to provide explanatory information regarding this consideration.
ii A waiver or reduction of fees is justified where the public interest is greater than any identified commercial interest in disclosure. The components FOIA office ordinarily shall presume that where a news media requester has satisfied the public interest standard, the public interest will be the interest primarily served by disclosure to that requester. Disclosure to data brokers or others who merely compile and market government information for direct economic return shall not be presumed to primarily serve the public interest.
4 Where only some of the records to be released satisfy the requirements for a waiver of fees, a waiver shall be granted for those records.
5 Requests for a waiver or reduction of fees should be made when the request is first submitted to the components FOIA office and should address the criteria referenced in this section. A
requester may submit a fee waiver request at a later time so long as the underlying record request is pending or on administrative appeal. When a requester who has committed to pay fees subsequently asks for a waiver of those fees and that waiver is denied, the requester shall be required to pay any costs incurred up to the date the fee waiver request was received. A
requester may appeal the denial of a fee waiver.
212.15 Fees to be chargedrequester categories.

a The following specific fees are charged for services rendered:
1 Commercial Use:
Search: $40.00 per hour.
Search costs will be assessed even though no records may be found or even if, after review, there is no disclosure or records.
Review: $55.00 per hour.
Duplication: 10 per page.

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2 Educational & Non-Commercial Scientific Institutions Search: No fee.
Review: No fee.
Duplication: 10 per page after the first 100 pages.
3 Representatives of the News Media Search: No fee.
Review: No fee.
Duplication: 10 per page after the first 100 pages.
4 All Others Search: Same as Commercial Users except the first two hours shall be furnished without charge.
Review: No fee.
Duplication: 10 per page after the first 100 pages.
b If copies of records are provided in other than paper format such as on microfiche, video tape, or as electronic data files, or other than first-class mail is requested or required, the requester is charged the actual cost of providing these additional services.
Subpart KFOIA Definitions 212.16

Glossary.

As used in this part:
Administrative FOIA Appeal is an independent review of the initial determination made in response to a FOIA request. Requesters who are dissatisfied with the response made on their initial request have a statutory right to appeal the initial determination made by the components FOIA office.
Agency is any executive agency, military agency, government corporation, government-controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Federal Government, or any independent regulatory agency. Thus, USAID is an agency.
Complex request is a request that typically seeks a high volume of material or requires additional steps to process such as the need to search for records in multiple locations.
Consultation is when USAID locates a record that contains information of substantial interest to another agency, and the components FOIA office asks for the views of that other agency on the disclosability of the records before any final determination is made.
Discretionary disclosure is information that the components FOIA
office releases even though it could have been withheld under one of the FOIAs exemptions.
Duplication is reproducing a copy of a record, or of the information contained in it, necessary to respond to a FOIA
request. Copies can take the form of paper, audiovisual materials, or electronic records, among others.

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