§ 402.75 FOIA fee schedule.

(a) Fee schedule category. Requesters whom SSA charges under the FOIA fee schedule are subject to the following fees dependent upon their fee category:

(1) Commercial. Commercial use requesters are charged for search, review, and duplication.

(2) Non-commercial educational or scientific institutions and representative of the news media. Requesters that fit this category are charged for the duplication of documents. We will not charge requesters the copying costs for the first 100 pages of duplication.

(3) Other. If the FOIA request does not fall within a category described in paragraph (a)(1) or (2) of this section, we will charge for search and duplication; however, we will not charge for the first two hours of search time or for the duplication costs of the first 100 pages.

(b) Certification. If a requester asks for certification of the record(s) responsive to their FOIA request and OPD agrees to provide it, we will notify the requester of the appropriate certification fee via written correspondence.

(c) Record(s) production and duplication—(1) Electronic records. We will charge the actual costs for producing and duplicating the record and the time spent by the employees or contractors in production, duplication, or otherwise processing the FOIA request, at the rates given in § 402.70(c).

(2) Photocopying standard size pages. For noncommercial requesters, we will charge $0.10 per page after the first 100 pages, which are free. The FOIA Officer may charge lower fees for particular documents where:

(i) The document has already been printed in large numbers;

(ii) The program office determines that using existing stock to answer this request, and any other anticipated FOIA requests, will not interfere with program requirements; and

(iii) The FOIA Officer determines that the lower fee is adequate to recover the prorated share of the original printing costs.

(3) Photocopying odd-size documents. For photocopying documents, such as punch cards or blueprints, or duplicating other records, such as tapes, we will charge the actual costs of operating the machine, plus the actual cost of the materials used, plus charges for the time spent by the operator, at the rates given in § 402.70(c).

(d) Cost of service less than cost of issuing a bill. We will not charge a fee when the cost of the service is less than the cost of sending the requester a bill. However, where an individual, organization, or governmental unit makes multiple separate requests, we will total the costs incurred and bill the requester for the services rendered.

(e) Fee waiver. We may waive or reduce the fee if we find that waiver is in the public interest. See § 402.85 for fee waiver information.