32 C.F.R. § 2402.10 – Waiver of fees.

(a) In general. OSTP shall waive part or all of the fees assessed under § 2402.9 if, based upon information provided by a requester or otherwise made known to OSTP, the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest. Disclosure is in the public interest if it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations or activities and is not primarily for commercial purposes. Requests for a waiver or reduction of fees shall be considered on a case-by-case basis. To determine whether a fee waiver requirement is met, OSTP shall consider the following factors:
1. (1) Disclosure of the requested information would shed light on the operations or activities of the Federal Government. 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.
2. (2) Disclosure of the requested information is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of those operations or activities. This factor is satisfied when the following criteria are met:
  1. (i) Disclosure of the requested records must be meaningfully informative about government operations or activities. The disclosure of information already in the public domain, in either the same or a substantially similar form, would not be meaningfully informative if nothing new would be added to the public's understanding.
  2. (ii) 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 requester's expertise in the subject area as well as the requester's ability and intention to effectively convey information to the public must be considered. OSTP will presume that a representative of the news media will satisfy this consideration.
3. (3) The disclosure must not be primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. To determine whether disclosure of the requested information is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, OSTP will consider the following criteria:
  1. (i) OSTP will identify whether the requester has any commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure. A commercial interest includes any commercial, trade, or profit interest. Requesters are encouraged to provide explanatory information regarding this consideration.
  2. (ii) If there is an identified commercial interest, OSTP will determine whether that is the primary interest furthered by the request. OSTP will ordinarily presume that when a news media requester has satisfied the conditions in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section, the request is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. Data brokers or others who merely compile and market government information for direct economic return will not receive the benefit of this presumption.
(b) Timing of fee waivers. A request for a waiver or reduction of fees should be made when a request for records is first submitted to the agency and should address the criteria referenced in paragraph (a) of 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 must pay any costs incurred up to the date of the fee waiver request was received.
(c) Clarification. Where OSTP has reasonable cause to doubt the use to which a requester will put the records sought, or where that use is not clear from the request itself, OSTP may seek clarification from the requester before assigning the request to a specific category for fee assessment purposes.
(d) Restrictions on charging fees. Except as described in paragraphs (c)(1) through (3) of this section, if OSTP fails to comply with the FOIA's time limits for responding to a request, it may not charge search fees. In addition, subject to the exceptions set forth in paragraphs (c)(1) through (3) of this section, if OSTP does not comply with the FOIA's time limits for responding to a request, it may not charge duplication fees when records are not sought for a commercial use and the request is made by an educational institution, non-commercial scientific institution, or representative of the news media.
1. (1) If OSTP determines that unusual circumstances, as defined by the FOIA, apply and provides timely written notice to the requester in accordance with the FOIA, then a failure to comply with the statutory time limit shall be excused for an additional ten (10) days.
2. (2) If OSTP determines that unusual circumstances, as defined by the FOIA, apply and more than 5,000 pages are necessary to respond to the request, then OSTP may charge search fees and duplication fees, where applicable, if the following steps are taken. OSTP must:
  1. (i) Provide timely written notice of unusual circumstances to the requester in accordance with the FOIA; and
  2. (ii) Discuss with the requester via postal mail, email, or telephone (or made not less than three good-faith attempts to do so) how the requester could effectively limit the scope of the request in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)(B)(ii).
3. (3) If a court determines that exceptional circumstances exist, as defined by the FOIA, then a failure to comply with the statutory time limits shall be excused for the length of time provided by the court order.