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Are any fees charged to process a FOIA request?

If the cost to process the FOIA request is over $15, you must charge a fee unless a fee waiver is granted. The specific fee depends on the type of requester. There are three main types of fees that may be charged:

(a) Search Fees (to seek, manually or by automated means, Department records for the purpose of locating records in response to a request):

  • $5 per quarter hour for clerical employee search
  • $10 per quarter hour for professional or supervisory personnel search

(b) Review Fees (the process of examining records, including audio- visual, electronic mail, etc., located in response to a request to determine whether any portion of the located record is exempt from disclosure and accordingly may be withheld):

  • $5 per quarter hour when performed by a clerical employee
  • $10 per quarter hour when performed by professional or supervisory personnel.
  • Not to include time spent resolving general legal or policy issues

(c) Duplication Fees (the process of making a copy of a record necessary to respond to a request. Such copy can take the form of paper, microform, audio-visual materials or electronic records (e.g., magnetic tape or disk):

  • $0.15 per page

Actual cost for special format other than paper copy (e.g., tape or disk) and for other related services