(a) De minimis costs. Where the cost of collecting and processing a
fee to be assessed to a requester exceeds the amount of the fee which
would otherwise be assessed, no fee need be charged. Fees which do not
exceed $15.00 usually need not be collected.
(b) How payment will be made. Requesters will pay fees by check or
money order made payable to the Treasury of the United States.
(c) Advance payments and billing. (1) Prior to beginning to process
a request, the disclosure officer will make a preliminary assessment of
the amount that can properly be charged to the requester for search and
review time and copying costs. Where a disclosure officer determines or
estimates that a total fee to be charged under this section will be
more than $250.00, the disclosure officer will require the requester to
make an advance payment of an amount up to the entire anticipated fee
before beginning to process the request. The disclosure officer may
waive the advance payment where the disclosure officer receives a
satisfactory assurance of full payment from a requester who has a
history of prompt payment of an amount similar to the one anticipated
by the request.
(2) Where a requester has previously failed to pay a properly
charged FOIA fee to any component of the Department of Labor within 30
days of the date of billing, a disclosure officer will require the
requester to pay the full amount due, plus any applicable interest as
provided in Sec. 70.40(f) and to make an advance payment of the full
amount of any anticipated fee, before the disclosure officer begins to
process a new request or appeal or continues to process a pending
request or appeal from that requester.
(3) For a request other than those described in paragraphs (c) (1)
and (2) of this section, a disclosure officer will not require the
requester to make an
advance payment before beginning to process a request. Payment owed for
work already completed on a request pursuant to consent of the
requester is not an advance payment and a disclosure officer may
require the requester to make a payment for such work prior to
releasing any records to the requester.
(d) Time limits to respond extended when advance payments are
requested. When a component has requested an advance payment of fees in
accordance with paragraph (c) of this section, the time limits
prescribed in Sec. 70.25 will only begin to run after the component
has received the advance payment.
