[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 13, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 1999]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 13CFR102.8]

[Page 12-14]
 
                               ASSISTANCE
 
                CHAPTER I--SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 102--RECORD DISCLOSURE AND PRIVACY--Table of Contents
 
                  Subpart A--Disclosure of Information
 
Sec. 102.8  What fees will SBA charge?

    (a) Basic fees. (1) For manual record search. SBA will charge $18 
per hour.
    (2) For computer record searches. SBA will charge the actual costs.
    (3) For review and disclosure determinations. SBA will charge $18 
per hour.
    (4) Duplication. SBA will charge 10 cents per page for photocopy 
duplication, and the actual cost of reproduction for other methods.
    (5) Certifying records. SBA will charge actual costs.
    (6) For requested special types of delivery other than first-class 
mail. SBA may charge the actual cost.
    (b) If you are a representative of an educational institution, a 
non-commercial scientific institution, or a member of the news media. 
SBA will charge you only for the cost of duplication after the first 100 
pages.

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    (1) What is an educational institution? A state-certified preschool, 
elementary or secondary school, an accredited college or university, an 
accredited institution of professional education, or any accredited or 
state-certified institute of vocational education which operates a 
program or programs of scholarly research.
    (2) What is a non-commercial scientific institution? An organization 
which is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific 
research, the results of which are not intended to promote any 
particular product or industry.
    (3) What is a representative of an educational or non-commercial 
scientific institution? A requester seeking records on behalf of that 
institution who is authorized by that institution to do so, and who is 
seeking those records for scholarly or scientific reasons, as long as 
there is no commercial purpose to the request for records.
    (4) What is a representative of the news media? An individual who is 
actively gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to 
disseminate information to the general public. To be considered ``news 
media'', this organization may provide information by subscription and 
may target its dissemination to a narrow section of the general public 
as long as any member of the general public may purchase information 
from it. If you are not employed by the news media, but have a 
reasonable expectation that you will sell the information you obtain to 
the news media, SBA may conclude that you are a representative of the 
news media. SBA will not consider you to be a representative of the news 
media if your request has a commercial purpose, beyond the commercial 
purpose of selling information to the general public.
    (c) Member of the general public. If you are a member of the general 
public, SBA will not charge you for the first two hours of search time, 
the first hundred pages of photocopy duplication, or for review and 
disclosure determinations. The general public is anyone who is not a 
representative of an educational institution, a representative of the 
news media, or a commercial requester.
    (d) Commercial requester. If you are a commercial requester you must 
pay all the basic fees set forth in paragraph (a) of this section. A 
commercial requester is anyone seeking information for commercial, 
trade, or profit interests of the requester or someone he or she is 
trying to help.
    (e) How does SBA determine what category of requester I am? The SBA 
office processing your request will determine the appropriate category. 
If you are not a commercial requester, you must show us what category of 
requester you are.
    (f) Tell us how much you are willing to pay. To get the quickest 
possible response, you must tell SBA how much money you are willing to 
pay in fees when you make your request for records.
    (g) If you don't tell us how much you are willing to pay and SBA 
estimates that the fee will exceed $25.00, SBA will estimate the fee and 
will not process your request until you tell SBA that you are willing to 
pay the estimated amount, or until you narrow the request so that the 
fee is less than $25.
    (h) SBA will waive fees less than $25.
    (i) If the fee is more than $250, or if you have a history of 
failing to pay FOIA fees in a timely manner, SBA will ask you to remit 
the estimated amount and any past due charges before sending you the 
records.
    (j) Who determines the fee? The SBA office which processes your 
request.
    (k) When do you pay the fee? SBA will bill you when it responds to 
your request. You must pay within thirty-one calendar days.
    (l) Failure to pay fees. (1) If you do not pay by the thirty-first 
day after the billing date, SBA will charge interest at the maximum rate 
allowed under Title 31 of the United States Code, section 3717.
    (2) If you do not pay the amount due within ninety calendar days of 
the due date, SBA may notify consumer credit reporting agencies of your 
delinquency.
    (3) If you owe fees for previous FOIA responses, SBA will not 
respond to further requests unless you satisfy the amount due.
    (m) Unsuccessful searches. If SBA's search for records is 
unsuccessful, it will still bill you for the search.
    (n) Multiple requests. If you make multiple requests at or about the 
same

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time, SBA will aggregate your requests for records. In no case will SBA 
give you more than the first two hours of search time, or more than the 
first 100 pages of duplication without charge.
    (o) Reduction of fees in the public interest. If SBA determines that 
disclosure of the information you seek is in the public interest because 
it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the 
operations or activities of the government, and that you are not seeking 
the information in your own commercial interests, SBA may waive or 
reduce the fee.