Fee Waivers FOIA requesters may have to pay fees covering some or all of the costs of processing their requests. As amended in 1986, the law establishes three types of fees that may be charged. The 1986 law makes the process of determining the applicable fees more complicated. However, the 1986 rules reduce or eliminate entirely the cost for small, non-commercial requests. First, fees can be imposed to recover the cost of copying documents.
All agencies have a fixed price for making copies using copying machines.
A requester is usually charged the actual cost of copying computer tapes, photographs, and other nonstandard documents. Second, fees can also be imposed to recover the costs of searching for documents. This includes the time spent looking for material responsive to a request. A requester can minimize search charges by making clear, narrow requests for identifiable documents whenever possible. Third, fees can be charged to recover review costs.