PUBLIC LAW 99-570—OCT. 27, 1986
100 STAT. 3207-50
"(III) for any request not described in (I) or (II), fees shall be limited to reasonable standard charges for document search and duplication, "(iii) Documents shall be furnished without any charge or at a charge reduced below the fees established under clause (ii) if disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. "(iv) Fee schedules shall provide for the recovery of only the direct costs of search, duplication, or review. Review costs shall include only the direct costs incurred during the initial examination of a document for the purposes of determining whether the documents must be disclosed under this section and for the purposes of withholding any portions exempt from disclosure under this section. Review costs may not include any costs incurred in resolving issues of law or policy that may be raised in the course of processing a request under this section. No fee may be charged by any agency under this section— "(I) if the costs of routine collection and processing of the fee are likely to equal or exceed the amount of the fee; or "(II) for any request described in clause (ii) (II) or (III) of this subparagraph for the first two hours of search time or for the first one hundred pages of duplication. "(v) No agency may require advance payment of any fee unless the requester has previously failed to pay fees in a timely fashion, or the agency has determined that the fee will exceed $250. "(vi) Nothing in this subparagraph shall supersede fees chargeable under a statute specifically providing for setting the level of fees for particular types of records. "(vii) In any action by a requester regarding the waiver of fees under this section, the court shall determine the matter de novo: Provided, That the court's review of the matter shall be limited to the record before the agency.". SEC. 1804. EFFECTIVE DATES.
(a) The amendments made by section 1802 shall be effective on the date of enactment of this Act, and shall apply with respect to any requests for records, whether or not the request was made prior to such date, and shall apply to any civil action pending on such date. (b)(1) The amendments made by section 1803 shall be effective 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, except that regulations to implement such amendments shall be promulgated by such 180th day. (2) The amendments made by section 1803 shall apply with respect to any requests for records, whether or not the request was made prior to such date, and shall apply to any civil action pending on such date, except that review charges applicable to records requested for commercial use shall not be applied by an agency to requests made before the effective date specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection or before the agency has finally issued its regulations.
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5 USC 552 note.
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