§2402.9. Fees. — Inbound Citations

(a) OSTP shall waive part or all of the fees assessed under § 2402.9 if, based upon information provided by a requester or otherwise made known to OSTP, the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest. Disclosure is in the public interest if it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations or activities and is not primarily for commercial purposes. Requests for a waiver or reduction of fees shall be considered on a case-by-case basis. To determine whether a fee waiver requirement is met, OSTP shall consider the following factors:

(1) Disclosure of the requested information would shed light on the operations or activities of the Federal Government. The subject of the request must concern identifiable operations or activities of the Federal Government with a connection that is direct and clear, not remote or attenuated.

(2) Disclosure of the requested information is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of those operations or activities. This factor is satisfied when the following criteria are met:

(i) Disclosure of the requested records must be meaningfully informative about government operations or activities. The disclosure of information already in the public domain, in either the same or a substantially similar form, would not be meaningfully informative if nothing new would be added to the public's understanding.

(ii) The disclosure must contribute to the understanding of a reasonably broad audience of persons interested in the subject, as opposed to the individual understanding of the requester. A requester's expertise in the subject area as well as the requester's ability and intention to effectively convey information to the public must be considered. OSTP will presume that a representative of the news media will satisfy this consideration.

(3) The disclosure must not be primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. To determine whether disclosure of the requested information is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, OSTP will consider the following criteria:

(i) OSTP will identify whether the requester has any commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure. A commercial interest includes any commercial, trade, or profit interest. Requesters are encouraged to provide explanatory information regarding this consideration.

(ii) If there is an identified commercial interest, OSTP will determine whether that is the primary interest furthered by the request. OSTP will ordinarily presume that when a news media requester has satisfied the conditions in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section, the request is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. Data brokers or others who merely compile and market government information for direct economic return will not receive the benefit of this presumption.

(a) A requester has the right to appeal to the FOIA Appeals Officer any adverse determination.