Commercial use means a request from or on behalf of a person who seeks information for a use or purpose that furthers his or her commercial, trade, or profit interests, which can include furthering those interests through litigation. HUD shall determine, whenever reasonably possible, the use to which a requester will put the requested records. When it appears that the requester will put the records to a commercial use, either because of the nature of the request itself or because HUD has reasonable cause to doubt a requester's stated use, HUD shall provide the requester a reasonable opportunity to submit further clarification.
Direct costs means those expenses that HUD actually incurs in searching for and duplicating and, in the case of commercial use requests, reviewing records to respond to a FOIA request. Direct costs include, for example, the salary of the employee performing the work and the cost of operating computers and other electronic equipment, such as for mainframe computer run time. Not included in direct costs are overhead expenses such as the costs of space and heating or lighting a facility.
Duplication means the process of making a copy of a document necessary to respond to a FOIA request. Such copies can take the form of paper copy, audiovisual materials, or machine readable documentation (e.g., diskette), among others. HUD shall honor a requester's specified preference of form or format of disclosure if the record is readily reproducible with reasonable efforts in the requested form or format by the office responding to the request.
Educational institution means:
Other requester means any requester that does not fall within the categories of requesters described in this section.
Noncommercial scientific institution means an institution that is not operated on a "commercial" basis, as defined in this section, and that is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry. To be in this category, a requester should show that the request is authorized by, and is made under the auspices of, a qualifying institution and that the records are not sought for a commercial use but are sought to further scientific research.
Representative of the news media, or news media requester, means any person actively gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. The term news means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities include television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large and publishers of periodicals that disseminate news and make their products available to the general public through a variety of means. For freelance journalists to be regarded as working for a news media entity, they should demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through a news media entity. A publication contract would be the clearest proof, but HUD will also look to the past publication record of a requester in making this determination. To be in this category a requester should not be seeking the requested records for a commercial use. However, a request for records supporting the news dissemination function of the requester shall not be considered to be for a commercial use.
FOIA Fee Schedule
Activity | Rate | Commercial use requester | News media, educational institution, or noncommercial scientific institution requester | Other requester |
(i) Professional search | $13 per quarter hour | Applies | Does not apply | Applies. No charge for first 2 hours of cumulative search time. |
(ii) Professional review | $13 per quarter hour | Applies | Does not apply | Does not apply. |
(iii) Clerical search | $6 per quarter hour | Applies | Does not apply | Applies. No charge for first 2 hours of cumulative search time. |
(iv) Clerical review | $6 per quarter hour | Applies | Does not apply | Does not apply. |
(v) Programming services required | Direct costs associated with search | Applies | Does not apply | Applies. |
(vi) Duplication costs | $0.10 per page | Applies | Applies. No charge for first 100 pages | Applies. No charge for first 100 pages. |
(vii) Duplication costs-tape, CD ROM or diskette | Actual cost | Applies | Applies | Applies. |
24 C.F.R. §15.106