There is always a chance there may be fees associated with processing your request. Regulations require us to classify each requester into one of the following categories: commercial, educational, news/media, or "other." Our determination of your status will be included in the acknowledgement you will receive after we get your request.
With the exception of requests made in a commercial capacity, requesters can ask for a fee waiver. However, there are specific elements that any justification for a fee waiver must include before we can take any fee waiver request into consideration. Click here for a PDF document that includes a basic summary of what a justification for a fee waiver must include.
We will not be able to begin processing any request that does not include either your willingness to pay fees or a fee waiver request that includes the proper justification for consideration. Please note that we do not bill for responses which cost $25 or less to prepare, and will always contact you before incurring any bill which may exceed $250. You can indicate you are willing to pay up to a certain amount (example $50) to avoid delays.