Code of Federal Regulations Title 29. Labor § 29.70.43 Payment of fees

(1) Prior to beginning to process a request, the component will make a preliminary assessment of the amount that can properly be charged to the requester for search and review time and copying costs. Where a component determines or estimates that a total fee to be charged under this section will be more than $250.00, the component will require the requester to make an advance payment of an amount up to the entire anticipated fee before beginning to process the request. The component may waive the advance payment where the component receives a satisfactory assurance of full payment from a requester who has a history of prompt payment of an amount similar to the one anticipated by the request.

(2) Where a requester has previously failed to pay a properly charged FOIA fee to any component of the Department of Labor within 30 days of the date of billing, a component will require the requester to pay the full amount due, plus any applicable interest as provided in Sec. 70.40(f) and to make an advance payment of the full amount of any anticipated fee, before the component begins to process a new request or appeal or continues to process a pending request or appeal from that requester.

(3) For a request other than those described in paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) of this section, a component will not require the requester to make an advance payment before beginning to process a request. Payment owed for work already completed on a request pursuant to consent of the requester is not an advance payment and a component may require the requester to make a payment for such work prior to releasing any records to the requester.