What fee policies apply to operational records?
36 C.F.R. § 1250.52
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) For operational records, we may charge search fees even if the records are not releasable or we do not find any responsive records during our search.
(b) If you are a noncommercial FOIA requester entitled to receive 100 free pages, but the records cannot be copied onto standard-sized (8.5″ by 11″) photocopy paper, we copy them on larger paper and reduce the copy fee by the normal charge for 100 standard-sized photocopies. If the records are not on textual media (e.g., they are photographs or electronic files), we provide the equivalent of 100 pages of standard-sized paper copies for free.
(c) We do not charge you any fee if the total cost for processing your request is $25 or less.
(d) If estimated search or review fees exceed $50, we will contact you. If you have specified a different limit that you are willing to spend, we will contact you only if we estimate the fees will exceed that specified amount.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-36.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026
