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§ 67.1307. Fee limitations

Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated StatutesTitle 65 P.S. Public OfficersEffective: January 1, 2009

Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated Statutes
Title 65 P.S. Public Officers (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 3A. Right-to-Know Law (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 13. Judicial Review (Refs & Annos)
Effective: January 1, 2009
65 P.S. § 67.1307
§ 67.1307. Fee limitations
Currentness
(a) Postage.--Fees for postage may not exceed the actual cost of mailing.
(b) Duplication.--
(1) Fees for duplication by photocopying, printing from electronic media or microfilm, copying onto electronic media, transmission by facsimile or other electronic means and other means of duplication shall be established:
(i) by the Office of Open Records, for Commonwealth agencies and local agencies;
(ii) by each judicial agency; and
(iii) by each legislative agency.
(2) The fees must be reasonable and based on prevailing fees for comparable duplication services provided by local business entities.
(3) Fees for local agencies may reflect regional price differences.
(4) The following apply to complex and extensive data sets, including geographic information systems or integrated property assessment lists.
(i) Fees for copying may be based on the reasonable market value of the same or closely related data sets.
(ii) Subparagraph (i) shall not apply to:
(A) a request by an individual employed by or connected with a newspaper or magazine of general circulation, weekly publication, press association or radio or television station, for the purpose of obtaining information for publication or broadcast; or
(B) a request by a nonprofit organization for the conduct of educational research.
(iii) Information obtained under subparagraph (ii) shall be subject to paragraphs (1), (2) and (3).
(c) Certification.--An agency may impose reasonable fees for official certification of copies if the certification is at the behest of the requester and for the purpose of legally verifying the public record.
(d) Conversion to paper.--If a record is only maintained electronically or in other nonpaper media, duplication fees shall be limited to the lesser of the fee for duplication on paper or the fee for duplication in the original media as provided by subsection (b) unless the requester specifically requests for the record to be duplicated in the more expensive medium.
(e) Enhanced electronic access.--If an agency offers enhanced electronic access to records in addition to making the records accessible for inspection and duplication by a requester as required by this act, the agency may establish user fees specifically for the provision of the enhanced electronic access, but only to the extent that the enhanced electronic access is in addition to making the records accessible for inspection and duplication by a requester as required by this act. The user fees for enhanced electronic access may be a flat rate, a subscription fee for a period of time, a per-transaction fee, a fee based on the cumulative time of system access or any other reasonable method and any combination thereof. The user fees for enhanced electronic access must be reasonable, must be approved by the Office of Open Records and may not be established with the intent or effect of excluding persons from access to records or duplicates thereof or of creating profit for the agency.
(f) Waiver of fees.--An agency may waive the fees for duplication of a record, including, but not limited to, when:
(1) the requester duplicates the record; or
(2) the agency deems it is in the public interest to do so.
(g) Limitations.--Except as otherwise provided by statute, no other fees may be imposed unless the agency necessarily incurs costs for complying with the request, and such fees must be reasonable. No fee may be imposed for an agency's review of a record to determine whether the record is a public record, legislative record or financial record subject to access in accordance with this act.
(h) Prepayment.--Prior to granting a request for access in accordance with this act, an agency may require a requester to prepay an estimate of the fees authorized under this section if the fees required to fulfill the request are expected to exceed $100.

Credits

2008, Feb. 14, P.L. 6, No. 3, § 1307, effective Jan. 1, 2009.
65 P.S. § 67.1307, PA ST 65 P.S. § 67.1307
Current through Act 10 of the 2024 Regular Session. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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