Does an agency have to give me the first two hours of search time and 100 pages free under FOIA?

The short answer

It depends on what kind of requester you are. The federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does provide some standard fee relief, but it is not automatic for every requester or every kind of charge. The two figures you mention — a free block of search time and a number of free pages of duplication — come from FOIA’s fee provisions, which sort requesters into categories and apply fees differently to each.

How FOIA fee categories work

Under FOIA, agencies place each requester into one of these categories:

• Commercial-use requesters can be charged for search, review, and duplication.
• Educational, noncommercial scientific, and news-media requesters are generally charged only for duplication, often with some free pages.
• All other requesters (most members of the public) are typically not charged for review and may receive a baseline amount of free search time and free duplication before fees begin.

Because the relief you get is tied to your category, the answer to “do I automatically get free search time and free pages?” is: usually some relief applies, but the exact amount and the charges that remain depend on which category fits your request. Agencies also generally will not bill very small amounts where collecting the fee would cost more than the fee itself.

Asking for a fee waiver

Separately from these category-based allowances, you can request a fee waiver if disclosure is in the public interest — meaning it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and is not primarily in your commercial interest. Make the request and explain your reasoning when you submit your FOIA request, so the agency can rule on it up front.

State and local records are different

This all describes the federal FOIA. State and local public-records laws set their own fee rules, free-page allowances, and waiver standards, which vary widely. Check the specific statute that governs the agency you are asking.

For more on requester rights and the request process, see our FOIA and public records topic. When in doubt, ask the agency’s FOIA office to explain how fees will be calculated for your specific request before work begins.