Manual
FEES
This chapter contains the following topics:
Introduction
Types of Costs
Fee Estimates
and Deposits
Other Important
Considerations
Waiving Fees
Appeal Fees
Introduction
s.24, 48,
50, 57,
60 FIPPA / s.17,
37, 39,
45, 47
MFIPPA
s.5, 5.2,
5.3, 6,
6.1, 7,
8, 9,
O.Reg.460 /s.5,
5.2, 5.3,
6, 6.1,
7, 8,
9, O.Reg.823
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) /
Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA)
adopt a user pay principal.
Under s.57(1) FIPPA / s.45(1) MFIPPA, a person making an access request
must pay some of the costs the institution incurs processing the request.
The fee schedule is contained in the regulations. Differences in the fees
apply depending on whether the request is for general records or the
requester's own personal information. The fees must be charged unless they
are waived by the institution, or unless a provision is made for charging
fees under another statute. The Municipal Act does not give local
institutions the power to set new fees for records that would normally be
available through MFIPPA. The following are examples where fees can be
charged for records that are available to the public without having to
make an access request under the FIPPA/MFIPPA.
For example:
Under the Municipal Act, the council can pass a by-law to set
fees for copies of records, books and documents requested from the clerk's
office. Those fees would take precedence over the fee provisions in MFIPPA.
Under the Public Libraries Act a library board can charge fees
for, among other things, services other than for admission, use of library
materials and reference and information services.
Under the Highway Traffic Act, the Ministry of Transportation
sets the fee for driver abstracts.
Types of Costs
Taxes
The Goods and Services Tax and The Provincial Sales Tax
are not applicable to fees charged under FIPPA/MFIPPA .
Mandatory Application Fee
A $5.00 mandatory application fee must accompany a request for either
personal information or general records under FIPPA/MFIPPA.
Once the application fee is received, s.26
FIPPA / s.19 MFIPPA
requires a head to provide a requester with access to records and/or a
decision letter within 30 days. This requirement does not apply if the
mandatory application fee has not been received by the institution.
However, the onus is on the institution to collect this application fee
before processing the request if it decides to proceed. Failure to collect
the fee application will not prevent the Information and Privacy
Commission (IPC) from hearing an appeal about a request that has been
completed.
Fees for Personal Information Requests
A request for personal information is a request made by an individual
(or another person acting on his/her behalf) for the individual's own
information.
For example:
If a lawyer has a client's written consent, his/her request for the
client's personal information is a personal information request. Likewise,
custodial parents' requests for the personal information of their young
children (i.e. children under the age of 16) are personal information
requests.
No fees are charged for search or preparation time, but there are fees for
photocopying ($0.20 per page) and computer costs as specified in the
regulations.
Fees for General Records Requests
All costs incurred that are specified in the regulations may be
charged. These costs which are described below, are calculated from the
time a request is received.
Costs for Photocopying, Computer Printouts and Computer Disks
An institution can charge $0.20 per page for photocopies and computer
printouts regardless of whether the request is for personal or general
information. This per page charge includes the cost of staff time to feed
documents into a photocopy machine. An institution can also charge a fee
of $10.00 for floppy disks.
Search Time
A charge can be made for the amount of time required to search for the
records. This includes personnel time involved in searching for the
records, examining file indices, file plans or listings of records, either
on paper or in a computer.
An institution can charge $7.50 for each 15 minutes spent by any person in
the institution searching for the record. If more than one person is
conducting the search, each person's time can be charged.
Search time does not include:
- time spent photocopying the records
- the time it takes an employee to walk from one area in the
institution to another to locate responsive records
- the time to drive to an off-site storage to retrieve records (unless
costs are invoiced by an outside firm).
Search time includes:
- examining ledger-sized binders of computer sheets to determine
whether particular sheets are responsive.
Record Preparation Charges
Personnel time involved in physically preparing the record for
disclosure can be charged.
This includes the time involved in severing exempt information prior to
disclosure. Severing a record includes physical handling, for instance,
putting removable tape over exempt portions of the record before it is
photocopied. An institution can charge $7.50 for each 15 minutes spent by
an person for preparing a record for disclosure.
An institution cannot charge personnel time involved in reviewing the
records to determine if an exemption applies.
Note: Preparation time does not include the time taken to actually
photocopy a record. Twenty cents per page is the maximum amount that may
be charged for photocopying and this includes the cost of an individual
'feeding the machine.' In addition, preparation in this section should be
read narrowly and it should not include removing staples and paperclips,
copying the relevant pages and putting them back to the books where they
originated. However, where special preparation is necessary, such as where
maps have to be taped together or where records have to be removed from
cerlox bound volumes, fees for preparation may be appropriate. (See for
example: Orders #M-301,
P-490, P-608,
M-360, M-372)
Computer Costs
An institution can charge $15.00 for each 15 minutes spent by any
person developing a computer program or other method of producing a record
from machine readable record.
In some instances producing a record from a machine readable record will
require the manipulation of information stored in a computer database. It
may be necessary to write a computer program so that the particular
information requested can be retrieved.
Costs for Services Outside the Institution
An institution may require outside services to assist in locating,
retrieving, processing or copying paper or electronic records.
The costs of these services can be passed on to the requester if two
conditions are met:
- the institution receives an invoice for the cost of outside services
- the costs cover services that could not have been provided by the
institution's staff.
For example: A request might be for a copy of a record in a format
other than a photocopy, computer printout or a computer disc. If an
institution does not have the capability to do specialized copies, such as
microfilm or fiche, the institution can send the material to outside
facilities for copying and invoice the requester.
The costs, even if invoiced, cannot be charged if they would not have
been incurred had the request been processed by the institution's staff. (Order
#P-1536)
Shipping Costs
Shipping charges incurred by the institution, such as postage or
courier costs, can be charged.
Additional Fees
Regulations can be created to allow charging of additional fees.
Fee Estimates and Deposits
See Chapter 3
(Access Procedures) for the procedure for calculating fee estimates.
Under $25.00
If it costs less that $25.00 to process a request, it is not necessary
to give the requester a fee estimate. Rather, the requester can be
informed of the amount to be paid in the decision letter.
$25.00 up to $100.00
s.57(3)
FIPPA / s.45(3) MFIPPA
The institution shall, before giving access to a record, give the
requester a reasonable estimate of any amount that will be required to be
paid. If that amount is over $25.00 and under $100.00, the institution is
not required to collect a 50% deposit.
$100.00 or more
s.7 O.Reg.460
/ s.7 O.Reg.823
A fee estimate must be given if costs will equal $100.00 or more. An
institution may require a deposit of 50% of the estimated fee. Once a fee
deposit is requested, an institution is not required to take any further
steps to respond to the request until the deposit is paid.
An institution is not required to release records to a requester until the
fee has been paid, or the issue of fees has been resolved after an appeal
to the IPC.
Other Important Considerations
A fee should be "fair and equitable".
The Commissioner has ruled that in order to determine whether a fee
estimate is fair and equitable the following factors are relevant: 1. the
manner in which the institution attempted to respond to the appellant's
request; 2. whether the institution worked with the appellant to narrow
and/or clarify the request; 3. whether the institution provided any
documentation to the appellant free of charge; 4. whether the appellant
worked constructively with the institution to narrow the scope of the
request; 5. whether the request involves a large number of records; 6.
whether or not the appellant has advanced a compromise solution which
would reduce costs, and 7. whether the waiver of the fee would shift an
unreasonable burden of the cost from the appellant to the institution,
such that there would be significant interference with the operations of
the institution. (See for example: Orders #P-741,
M-408, M-417)
Where an institution is providing a specific fee for "reproduction,
" it must substantiate that fee. If it is for copies, then the
institution must indicate the number of estimated pages, or the rate at
which the fee is calculated. Sufficient facts and evidence must be
provided to enable the requester to review the costs. (See for example:
Orders #M-103, M-163)
Waiving Fees
It is the requester's responsibility to ask the institution for a fee
waiver. However, a request for a waiver need not be explicit, it may be
implied. The party seeking a fee waiver also bears the responsibility of
establishing his/her case.
For example:
If the requester does not supply sufficient information to convince the
institution that a fee waiver is justified, the institution is not
required to grant the waiver. What an institution considers sufficient
information will likely be influenced by the specific facts of the
request.
A head shall waive all or part of the fees if in the head's opinion it is
fair and equitable to do so after considering:
- the extent to which the actual cost of processing, collecting and
copying the record varies from the amount of payment required by the
section;
- whether the payment will cause a financial hardship to the person
requesting the record;
- whether dissemination of the record will benefit public health or
safety;
- whether the person requesting access to the record is given access
to it; and
- if the amount of a payment would be $5.00 or less, whether the
amount of the payment is too small to justify requiring payment.
A head's decision not to waive a fee may be appealed to the IPC.
Note: the application fee can not be waived.
Appeal Fees
There are mandatory fees for a requester appealing decisions to the IPC.
A $10.00 fee applies to personal information request appeals and a $25.00
fee applies for general records request appeals. No fee is required for a
third party to appeal an institution's decision to disclose information.
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