(a) Yes. CEQ makes the following exceptions for special requesters:

(1) CEQ will not charge you fees for searching for records if you are an educational institution, a noncommercial scientific institution, or a representative of the news media. Otherwise, CEQ will not charge you fees for the first 2 hours of searching for records, unless you are a commercial requester.

(2) CEQ will not charge you fees for reviewing records, unless you are a commercial requester.

(3) CEQ will not charge you fees for the first 100 pages of duplication (or an equivalent cost for duplication in other media), unless you are a commercial requester.

(b) For purposes of applying the exceptions in this section:

(1) You are a representative of a non-commercial scientific institution if your institution operates solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry, and your request is in furtherance of scientific research.

(2) You are a representative of an educational institution if you work for or study at a school that operates a program of scholarly research and your request is in furtherance of scholarly research.

(3) You are a representative of the news media if you or your employer gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience, and your request is in furtherance of these activities. For the purposes of this paragraph (b), news means information that is about events of current interest to the public.

(i) If you are a freelance journalist, CEQ will consider you a representative of the news media if you can demonstrate that you have a solid basis to expect that a news media entity will publish the work to which your request relates, such as a publishing contract or a strong record of past publications.

(ii) If you are a representative of the news media, CEQ will ordinarily presume that your request does not primarily further a commercial interest for purposes of this section and § 1515.34.

(4) You are a commercial requester if you do not qualify as a special requester under paragraph (b)(1), (2), or (3) of this section and your request furthers a commercial, trade, or profit interest or supports litigation in furtherance of those interests.

(c) If you claim to be a representative of a non-commercial scientific institution, an educational institution, or the news media, CEQ may require you to verify your status by providing reasonable documentation, such as a signed letter on official letterhead. If you claim that your request is non-commercial for another reason, CEQ may require you to explain why it is non-commercial.