Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to LA FOIP, Chapter3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 74 Steps When Charging Fees As a best practice, where an estimate of costs will be issued, the LA FOIP Coordinator should take steps to contact the applicant in an attempt to narrow the scope of the requests to reduce work and costs.121 The following are the steps that can be taken when charging fees: 1. Contact the applicant: a. Advise that fees will be necessary. b. Attempt to clarify or offer ways to narrow the request to reduce or eliminate fees. c. Follow up in writing with the applicant when narrowing occurs to ensure agreed scope is clear. d. Address any requests for a fee waiver accordingly. 2. Make a search strategy (see Search for Records earlier in this Chapter). 3. Prepare a fee estimate based on the search strategy (do not complete the search yet). 4. Decide whether to charge a fee (refer to your internal policy or procedure). 5. Send out fee estimate and suspend work. 6. Clarify or narrow the request again (if the applicant initiates it). 7. Start searching for records when applicant pays 50% deposit. Types of Fees There are generally three kinds of fees that can be included in a fee estimate:122 1. Fees for searching for records. 2. Fees for preparing records. 3. Fees for reproduction of records.123 121 SK OIPC Review Reports 064-2016 to 076-2016 at [51] and 078-2016 to 091-2016 at [50]. 122 The application fee of $20 is not included in a fee estimate. The $20 application fee should accompany the access to information request with one exception noted at subsection 8(1)(a) of The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations 123 Subsection 5(4) of The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations provides that where search and retrieval of electronic records is required, a fee equal to the actual cost
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