Freedom of Information Request Fees

 

What is the Application Fee?

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FIPPA”) authorizes public bodies to charge an application fee for record requests under the Act (“FOI Requests”) and the FIPPA Regulations set the amount of this application fee at $10. This fee only applies to non-personal requests; requests for access to one’s own personal information are free of charge.

After you send us a non-personal request that is within the scope of the Act, we will contact you and provide instructions on how to pay your application fee. The file will be kept on hold until your payment is received. If the fee is not received within 10 days, the request will be considered abandoned.

What is the Cost Recovery Fee?

The FIPPA authorizes public bodies to charge a cost recovery fee for non-personal FOI Requests and the FIPPA Regulations set out a fee schedule for this fee. For example, public bodies are authorized to charge $30 per hour for locating and retrieving a record (after the first 3 hours) and $0.10 per page for a scanned electronic copy of a record.  If we determine that you need to pay us a cost recovery fee, we will send you an estimate and request a deposit. The file will be kept on hold until your payment is received.

Can I appeal the fee?

Under the FIPPA, the application fee cannot be appealed or waived.

Applicants may request UBC to waive payment of the cost recovery fee on the grounds that (a) the applicant cannot afford the payment or for any other reason it is fair to excuse payment, or  (b) the record relates to a matter of public interest, including the environment or public health or safety. The head of the public body must consider these requests and respond within 20 business days. Applicants may appeal the decision of the head to the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

How do I pay the FOI fees?

We will send you a link to a website where you may pay your application fee or cost recovery fee by credit card. Your payment will appear on your credit card statement under the name “UBC ePayment 604-822-2008”. Please make a copy of your transaction by printing the confirmation page or taking a screenshot. We recommend that you retain this copy until you have received the final response from UBC in regards to your requested records.

UBC’s ePayment Web Service provides secure, real-time authorization and processing of credit card and/or Interac Online® payments. As with other payment process on campus, ePayment is subject to UBC PCI DSS compliance.

If you are unable to pay this fee by credit card, you may contact us to make arrangements to pay by cheque or money order.

Can I get a fee refund?

Do not pay FOI fees until asked.

If you pay a fee by mistake for a personal request, we will refund your payment.

For non-personal requests, FOI fees are non-refundable. This applies to all situations, including cancelled requests or requests where no records are located.

Contact us:

If you have any further questions about the FOI fees, please contact us at access.and.privacy@ubc.ca, and we will do our best to answer your questions in a timely manner.