It is quite usual that national access to information laws allow public institutions to charge requestors for charges for the photocopying and postage costs related to answering requests. In many cases, if the answer is just a few pages, there will be no charge. In Estonia the law provides that the first 20 pages shall be free of charge. Electronic delivery of information is normally free of charge.

In some cases you will be asked to pay for receiving information in another format (like copies, DVDs, etc.) and in these cases the authority should only charge you the official cost of copying or reproduction of the information in to any given format and the cost of the material (DVD, CD).

This is something which is also endorsed by the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents which states at Article 7:

A fee may be charged to the applicant for a copy of the official document, which should be reasonable and not exceed the actual costs of reproduction and delivery of the document. Tariffs of charges shall be published.

Note: The fee charged for photocopying, postage or for materials such as a CD or DVD should be according to already published official rates. If you suspect you are being charged too much, raise a concern with the public body and/or with the ombudsman or information commissioner.

TIP! Mention in your request that you would prefer information in electronic format. That way you will avoid paying a fee, unless of course the information is not available electronically, although these days it’s usually possible to scan documents which are not already digitalised and then to send them as an attachment by e-mail.