Copy Costs

The Data Practices Act allows, but does not require, government to charge for copies of government data. If the government’s policy is to charge for copies, the amount that can be charged depends on whether the requester is a member of the public or data subject. However, government may not charge any data requester for inspection. When the requester only inspects data and does not receive copies from the government, government may not charge costs. 

Requirements relating to copy costs are in Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03 (members of the public), section 13.04 (data subjects), Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0300, subpart 4 (public data), and part 1205.0400, subpart 5 (private data). If specific charges are set by statute or rule, government should use those specific charges instead of following Chapter 13's requirements for copy costs. 

Members of the Public

When the data requester is a member of the public, the amount government can charge for copies is:

• 25 cents per page for paper copies of 100 or fewer pages
  For 100 or fewer pages of black and white, letter or legal sized paper copies, the maximum charge allowed is 25 cents for each page copies, or 50 cents for a two-sided copy. This charge is a flat rate; government cannot add on any additional charges, such as cost of mailing or paper.
• Actual cost for most other copies
  For copies of other data (more than 100-page paper copies, photographs, data on a CD or DVD, data stored electronically, etc.) government may charge the actual cost for an employee to search for and retrieve the data, and to make and transmit the copies. Government may not charge any fee for redaction or separation of public data from not public data.
  
  

Data Subjects

When the data requester is a data subject, the amount government can charge for copies is:

• Actual cost
  Government may charge the actual cost for an employee to make and transmit the copies, as well as the actual cost of materials. Government may not charge any fee for redaction or for searching for and retrieving data. Note that the standard of 25 cents per page for paper copies of 100 or fewer pages does not apply to a data subject requester unless that is the actual cost to make the copies.
  
  

For more information on how to calculate actual cost, please visit our page on Actual Cost or view our informational video on copy costs.

Additionally, Advisory Opinions issued by the Commissioner of Administration that discuss copy costs are available on our Advisory Opinions Library Page.