18 U.S.C. § 2706 : US Code - Section 2706: Cost reimbursement

Search 18 U.S.C. § 2706 : US Code - Section 2706: Cost reimbursement

(a) Payment. - Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c), a
governmental entity obtaining the contents of communications,
records, or other information under section 2702, 2703, or 2704 of
this title shall pay to the person or entity assembling or
providing such information a fee for reimbursement for such costs
as are reasonably necessary and which have been directly incurred
in searching for, assembling, reproducing, or otherwise providing
such information. Such reimbursable costs shall include any costs
due to necessary disruption of normal operations of any electronic
communication service or remote computing service in which such
information may be stored.
(b) Amount. - The amount of the fee provided by subsection (a)
shall be as mutually agreed by the governmental entity and the
person or entity providing the information, or, in the absence of
agreement, shall be as determined by the court which issued the
order for production of such information (or the court before which
a criminal prosecution relating to such information would be
brought, if no court order was issued for production of the
information).
(c) Exception. - The requirement of subsection (a) of this
section does not apply with respect to records or other information
maintained by a communications common carrier that relate to
telephone toll records and telephone listings obtained under
section 2703 of this title. The court may, however, order a payment
as described in subsection (a) if the court determines the
information required is unusually voluminous in nature or otherwise
caused an undue burden on the provider.