N.Y. Vehicle & Traffic Law § 202: Fees for searches and copies of documents

§ 202. Fees for searches and copies of documents. 1. Except in those

cases in which it is provided by law that no fee shall be charged, the

fees for searching the records of the department of motor vehicles kept

pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and for furnishing copies of

documents in said department kept pursuant to the provisions of this

chapter shall be as provided in this section. Provided, however, that

no fee shall be charged any public officer, board or body, volunteer

fire company, volunteer ambulance service, or legal aid bureau or

society or other private entity when acting pursuant to section seven

hundred twenty-two of the county law, for searches or copies of

documents to be used for a public purpose.

2. Fees for searches of records. * (a) The fee for a search which is

made manually by the department shall be ten dollars.

* NB Effective until April 1, 2028

* (a) The fee for a search which is made manually by the department

shall be five dollars.

* NB Effective April 1, 2028

* (b) The fee for a search which is made by direct entry by a

requester who has been approved for such entry by the commissioner shall

be seven dollars.

* NB Effective until April 1, 2028

* (b) The fee for a search which is made by direct entry by a

requester who has been approved for such entry by the commissioner shall

be four dollars.

* NB Effective April 1, 2028

* (c) The fee for a search which is made by means of an electronic

medium which has been prepared by a requester who has been approved for

such service by the commissioner and which is processed by the

department shall be seven dollars.

* NB Effective until April 1, 2028

* (c) The fee for a search which is made by means of an electronic

medium which has been prepared by a requester who has been approved for

such service by the commissioner and which is processed by the

department shall be four dollars.

* NB Effective April 1, 2028

(d) The commissioner may condition approval for direct entry of a

request or use of an electronic medium by a requester upon the

establishment and maintenance of an account with the department with a

minimum balance established by the commissioner from which fees

chargeable to the requester shall be deducted. In addition, the

commissioner shall prescribe the specifications and procedures for use

of electronic media and may establish a minimum and/or a maximum number

of searches which may be contained on any one such electronic medium

submission.

(e) For the purposes of this section, a search shall consist of a

single entry of an acceptable identifier for the purpose of obtaining a

specific category of information relating to a person, vehicle or number

plate. The commissioner shall by regulation define such categories and

identifiers acceptable for such categories. Except as provided in

subdivision three of this section, a search of the record of the

department shall include the furnishing of the information disclosed by

such search, and with respect to searches made manually by the

department, shall include a certification of such record.

3. Fees for copies of documents. The fees for copies of documents,

other than accident reports, shall be one dollar per page. A page shall

consist of either a single or double side of any document. The fee for a

copy of an accident report shall be fifteen dollars. All copies of

documents shall be certified at no additional fee. Whenever search of

records of the department is required in conjunction with a request for

a copy of a document, the fee for such search shall be the fee provided

in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this section. The result of such

search will be the locating of the document to be copied, or if no

document can be located, a certification to that effect will be the

result of the search.

4. Registration lists and title information. (a) The commissioner

shall have discretion to contract with the highest responsible bidder or

bidders to furnish the registration information specified in this

section from the records of all vehicle registrations from any

registration period, or number of periods not exceeding five years in

the aggregate, with respect to a given territory or information on

titles. In such event, the fees provided by this section shall not apply

to copies of records furnished under any such contract. Any such

contract entered into by the commissioner pursuant to this section shall

not be for a term of more than two years and shall contain language

prohibiting the successful bidder from assigning the contract and from

any use or resale of the information received which use or resale is

contrary to the public policy of this state or is contrary to the public

morals or welfare. In addition, any such sale of registration

information shall be limited to only that part of the vehicle

registration records describing the name and address of the owner of the

vehicle and the make, model, year, weight, body style, number of

passengers and cylinders, fuel, license number, type of registration and

transaction, validation and expiration date and vehicle identification

number of the vehicle.

(b) The commissioner shall notify each vehicle registrant that the

registration information specified in paragraph (a) of this subdivision

has been or will be furnished to the contracting party. The commissioner

shall inform each vehicle registrant when such registrant first makes

application for a vehicle registration or when such registrant applies

to renew an existing vehicle registration how to achieve the deletion of

such information from the contracting party's file. The contract between

the commissioner and the contracting party shall provide that, upon the

request of the registrant made in such manner and in such form as shall

be prescribed by the commissioner, such registration information shall

be deleted from the contracting party's file for all purposes, except:

(i) issuance of manufacturer's warranty, safety recall or similar

notices, or (ii) statistical complications.

(c) Any material violation of the terms of such contract by the

successful bidder not corrected or discontinued within thirty days

following receipt of notice of such violation will automatically cancel

and void its contract with the commissioner and disqualify it from

bidding for the five successive years following such cancellation.

(d) Any contract authorized by this section shall be subject to the

provisions of article nine of the state finance law.

(e) The commissioner may from time to time require that the

contracting party pursuant to this section submit written reports, in

form satisfactory to the commissioner, concerning the use of such

registration or title information.

5. Miscellaneous charges. The commissioner upon request may furnish

copies of documents and records of searches by means other than first

class mail upon prior payment of any additional cost involved in such

transmission. Where the cost of such requested transmission cannot be

readily determined before transmission, the commissioner may establish a

reasonable fee to cover the cost of such transmission. Nothing herein

shall be construed to require the commissioner to provide such service.