The State Council released a regulation on processing charges for government information disclosure on Dec 1, in an effort to further regulate related legal relations, safeguard orderly work in this regard, and better protect people's right to be informed.

According to the document, the charges are aimed at people who apply for government information disclosure beyond a certain amount or frequency, in order to guide them to exercise their rights in a reasonable manner.

The charges can be levied either by item or by amount.

Within a month, 10 items will be free. From 11 to 30, 100 yuan per item will be charged, and every 10 pieces above 31 will incur another 100-yuan price markup.

Charges by amount will apply to information disclosed on paper, e-mail, or duplicated data, and content up to 30 pages will be free. Applicants will be charged 10 yuan per page after that, up to 100, 20 yuan per page from 101 to 200 pages, and 40 yuan per page if the requested information is more than 200 pages.

Administrative organs should notify applicants with related details, including the basis and standards for the charges, the exact amount, and payment method. The fees due should be paid within 20 workdays. Overdue payment will be deemed a forfeit.

The information processing fees charged by administrative organs will go under the general public budget management and be turned over to national treasuries at the same level.

Charges will be filed in annual reports on government information disclosure, subject to public supervision.