§ 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, 2026

* (a) The fee for a search which is made manually by the department
shall be five dollars.

* NB Effective April 1, 2026

* (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, 2026

* (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, 2026

* (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, 2026

* (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, 2026

(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.