The Electronic Public Access Fee schedule was amended to increase the EPA fee from $0.10 to $0.12 per page for access to court records through PACER for a period of five years to help fund the accelerated initiative to modernize and strengthen the security of the judiciary’s case management system.  The modernization project is also necessary to improve public access to the judiciary’s electronic docketing information.  To lessen the user impact of the fee increase, the quarterly threshold for automatic exemption from EPA fees was raised from $30 to $40. 

A related press release was posted today on the U.S. Courts public website.  The delayed effective date for the EPA fee increase allows for adequate time to reprogram the PACER billing software, provides users time to plan for the increased cost, and coincides with the start of a billing cycle.  As the effective date approaches, you will receive information about any action your court will need to take, such as implementing changes to tables in your CM/ECF system.