(1) Reimbursement for the costs (fees and expenses) of official action pursuant to this Act and to statutory instruments based on this Act may be collected from persons who caused such action to be taken or, in the absence of such persons, on whose behalf such action was taken.
(2) The Federal Ministry of the Interior shall be authorized to define the circumstances in which fees shall be payable, the levels of fees and the extent of expenses to be reimbursed, as well as any exceptions to the fee requirement, via statutory instrument with the approval of the Bundesrat. The fees for official action pursuant to paragraph (1) may double if the official action was undertaken by a passport authority outside normal business hours at the request of the applicant.
(3) In order to compensate for differences in buying power, the Federal Foreign Office may reduce or add a surcharge of up to 300% on fees collected by the Federal Republic of Germany’s diplomatic missions abroad for official action pursuant to paragraph (1).