2014 Virginia Code
Title 38.2 - Insurance
§ 38.2-1382. (Effective January 1, 2015) Confidentiality

A. For purposes of this section, "confidential information" means:

1. A memorandum in support of an opinion submitted under § 38.2-1367 and any other documents, materials, and other information, including all working papers, and copies thereof, created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the Commission or any other person in connection with such memorandum;

2. All documents, materials, and other information, including all working papers and copies thereof created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the Commission or any other person in the course of an examination made under subsection F of § 38.2-1379, provided, however, that if an examination report or other material prepared in connection with an examination made under Article 4 (§ 38.2-1317 et seq.) of Chapter 13 is not held as private and confidential information under Article 4, an examination report or other material prepared in connection with an examination made under subsection F of § 38.2-1379 shall not be "confidential information" to the same extent as if such examination report or other material had been prepared under Article 4;

3. Any reports, documents, materials, and other information developed by an insurer in support of, or in connection with, an annual certification by the insurer under subdivision B 2 of § 38.2-1380 evaluating the effectiveness of the insurer's internal controls with respect to a principle-based valuation and any other documents, materials, and other information, including all working papers and copies thereof created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the Commission or any other person in connection with such reports, documents, materials, and other information;

4. Any principle-based valuation report developed under subdivision B 3 of § 38.2-1380 and any other documents, materials, and other information, including all working papers and copies thereof created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the Commission or any other person in connection with such report; and

5. Any documents, materials, data, and other information submitted by an insurer under § 38.2-1381 (which are collectively referred to in this section as "experience data") and any other documents, materials, data, and other information, including all working papers and copies thereof created or produced in connection with such experience data, in each case that includes any potentially company-identifying or personally identifiable information, that is provided to or obtained by the Commission (which, together with any experience data, are referred to in this section as the "experience materials"), and any other documents, materials, data, and other information, including all working papers and copies thereof created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the Commission or any other person in connection with such experience materials.

B. Privilege for, and confidentiality of, confidential information shall be governed by the following provisions:

1. Except as provided in this section, an insurer's confidential information is confidential by law and privileged, and shall not be subject to subpoena and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action, provided, however, that the Commission is authorized to use the confidential information in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought against an insurer as a part of the Commission's official duties;

2. Neither the Commission nor any person who received confidential information while acting under the authority of the Commission shall be permitted or required to testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential information;

3. In order to assist in the performance of the Commission's duties, the Commission may share confidential information (i) with other state, federal, and international regulatory agencies and with the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries and (ii) in the case of confidential information specified in subdivisions A 1 and A 4 only, with the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline or its successor upon request stating that the confidential information is required for the purpose of professional disciplinary proceedings and with state, federal, and international law-enforcement officials; in the case of clauses (i) and (ii), provided that such recipient agrees, and has the legal authority to agree, to maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of such documents, materials, data, and other information in the same manner and to the same extent as required for the Commission;

4. The Commission may receive documents, materials, data, and other information, including otherwise confidential and privileged documents, materials, data, or information, from the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries, from regulatory or law-enforcement officials of other foreign or domestic jurisdictions, and from the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline or its successor and shall maintain as confidential or privileged any document, material, data, or other information received with notice or the understanding that it is confidential or privileged under the laws of the jurisdiction that is the source of the document, material, or other information;

5. The Commission may enter into agreements governing sharing and use of information consistent with this subsection;

6. No waiver of any applicable privilege or claim of confidentiality in the confidential information shall occur as a result of disclosure to the Commission under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in subdivision 3;

7. A privilege established under the law of any state or jurisdiction that is substantially similar to the privilege established under this subsection shall be available and enforced in any proceeding in, and in any court of, the Commonwealth; and

8. As used in this section, "regulatory agency," "law-enforcement agency," and "NAIC" include their employees, agents, consultants, and contractors.

C. Notwithstanding subsection B, any confidential information specified in subdivisions A 1 and A 4:

1. May be subject to subpoena for the purpose of defending an action seeking damages from the appointed actuary submitting the related memorandum in support of an opinion submitted under § 38.2-1367 or principle-based valuation report developed under subdivision B 3 § 38.2-1380 by reason of an action required by this article or by regulations adopted hereunder;

2. May otherwise be released by the Commission with the written consent of the insurer; and

3. Once any portion of a memorandum in support of an opinion submitted under § 38.2-1367 or a principle-based valuation report developed under subdivision B 3 § 38.2-1380 is cited by an insurer in its marketing or is publicly volunteered to or before a governmental agency other than a state insurance department or is released by an insurer to the news media, all portions of such memorandum or report shall no longer be confidential.

2014, c. 571.