2020 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 38 - Insurance
Chapter 21 - Insurance Holding Company Regulatory Act
Section 38-21-290. Confidential information.

(A) Documents, materials, or other information in the possession or control of the department that are obtained by or disclosed to the director or his designee or any other person in the course of an examination or investigation made pursuant to Section 38-21-280 and all information reported pursuant to Section 38-21-70(A)(13) and (14) and Sections 38-21-130 through 38-21-270 must be confidential by law and privileged, shall not be subject to disclosure, may not be subject to subpoena, and may not be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act and may not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action. However, the director or his designee may use the documents, materials, or other information in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as a part of his official duties. The director or his designee otherwise shall not make the documents, materials, or other information public without obtaining the prior written consent of the insurer to which it pertains unless the director or his designee, after giving the insurer and its affiliates who would be affected by it, notice and opportunity to be heard, determines that the interest of policyholders, shareholders, or the public will be served by the publication of it, in which event the director or his designee may publish all or any part.

(B) Neither the director or his designee nor a person who received documents, materials, or other information while acting under the authority of the director or his designee or with whom such documents, materials, or other information are shared pursuant to this chapter may be permitted or required to testify in a private civil action concerning any confidential documents, materials, or information subject to subsection (A).

(C) In order to assist in the performance of the director or his designee's duties, the director or his designee:

(1) may share documents, materials, or other information, including the confidential and privileged documents, materials, or information subject to subsection (A), with other state, federal, and international regulatory agencies, with the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries, and with state, federal, and international law enforcement authorities, including members of any supervisory college described in Section 38-21-285, provided that the recipient agrees in writing to maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of the document, material, or other information, and has verified in writing the legal authority to maintain confidentiality;

(2) only may share confidential and privileged documents, material, or information reported pursuant to Section 38-21-225 with commissioners of states having statutes or regulations substantially similar to subsection (A) and who have agreed in writing not to disclose such information;

(3) may receive documents, materials, or information, including otherwise confidential and privileged documents, materials, or information from the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries and from regulatory and law enforcement officials of other foreign or domestic jurisdictions, and shall maintain as confidential or privileged any document, material, or 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 information; and

(4) shall enter into written agreements with the NAIC governing sharing and use of information provided pursuant to this chapter consistent with this subsection that shall:

(a) specify procedures and protocols regarding the confidentiality and security of information shared with the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries pursuant to this chapter, including procedures and protocols for sharing by the NAIC with other state, federal, or international regulators;

(b) specify that ownership of information shared with the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries pursuant to this chapter remains with the director or his designee and the NAIC's use of the information is subject to the direction of the director or his designee;

(c) require prompt notice to be given to an insurer whose confidential information in the possession of the NAIC pursuant to this chapter is subject to a request or subpoena to the NAIC for disclosure or production; and

(d) require the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries to consent to intervention by an insurer in any judicial or administrative action in which the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries may be required to disclose confidential information about the insurer shared with the NAIC and its affiliates and subsidiaries pursuant to this chapter.

(D) The sharing of information by the director or his designee pursuant to this chapter may not constitute a delegation of regulatory authority or rulemaking, and the director or his designee is solely responsible for the administration, execution, and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter.

(E) No waiver of any applicable privilege or claim of confidentiality in the documents, materials, or information shall occur as a result of disclosure to the director or his designee under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in subsection (C).

(F) Documents, materials, or other information in the possession or control of the NAIC pursuant to this chapter shall be confidential by law and privileged, may not be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, may not be subject to subpoena, and may not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in a private civil action.

HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 38-21-290 [1947 (45) 322; 1952 Code Section 37-879; 1962 Code Section 37-879] recodified as Section 38-37-290 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; Former 1976 Code Section 38-29-280 [1962 Code Section 37-1426; 1971 (57) 351; 1986 Act No. 426, Section 19] recodified as Section 38-21-290 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 585; 2015 Act No. 2 (S.342), Section 15, eff March 9, 2015.

Effect of Amendment

2015 Act No. 2, Section 15, rewrote the section.