§ 522.8 — Confidentiality

Iowa § 522.8

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title XIII: COMMERCE
• Ch. 522: INSURER RISK AND SOLVENCY ASSESSMENTS

Text

1. Documents, materials, or other information, including an own risk and solvency
assessment summary report, in the possession or control of the insurance division of the

department of insurance and financial services, that are obtained by, created by, or disclosed
to the commissioner or to any other person pursuant to this chapter, are recognized in this
state as being proprietary and containing trade secrets. All such documents, materials, or
other information, including the summary report, shall be confidential and privileged, shall
not be subject to chapter 22, shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to
discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action. However, the commissioner
is authorized to use such documents, materials, or other information, including the
summary report, in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as a part of the
commissioner’s official duties. The commissioner shall not otherwise make the documents,
materials, or other information, including the summary report, public without the prior
written consent of the insurer that provided the documents, materials, or other information,
including the summary report.
2. The commissioner or any person who received documents, materials, or other
information related to own risk and solvency assessments, through examination or
otherwise, while acting under the authority of the commissioner or with whom such
documents, materials, or other information are shared pursuant to this chapter, shall not
be permitted or required to testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential
documents, materials, or information, including summary reports, subject to subsection 1.
3. In order to assist in the performance of the commissioner’s regulatory duties, the
commissioner may do any of the following:
a. Upon request, share documents, materials, or other own risk and solvency
assessment-related information, including the confidential and privileged documents,
materials, or information subject to subsection 1, and including proprietary and trade secret
documents, materials, or information, with other state, federal, or international financial
regulatory agencies, including members of any supervisory college, with the national
association of insurance commissioners, and with any third-party consultants designated by
thecommissioner, providedthattherecipientagreesinwritingtomaintaintheconfidentiality
and privileged status of the documents, materials, or other assessment-related information
and verifies in writing the legal authority to maintain such confidentiality and privilege.
b. Receive documents, materials, or other own risk and solvency assessment-related
information, including otherwise confidential and privileged documents, materials, or
information, and proprietary and trade secret documents, materials, and information, from
regulatory officials of other foreign or domestic jurisdictions, including members of any
supervisory college, and from the national association of insurance commissioners, and shall
maintain as confidential or privileged any documents, materials, or information received
with notice or the understanding that the documents, materials, or other information
received are confidential and privileged under the laws of the jurisdiction that is the source
of the documents, materials, or information.
4. In order to assist in the performance of the commissioner’s regulatory duties,
the commissioner shall enter into a written agreement with the national association of
insurance commissioners or with a third-party consultant that is consistent with subsection
3, governing the sharing and use of information provided pursuant to this chapter, and that
does all of the following:
a. Specifies procedures and protocols regarding the confidentiality and security of
information shared with the national association of insurance commissioners or with a
third-party consultant pursuant to this chapter, including procedures and protocols of the
national association of insurance commissioners for sharing information with other state
regulators from states in which an insurance group has domiciled insurers. The agreement
shall require that the recipient of such information must agree in writing to maintain
the confidentiality and privileged status of the own risk and solvency assessment-related
documents, materials, or other information and verify in writing the legal authority to
maintain confidentiality and privilege.
b. Specifies that ownership of information shared with the national association of
insurance commissioners or with a third-party consultant pursuant to this chapter remains
with the commissioner and that use of the information by the national association of

insurance commissioners or by a third-party consultant is subject to the direction of the
commissioner.
c. Prohibits the national association of insurance commissioners or a third-party
consultant from storing the information shared pursuant to this chapter in a permanent
database after the underlying analysis is completed.
d. Requires that prompt notice be given to an insurer whose confidential information is
in the possession of the national association of insurance commissioners or a third-party
consultant pursuant to this chapter, that the information is subject to a request or subpoena
to the national association of insurance commissioners or the third-party consultant for
disclosure or production.
e. Requires the national association of insurance commissioners or a third-party
consultant to consent to intervention by an insurer in any judicial or administrative action
in which the national association of insurance commissioners or the third-party consultant
may be required to disclose confidential information about the insurer that was shared with
the association or consultant pursuant to this chapter.
f. In the case of an agreement involving a third-party consultant, provides for the insurer’s
written consent to the agreement.
5. The sharing of documents, materials, or information by the commissioner pursuant to
this chapter shall not constitute a delegation of regulatory authority or rulemaking, and the
commissioner is solely responsible for the administration, execution, and enforcement of the
provisions of this chapter.
6. No waiver of any applicable privilege or claim of confidentiality in the documents,
proprietary and trade secret materials, or other own risk and solvency assessment-related
information shall occur as a result of the disclosure of such documents, materials, or
information to the commissioner under this section or as a result of the sharing of those
documents, materials, or information as authorized in this chapter.
7. Documents, materials, or other information in the possession or control of the national
association of insurance commissioners or a third-party consultant pursuant to this chapter
shall be confidential and privileged, shall not be subject to chapter 22, shall not be subject to
subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil
action.