§ 27-20.7-5. Maintenance of records.
(a) Every administrator shall maintain and make available to the insurer complete books
and records of all transactions performed on behalf of the insurer. The books and
records shall be maintained in accordance with prudent standards of insurance recordkeeping
and must be maintained for a period of not less than five (5) years from the date
of their creation.
(b) The commissioner shall have access to books and records maintained by an administrator
for the purposes of examination, audit, and inspection. Any documents, materials,
or other information in the possession or control of the department of business regulation
that are furnished by a third-party administrator, insurer, producer, or an employee
or agent acting on behalf of the third-party administrator, insurer, or producer,
or obtained by the commissioner in an investigation, shall be confidential by law
and privileged, shall not be subject to chapter 2 of title 38, shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible
in evidence in any private civil action. The commissioner is nevertheless authorized
to use the documents, materials, or other information in the furtherance of any regulatory
or legal action brought as a part of the commissioner's official duties.
(c) Neither the commissioner nor any person who received documents, materials, or other
information while acting under the authority of the commissioner shall be permitted
or required to testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential documents,
materials, or information subject to subsection (b) of this section.
(d) In order to assist in the performance of the commissioner's duties, the commissioner:
(1) May share documents, materials, or other information, including the confidential and
privileged documents, materials, or information subject to subsection (b) of this
section, with other state or federal regulatory agencies, with the National Association
of Insurance Commissioners, its affiliates or subsidiaries, and with state, federal,
and international law enforcement authorities, provided that the recipient agrees
to maintain the confidential and privileged status of the document, material, or other
information; and
(2) May receive documents, materials, or information, including confidential and privileged
documents, materials, or information, from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners,
its affiliates or subsidiaries, and from regulatory and law enforcement officials
or 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.
(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 commissioner
under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in subsection (d) of this
section.
(f) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the insurance commissioner from releasing final,
adjudicated actions including for-cause terminations that are open to public inspection
pursuant to chapter 2 of title 38 to a database or other clearinghouse service maintained by the National Association
of Insurance Commissioners, its affiliates or subsidiaries of the National Association
of Insurance Commissioners.
(g) The insurer shall own the records generated by the administrator pertaining to the
insurer. The administrator shall retain the right to continuing access to books and
records to permit the administrator to fulfill all of its contractual obligations
to insured parties, claimants, and the insurer.
(h) In the event the insurer and the administrator cancel their agreement, notwithstanding
the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the administrator may, by written
agreement with the insurer, transfer all records to a new administrator rather than
retain them for five (5) years. In those cases, the new administrator shall acknowledge,
in writing, that it is responsible for retaining the records of the prior administrator
as required in subsection (a) of this section.