Section 26.1-10-07 - Confidential treatment1. Any document, material, or other information in the possession or control of the North Dakota insurance department which is obtained by or disclosed to the commissioner or any other person in the course of an examination or investigation made pursuant to section 26.1-10-06 and all information reported pursuant to subdivisions l and m of subsection 2 of section 26.1-10-03 and sections 26.1-10-04 and 26.1-10-05 is confidential and privileged, not subject to section 44-04-18, not subject to subpoena, and not subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action. However, the commissioner may use the document, material, or other information in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as a part of the commissioner's official duties. The commissioner may not otherwise make the document, material, or other information public without the prior written consent of the insurer to which it pertains unless the commissioner, after giving the insurer and its affiliates that would be affected thereby, notice and opportunity to be heard, determines that the interests of policyholders, shareholders, or the public will be served by the publication thereof, in which event the commissioner may publish all or any part thereof in any manner the commissioner deems appropriate.2. Neither the commissioner nor any person that received any document, material, or other information while acting under the authority of the commissioner or with whom such document, material, or other information is shared under this chapter is permitted or required to testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential document, material, or information subject to subsection 1.3. To assist in the performance of the commissioner's duties:a. If 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, the commissioner may share any document, material, or other information, including the confidential and privileged document, material, or information subject to subsection 1, with any other state, federal, and international regulatory agency, the national association of insurance commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries, and any state, federal, or international law enforcement authority, including members of any supervisory college described in section 26.1-10-06.1;b. Notwithstanding subdivision a, the commissioner may share a confidential and privileged document, material, or information reported under subsection 12 of section 26.1-10-04 only with a commissioner of a state having statutes or regulations substantially similar to subsection 1 and who has agreed in writing not to disclose the information;c. The commissioner may receive any document, material, or information, including any otherwise confidential and privileged document, material, or information from the national association of insurance commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries and from any regulatory and law enforcement official of other foreign or domestic jurisdiction, and shall maintain as confidential or privileged any document, material, or information received with notice or the understanding the document, material, or information is confidential or privileged under the laws of the jurisdiction that is the source of the document, material, or information; andd. The commissioner shall enter a written agreement with the national association of insurance commissioners governing sharing and use of information provided under this chapter consistent with this subsection and which must:(1) Specify procedures and protocols regarding the confidentiality and security of information shared with the national association of insurance commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries under this chapter, including procedures and protocols for sharing by the national association of insurance commissioners with any other state, federal, or international regulator;(2) Specify ownership of information shared with the national association of insurance commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries under this chapter remains with the commissioner, and the national association of insurance commissioner's use of the information is subject to the direction of the commissioner;(3) Require prompt notice to be given to an insurer if the insurer's confidential information in the possession of the national association of insurance commissioners under this chapter is subject to a request or subpoena to the national association of insurance commissioners for disclosure or production; and(4) Require the national association of insurance commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries to consent to intervention by an insurer in any judicial or administrative action in which the national association of insurance commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries may be required to disclose confidential information about the insurer shared with the national association of insurance commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries under this chapter.4. The sharing of information by the commissioner under this chapter does not constitute a delegation of regulatory authority or rulemaking, and the commissioner is solely responsible for the administration, execution, and enforcement of this chapter.5. Waiver of any applicable privilege or claim of confidentiality in any document, material, or information may not occur as a result of disclosure to the commissioner under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in subsection 3.6. Any document, material, or other information in the possession or control of the national association of insurance commissioners under this chapter is confidential and privileged, not subject to section 44-04-18, not subject to subpoena, and not subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action.Amended by S.L. 2015 , ch. 207( HB 1132 ), § 11, eff. 8/1/2015.