A. All documents, materials, or other information obtained by or disclosed to the Commission or any other person in the course of an examination or investigation made pursuant to § 38.2-1332, and all information reported or provided to the Commission pursuant to subdivisions A 12 and 13 of § 38.2-1324 and §§ 38.2-1329, 38.2-1330, 38.2-1330.1, and 38.2-1332.2 is declared to be proprietary and to contain trade secrets and shall be confidential by law and privileged, shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action. However, the Commission is authorized to use the documents, materials, or other information in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as a part of the Commission's official duties. The Commission shall not otherwise make the documents, materials, or other information public without the prior written consent of the insurer to which they pertain. After an insurer and its affiliates have been given notice and opportunity to be heard, the Commission may publish all or any part of the documents, materials, or other information referred to in this section in any manner it considers appropriate if it determines that the interests of policyholders or the public will be served by the publication.
1. For the purposes of the information reported to the Commission pursuant to subsection M of § 38.2-1329, the Commission shall maintain the confidentiality of the group capital calculation and group capital ratio produced within the calculation and any group capital information received from an insurance holding company system supervised by the Federal Reserve Board or U.S. group-wide supervisor.
2. For the purposes of the information reported to the Commission pursuant to subsection N of § 38.2-1329, the Commission shall maintain the confidentiality of the liquidity stress test results and supporting disclosures and any liquidity stress test information received from an insurance holding company system supervised by the Federal Reserve Board and non-U.S. group-wide supervisor.
B. Neither the Commission nor any person who received documents, materials, or other information while acting under the authority of the Commission or with whom such documents, materials, or other information are shared pursuant to this article shall be permitted or required to testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential documents, materials, or information subject to subsection A.
C. In order to assist in the performance of the Commission's duties, the Commission:
1. May share documents, materials, or other information, including the confidential and privileged documents, materials, or information subject to subsection A, including proprietary and trade secret documents and materials, with other state, federal, and international regulatory agencies; with the NAIC; with any third-party consultants designated by the Commission; and with state, federal, and international law-enforcement authorities, including members of any supervisory college described in § 38.2-1332.1, 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. May, notwithstanding subdivision 1, only share confidential and privileged documents, materials, or information reported pursuant to subsection L of § 38.2-1329 with insurance commissioners in any states that have statutes or regulations substantially similar to subsection A and that 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, including proprietary and trade secret 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 documents, materials, 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 and any third-party consultant designated by the Commission governing sharing and use of information provided pursuant to this article consistent with this subsection that shall:
a. Specify procedures and protocols regarding the confidentiality and security of information shared with the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commission pursuant to this article, including procedures and protocols for sharing by the NAIC with other state, federal, or international regulators. The agreement shall provide that the recipient agrees in writing to maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of the documents, materials, or other information and has verified in writing the legal authority to maintain such confidentiality;
b. Specify that ownership of information shared with the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commission pursuant to this article remains with the Commission and that the NAIC's or third party consultant's use of the information is subject to the direction of the Commission;
c. Except for documents, material, or information reported pursuant to subsection N of § 38.2-1329, prohibit the NAIC or third-party consultant designated by the Commission from storing the information shared pursuant to this article in a permanent database after the underlying analysis is completed;
d. Require prompt notice to be given to an insurer whose confidential information in the possession of the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commission pursuant to this article is subject to a request or subpoena to the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commission for disclosure or production;
e. Require the NAIC or a third-party consultant designated by the Commission 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 or a third-party consultant designated by the Commission pursuant to this article; and
f. For documents, materials, and information reported pursuant to subsection N of § 38.2-1329, in the case of an agreement involving a third-party consultant, provide for notification of the identity of the consultant to the applicable insurers.
D. The sharing of information by the Commission pursuant to this article shall not constitute a delegation of regulatory authority or rulemaking, and the Commission is solely responsible for the administration, execution, and enforcement of the provisions of this article.
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 Commission 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 or a third-party consultant designated by the Commission pursuant to this article shall be confidential by law and privileged, shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action.
G. Except as otherwise provided by the provisions of this article, the making, publishing, disseminating, circulating, or placing before the public, or causing directly or indirectly to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed before the public, in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication, or in the form of a notice, circular, pamphlet, letter, or poster, or over any radio or television station or any electronic means of communication available to the public, or in any other way as an advertisement, announcement, or statement containing a representation or statement with regard to the group capital calculation, group capital ratio, liquidity stress test results, or supporting disclosures for the liquidity stress test, of any insurer or any insurer group, or of any component derived in the calculation by an insurer, broker, or other person engaged in any manner in the insurance business, shall be prohibited. However, if any materially false statement with respect to the group capital calculation, the resulting group capital ratio, an inappropriate comparison of any amount to an insurer's or insurance group's group capital calculation or resulting group capital ratio, the liquidity stress test result, or supporting disclosures is published in any written publication, and the insurer is able to demonstrate to the Commission with substantial proof the falsity or the inappropriateness of such statement, as the case may be, then the insurer may publish announcements in a written publication if the sole purpose of the announcement is to rebut the materially false or inappropriate statement.
1973, c. 505, § 38.1-178.5; 1986, c. 562; 2001, c. 519; 2014, c. 309; 2019, c. 692; 2022, c. 113.
Structure Code of Virginia
§ 38.2-1300. Annual statements
§ 38.2-1301. Additional reports
§ 38.2-1301.1. Material transaction disclosures
§ 38.2-1302. Extension of filing time
§ 38.2-1303. Printed forms to be filed by insurers; certificates to domestic insurers
§ 38.2-1304. False statements, reports, etc., deemed a Class 5 felony
§ 38.2-1305. Voluntary reports
§ 38.2-1306. Reports to be open to public inspection
§ 38.2-1306.1. Insurance companies' analyses confidential
§ 38.2-1306.2. Valuation of investments and other assets
§ 38.2-1306.3. Nonadmitted assets
§ 38.2-1311. Valuation reserves
§ 38.2-1312. Unearned premium reserves
§ 38.2-1314. Loss or claim reserves
§ 38.2-1315. Mortgage guaranty insurance contingency reserve
§ 38.2-1315.1. Actuarial statements of opinion, reports, memoranda, and summaries
§ 38.2-1316.2. Credit allowed a domestic ceding insurer
§ 38.2-1316.4. Credit allowed any ceding insurer
§ 38.2-1316.7. Rules and regulations
§ 38.2-1316.8. Reinsurance agreements affected
§ 38.2-1317. Examinations; when authorized or required
§ 38.2-1317.1. Examinations; nature and scope
§ 38.2-1317.2. Market analyses confidential
§ 38.2-1318. Examinations; how conducted
§ 38.2-1319. Expense of examination
§ 38.2-1320. Examination reports; general description
§ 38.2-1320.1. Submission of examination report
§ 38.2-1320.2. Filing of report on examination
§ 38.2-1320.3. Examination reports; orders and procedures
§ 38.2-1320.4. Publication and use of examination reports
§ 38.2-1320.5. Confidentiality of ancillary information
§ 38.2-1321. Records of examination preserved
§ 38.2-1321.1. Immunity from liability
§ 38.2-1323. Acquisition of control of insurers
§ 38.2-1324. Contents of application
§ 38.2-1325. Alternate filing materials
§ 38.2-1326. Approval by Commission
§ 38.2-1327. Time for hearing; order of Commission
§ 38.2-1329. Registration of insurers that are members of holding company system
§ 38.2-1330.1. Dividends and other distributions
§ 38.2-1332.1. Supervisory colleges
§ 38.2-1332.2. Group-wide supervision of internationally active insurance groups
§ 38.2-1333. Confidential treatment of information and documents
§ 38.2-1334. Revocation, suspension, or nonrenewal of insurer's license
§ 38.2-1334.1. Voting of securities, injunctions, and sequestration of voting securities
§ 38.2-1334.2:1. Rules and regulations
§ 38.2-1334.2:3. Statutory construction and relationship to other laws
§ 38.2-1334.4. Risk management framework
§ 38.2-1334.5. ORSA requirement
§ 38.2-1334.6. ORSA summary report
§ 38.2-1334.7. Scope of article; exemption
§ 38.2-1334.8. Contents of ORSA summary report
§ 38.2-1334.9. Confidentiality
§ 38.2-1334.12. Disclosure requirement
§ 38.2-1334.13. Contents of Corporate Governance Annual Disclosure
§ 38.2-1334.14. Confidentiality
§ 38.2-1334.15. NAIC and third-party consultants
§ 38.2-1334.16. Rules and regulations
§ 38.2-1336. Subsidiaries of insurers
§ 38.2-1337. Disclaimer of control
§ 38.2-1340. Revocation, suspension, or nonrenewal of insurer's license
§ 38.2-1343. Minimum standards
§ 38.2-1348. License requirements
§ 38.2-1349. Required contract provisions; reinsurance intermediary brokers
§ 38.2-1350. Books and records; reinsurance intermediary brokers
§ 38.2-1351. Duties of insurers utilizing the services of a reinsurance intermediary broker
§ 38.2-1352. Required contract provisions; reinsurance intermediary managers
§ 38.2-1354. Duties of reinsurers utilizing the services of a reinsurance intermediary manager
§ 38.2-1355. Examination authority
§ 38.2-1357. Requirement to report to Commission
§ 38.2-1360. Required contract provisions
§ 38.2-1361. Duties of insurers utilizing managing general agents
§ 38.2-1362. Examination authority
§ 38.2-1364. Requirement to report to Commission
§ 38.2-1366. Reserve valuation
§ 38.2-1367. Actuarial opinion of reserves
§ 38.2-1368. Minimum valuation standard for policies issued prior to certain dates
§ 38.2-1369. Computation of minimum standard
§ 38.2-1370. Computation of minimum standard for annuities
§ 38.2-1371. Computation of minimum standard by calendar year of issue
§ 38.2-1372. Reserve valuation method; life insurance and endowment benefits
§ 38.2-1373. Reserve valuation method; annuity and pure endowment benefits
§ 38.2-1375. Optional reserve calculation
§ 38.2-1376. Reserve calculation; valuation net premium exceeding the gross premium charged
§ 38.2-1377. Reserve calculation; indeterminate premium plans
§ 38.2-1378. Minimum standard for accident and health insurance contracts
§ 38.2-1380. Requirements of a principle-based valuation
§ 38.2-1383. Single state exemption
§ 38.2-1384. Assessment against insurers whose policies are valued