North Dakota Century Code Title 26.1. Insurance § 26.1-10-07. Confidential treatment

1. 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 I 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:

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 or a third-party consultant designated by the commissioner 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.

7. The group capital calculation and resulting group capital ratio required under subsections 13 and 14 of section 26.1-10-04 and the liquidity stress test along with its results and supporting disclosures required under subsection 15 of section 26.1-10-04, are regulatory tools for assessing group risks and capital adequacy and group liquidity risks, respectively, and are not intended as a means to rank insurers or insurance holding company systems generally.

8. Except as otherwise required under this chapter, 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 that would be misleading is prohibited when made regarding:

9. Notwithstanding subsection 8, if any written publication contains a materially false statement and the insurer demonstrates to the commissioner with substantial proof the falsity or inappropriateness of the statement, the insurer may publish announcements in a written publication, provided the sole purpose of the announcement is to rebut the materially false statement. For this subsection to apply, the existence of any materially false statement in a written publication must relate to at least one of the following subject areas: