§ 58-12-35. Confidentiality and prohibition on announcements. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 58‑12‑35. Confidentiality and prohibition on announcements.

(a)        All risk‑basedcapital reports, to the extent the information therein is not required to beset forth in a publicly available annual statement schedule, and the risk‑basedcapital plans, including the results or report of any examination or analysisof an insurer performed pursuant hereto and any corrective order issued by theCommissioner pursuant to examination or analysis, with respect to any domesticinsurer or foreign insurer that are filed with the Commissioner constituteinformation that shall be kept confidential by the Commissioner. Thisinformation shall not be made public or be subject to subpoena, other than bythe Commissioner, and then only for the purpose of enforcement actions taken bythe Commissioner under this Article or any other provision of this Chapter.

(b)        The GeneralAssembly finds that the comparison of an insurer's total adjusted capital toany of its risk‑based capital levels is a regulatory tool that mayindicate the need for possible corrective action with respect to the insurer,and is not intended as a means to rank insurers generally. Therefore, except asotherwise required under 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 in any other way, an advertisement, announcement, or statement containing anassertion, representation, or statement with regard to the  risk‑basedcapital levels of any insurer, or of any component derived in the calculation byany insurer, agent, broker, or other person engaged in any manner in theinsurance business is prohibited; provided, however, that if any materiallyfalse statement with respect to the comparison regarding an insurer's totaladjusted capital to its risk‑based capital levels (or any of them) or aninappropriate comparison of any other amount to the insurers' risk‑basedcapital levels is published in any written publication and the insurer is ableto demonstrate to the Commissioner, with substantial proof, the falsity of thestatement, or the inappropriateness, as the case may be, then the insurer maypublish an announcement in a written publication if the sole purpose of theannouncement is to rebut the materially false statement. (1993(Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 678, s. 1; 1995, c. 193, s. 22.)