§ 27-20.7-5 - Maintenance of records. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 27-20.7-5

   § 27-20.7-5  Maintenance of records. –(a) Every administrator shall maintain and make available to the insurercomplete books and records of all transactions performed on behalf of theinsurer. The books and records shall be maintained in accordance with prudentstandards of insurance record keeping and must be maintained for a period ofnot less than five (5) years from the date of their creation.

   (b) The commissioner shall have access to books and recordsmaintained by an administrator for the purposes of examination, audit andinspection. Any documents, materials or other information in the possession orcontrol of the department of business regulation that are furnished by a thirdparty administrator, insurer, producer, or an employee or agent acting onbehalf of the third party administrator, insurer or producer, or obtained bythe commissioner in an investigation, shall be confidential by law andprivileged, shall not be subject to chapter 2 of title 38, shall not be subjectto subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence inany private civil action. The commissioner is nevertheless authorized to usethe documents, materials or other information in the furtherance of anyregulatory or legal action brought as a part of the commissioner's officialduties.

   (c) Neither the commissioner nor any person who receiveddocuments, materials or other information while acting under the authority ofthe commissioner shall be permitted or required to testify in any private civilaction concerning any confidential documents, materials or information subjectto subsection (b) of this section.

   (d) In order to assist in the performance of thecommissioner's duties, the commissioner:

   (1) May share documents, materials or other information,including the confidential and privileged documents, materials or informationsubject to subsection (b) of this section, with other state or federalregulatory agencies, with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners,its affiliates or subsidiaries, and with state, federal and international lawenforcement authorities, provided that the recipient agrees to maintain theconfidential and privileged status of the document, material or otherinformation; and

   (2) May receive documents, materials or information,including confidential and privileged documents, materials or information, fromthe National Association of Insurance Commissioners, it affiliates orsubsidiaries, and from regulatory and law enforcement officials or otherforeign or domestic jurisdictions, and shall maintain as confidential orprivileged any document, material or information received with notice or theunderstanding that it is confidential or privileged under the laws of thejurisdiction that is the source of the document, material or information.

   (e) No waiver of any applicable privilege or claim ofconfidentiality in the documents, materials or information shall occur as aresult of disclosure to the commissioner under this section or as a result ofsharing as authorized in subsection (d) of this section.

   (f) Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the insurancecommissioner from releasing final, adjudicated actions including for causeterminations that are open to public inspection pursuant to chapter 2 of title38 to a database or other clearinghouse service maintained by the NationalAssociation of Insurance Commissioners, its affiliates or subsidiaries of theNational Association of Insurance Commissioners.

   (g) The insurer shall own the records generated by theadministrator pertaining to the insurer. The administrator shall retain theright to continuing access to books and records to permit the administrator tofulfill all of its contractual obligations to insured parties, claimants andthe insurer.

   (h) In the event the insurer and the administrator canceltheir agreement, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of thissection, the administrator may, by written agreement with the insurer, transferall 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 isresponsible for retaining the records of the prior administrator as required insubsection (a) of this section.