(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, all information submitted by a service supplier to the authority or Department of Revenue pursuant to this article shall be presumed to be confidential, proprietary, a trade secret, or subject to exemption from disclosure under state or federal law and shall not be subject to disclosure under Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50. Except as provided in this Code section, such information shall not be released to any person other than to the submitting service supplier, the authority, or auditors or attorneys employed by or under contract with the authority or the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency without the express permission of the submitting service supplier. Members of the authority shall also have access to information for the purpose of determining the accuracy of collections and remittances of individual service suppliers related to the member's jurisdiction. Such information shall be used solely for the purposes stated under this article.

(b) Information collected by the authority and Department of Revenue related to this article and Part 4 of Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 46 may be publicly released or published but only in aggregate amounts that do not identify or allow identification of numbers of subscribers or revenues attributable to an individual service supplier. All requests for information shall be submitted to the authority and not directly to the Department of Revenue.

(c) Nothing in this Code section shall prohibit the authority or Department of Revenue from complying with a court order or request of a state or federal grand jury, taxing or regulatory authority, law enforcement agency, or prosecuting attorney in conjunction with an ongoing administrative, criminal, or tax investigation.