Whenever, during the course of a market conduct examination pursuant to Article 4 (§ 38.2-1317 et seq.) of Chapter 13 or inspection request or inquiry pursuant to § 38.2-200, the Commission requests an insurer to furnish information which the insurer considers confidential proprietary information, such confidential proprietary information shall be submitted to the Commission but shall be excluded from, and the Commission shall not be subject to, subpoena or public inspection with respect to such information if the insurer (i) invokes such exclusion, in writing, upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; (ii) identifies the data or other materials for which protection is sought; and (iii) states the reason why protection is necessary. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the Commission from (i) using such confidential proprietary information in furtherance of any regulatory or legal action; (ii) publishing any decisions, orders, findings, opinions, or judgments; or (iii) publishing any final market conduct report or any other report containing aggregated findings, provided that such report, decisions, orders, findings, opinions, or judgments shall not disclose such confidential proprietary information unless the Commission has found, after the insurer has been provided notice and opportunity to be heard, that such information is not confidential proprietary information. No waiver of an existing privilege or claim of confidentiality shall occur as a result of disclosure to the Commission under this section.

2000, c. 527.