(1) If any person who is required to submit documents or other information to the office or department pursuant to the insurance code or by rule or order of the office, department, or commission claims that such submission contains a trade secret, such person may file with the office or department a notice of trade secret as provided in this section. Failure to do so constitutes a waiver of any claim by such person that the document or information is a trade secret.(a) Each page of such document or specific portion of a document claimed to be a trade secret must be clearly marked as “trade secret.”
(b) All material marked as a trade secret must be separated from all non-trade secret material, such as being submitted in a separate envelope clearly marked as “trade secret.”
(c) In submitting a notice of trade secret to the office or department, the submitting party must include an affidavit certifying under oath to the truth of the following statements concerning all documents or information that are claimed to be trade secrets:1. [I consider/My company considers] this information a trade secret that has value and provides an advantage or an opportunity to obtain an advantage over those who do not know or use it.
2. [I have/My company has] taken measures to prevent the disclosure of the information to anyone other than those who have been selected to have access for limited purposes, and [I intend/my company intends] to continue to take such measures.
3. The information is not, and has not been, reasonably obtainable without [my/our] consent by other persons by use of legitimate means.
4. The information is not publicly available elsewhere.
(2) If the office or department receives a public records request for a document or information that is marked and certified as a trade secret, the office or department shall promptly notify the person that certified the document as a trade secret. The notice shall inform such person that he or she or his or her company has 30 days following receipt of such notice to file an action in circuit court seeking a determination whether the document in question contains trade secrets and an order barring public disclosure of the document. If that person or company files an action within 30 days after receipt of notice of the public records request, the office or department may not release the documents pending the outcome of the legal action. The failure to file an action within 30 days constitutes a waiver of any claim of confidentiality, and the office or department shall release the document as requested.
(3) The office or department may disclose a trade secret, together with the claim that it is a trade secret, to an officer or employee of another governmental agency whose use of the trade secret is within the scope of his or her employment.
