§75-64. Destruction of personal information records

(a)        Any business that conducts business in North Carolina and any business that maintains or otherwise possesses personal information of a resident of North Carolina must take reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of the information in connection with or after its disposal.

(b)        The reasonable measures must include:

(1)        Implementing and monitoring compliance with policies and procedures that require the burning, pulverizing, or shredding of papers containing personal information so that information cannot be practicably read or reconstructed.

(2)        Implementing and monitoring compliance with policies and procedures that require the destruction or erasure of electronic media and other nonpaper media containing personal information so that the information cannot practicably be read or reconstructed.

(3)        Describing procedures relating to the adequate destruction or proper disposal of personal records as official policy in the writings of the business entity.

(c)        A business may, after due diligence, enter into a written contract with, and monitor compliance by, another party engaged in the business of record destruction to destroy personal information in a manner consistent with this section. Due diligence should ordinarily include one or more of the following:

(1)        Reviewing an independent audit of the disposal business's operations or its compliance with this statute or its equivalent.

(2)        Obtaining information about the disposal business from several references or other reliable sources and requiring that the disposal business be certified by a recognized trade association or similar third party with a reputation for high standards of quality review.

(3)        Reviewing and evaluating the disposal business's information security policies or procedures or taking other appropriate measures to determine the competency and integrity of the disposal business.

(d)       A disposal business that conducts business in North Carolina or disposes of personal information of residents of North Carolina must take all reasonable measures to dispose of records containing personal information by implementing and monitoring compliance with policies and procedures that protect against unauthorized access to or use of personal information during or after the collection and transportation and disposing of such information.

(e)        This section does not apply to any of the following:

(1)        Any bank or financial institution that is subject to and in compliance with the privacy and security provision of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6801, et seq., as amended.

(2)        Any health insurer or health care facility that is subject to and in compliance with the standards for privacy of individually identifiable health information and the security standards for the protection of electronic health information of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

(3)        Any consumer reporting agency that is subject to and in compliance with the Federal Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1681, et seq., as amended.

(f)        A violation of this section is a violation of G.S. 75-1.1, but any damages assessed against a business because of the acts or omissions of its nonmanagerial employees shall not be trebled as provided in G.S. 75-16 unless the business was negligent in the training, supervision, or monitoring of those employees. No private right of action may be brought by an individual for a violation of this section unless such individual is injured as a result of the violation.

(2005-414, s. 1.)