Title 3 . Commerce, Community, and Economic Development

Chapter 26 . Miscellaneous

Section 749. Definitions

3 AAC 26.749. Definitions

(a) In 3 AAC 26.605 - 3 AAC 26.749, unless the context requires otherwise,

(1) "affiliate" means a company that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another company;

(2) "affinity program" means a relationship between a financial institution and an unaffiliated third party in which the unaffiliated third party

(A) facilitates the financial institution's efforts to market the financial institution's products or services to the unaffiliated third party's customers or members; or

(B) endorses the financial institution's products or services;

(3) "clear and conspicuous" means reasonably understandable and designed to call attention to the nature and significance of the information;

(4) "collect" means to obtain information that is organized or can be retrieved by the name of a consumer or by a number, symbol, or other identifier assigned to the consumer;

(5) "company" means a corporation, limited liability company, business trust, general or limited partnership, association, sole proprietorship, or other similar organization;

(6) "consumer-reporting agency" has the meaning given in 15 U.S.C. 1681a(f) (Fair Credit Reporting Act);

(7) "control" means the

(A) ownership of, authority over, or power to vote at least 25 percent of the outstanding shares of any class of voting security of a company;

(B) authority in any manner over the election of a majority of the board of directors, trustees, general partners, or other individuals exercising similar functions of the company; or

(C) authority or power to influence the management or policies of a company as determined by the director;

(8) "customer" means a consumer who has a customer relationship with a licensee; "customer" does not include an individual described under 3 AAC 26.715(d) ;

(9) "customer information systems" means the electronic or physical methods used to access, collect, store, use, transmit, protect, or dispose of customer information;

(10) "customer relationship" means a continuing relationship between a consumer and a licensee under which the licensee provides one or more insurance products or services to the consumer;

(11) "financial institution" means a business that engages in an activity that is financial in nature or an activity incidental to a financial activity under 12 U.S.C. 1843(k) (Bank Holding Company Act of 1956); "financial institution" does not include

(A) with respect to a financial activity, a person that is subject to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under 7 U.S.C. 1 - 27f (Commodity Exchange Act);

(B) the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation or any person charged and operating under 12 U.S.C. 2001 - 2279cc (Farm Credit Act); or

(C) a business chartered by the United States Congress specifically to engage in securitization of assets, secondary market sales, sales of servicing rights, or similar transactions related to a transaction of a consumer, when the business does not sell or transfer nonpublic personal information to a nonaffiliated third party;

(12) "financial product or service" means a product or service that a financial holding company could offer by engaging in an activity that is financial in nature or an activity incidental to a financial activity under 12 U.S.C. 1843(k) (Bank Holding Company Act of 1956); "financial product or service" includes evaluation or brokerage of information that a financial institution collects in connection with a request or an application from a consumer for a financial product or service;

(13) "health care" means

(A) preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, or palliative care, services, procedures, tests, or counseling that

(i) relates to the physical, mental, or behavioral condition of an individual; or

(ii) affects the structure or function of the human body or any part of the human body, including the banking of blood, sperm, organ, or any other bodily tissue; or

(B) prescribing, dispensing, or furnishing to an individual drugs, biologicals, medical devices, or health care equipment or supplies;

(14) "health care provider" means

(A) an individual licensed, accredited, or certified in any state to provide health care services; and

(B) a health care facility that is or is not licensed, accredited, or certified to provide health care services;

(15) "health information"

(A) means oral or recorded information or data that is created by or derived from a health care provider or consumer, and that relates to

(i) the past, present, or future physical, mental, or behavioral health or condition of an individual;

(ii) the provision of health care to an individual; or

(iii) payment for the provision of health care to an individual; and

(B) does not include an individual's age or gender;

(16) "licensee" means a person licensed or required to be licensed, authorized or required to be authorized, or registered or required to be registered under AS 21; "licensee" includes a surplus lines insurer or surplus lines broker;

(17) "nonaffiliated third party" means a

(A) person that is not

(i) an affiliate of a licensee; or

(ii) employed jointly by a licensee and a company that is not an affiliate of a licensee; or

(B) company that is an affiliate of the company because of the direct or indirect ownership or control of the company by the licensee or its affiliate in conducting merchant banking or investment banking activities described in 12 U.S.C. 1843(k)(4)(H) (Bank Holding Company Act) or insurance company investment activities described in 12 U.S.C. 1843(k)(4)(I) (Bank Holding Company Act);

(18) "nonpublic personal information" means nonpublic personal financial information and nonpublic personal health information;

(19) "nonpublic personal financial information"

(A) means

(i) personally identifiable financial information; or

(ii) a list, description, or other grouping of consumers and publicly available information pertaining to the consumers that is derived using personally identifiable financial information that is not publicly available; and

(B) does not include

(i) health information;

(ii) publicly available information, unless included in a list described in (A)(ii) of this paragraph; or

(iii) a list, description, or other grouping of consumers and publicly available information pertaining to the consumers that is derived without using personally identifiable financial information that is not publicly available;

(20) "nonpublic personal health information" means health information

(A) that identifies an individual who is the subject of the information; or

(B) in which a reasonable basis exists to believe that the information could be used to identify an individual;

(21) "opt out" means to direct a licensee not to disclose nonpublic personal financial information about a consumer to a nonaffiliated third party, except as allowed under 3 AAC 26.660 - 3 AAC 26.670;

(22) "personally identifiable financial information" means information a consumer provides to a licensee to obtain an insurance product or service from the licensee, information about a consumer resulting from a transaction between a licensee and a consumer involving an insurance product or service, or information a licensee obtains about a consumer in connection with providing an insurance product or service to the consumer;

(23) "publicly available information" means information that a licensee has a reasonable basis to believe is lawfully made available to the general public from

(A) federal, state, or local government records, including information from government real estate and security interest filings;

(B) widely distributed media, including information from a telephone book, a television or radio program, or a newspaper that is available to the general public on an unrestricted basis or from a web site that is available to the general public regardless of whether a fee or password is required to access the web site; or

(C) disclosures to the general public that are required to be made by federal, state, or local law;

(24) "service provider" means a person that maintains, processes, or otherwise is allowed access to customer information due to the service the person furnishes directly to a licensee;

(25) "working day" means a calendar day other than Saturday, Sunday, an official federal holiday, or an official holiday in this state.

History: Eff. 1/1/2005, Register 172

Authority: AS 21.06.090

AS 21.36.162