Rhode Island Data Disposal (R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-52-1, et seq.)

Rhode Island Data Disposal

R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-52-1, et seq.

 

Rhode Island General Laws

Title 6 - Commercial Law – General Regulatory Provisions

Chapter 52  Safe Destruction of Documents Containing Personal Information

§ 6-52-1.  Definitions.

§ 6-52-2.  Safe destruction of documents.

§ 6-52-3.  Violations.

§ 6-52-4.  Exemptions.

 

§ 6-52-1.  Definitions.

As used in this chapter:

(1) "Business" means a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, limited liability company, or other group, however organized and whether or not organized to operate at a profit, including a financial institution organized, chartered, or holding a license or authorization certificate under the laws of this state or any other state, or the parent, affiliate, or subsidiary of a financial institution. This term includes any entity that destroys records, including, but not limited to, the state, a state agency, or any political subdivision of the state.

(2) "Customer" means an individual who provides personal information to a business for the purpose of purchasing or leasing a product or obtaining a service from the business or whose personal information has been provided to another business from that business.

(3) "Personal information" means the following information that identifies, relates to, describes, or is capable of being associated with a particular individual: his or her signature; social security number; physical characteristics or description; passport number; driver's license or state identification card number; insurance policy number; bank account number; credit card number; debit card number; any other financial information or confidential health care information, including all information relating to a patient's health care history; diagnosis condition; treatment; or evaluation obtained from a health care provider who has treated the patient which explicitly or by implication identifies a particular patient.

(4) "Record" means any material, regardless of the physical form, on which personal information is recorded or preserved by any means, including written or spoken words, graphically depicted, printed, or electromagnetically transmitted. Record does not include publicly available directories containing information an individual has voluntarily consented to have publicly disseminated or listed, such as name, address, or telephone number.

History of Section.

P.L. 2009, ch. 247, § 1; P.L. 2009, ch. 285, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 528, § 39.

 

§ 6-52-2.  Safe destruction of documents.

A business shall take reasonable steps to destroy or arrange for the destruction of a customer's personal information within its custody and control that is no longer to be retained by the business by shredding, erasing, or otherwise destroying and/or modifying the personal information in those records to make it unreadable or indecipherable through any means for the purpose of:

(1) Ensuring the security and confidentiality of customer personal information;

(2) Protecting against any reasonably foreseeable threats or hazards to the security or integrity of customer personal information; and

(3) Protecting against unauthorized access to, or use of, customer personal information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to any customer.

History of Section.

P.L. 2009, ch. 247, § 1; P.L. 2009, ch. 285, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 528, § 39.

 

§ 6-52-3.  Violations.

A business that does not take the reasonable steps when disposing of a customer's personal information set out in § 6-52-2 is in violation of this chapter. For the purposes of this chapter, each record unreasonably disposed of constitutes an individual violation of this chapter.

 

(1) A customer who incurs actual damages due to a violation of this chapter may bring a civil action in superior court.

(2) Whenever the attorney general has reason to believe that a violation of this chapter has occurred and that proceedings would be in the public interest, the attorney general may bring an action in the name of the state against the business in violation. The business that violates this chapter may be liable in a suit by the attorney general for actual damages of the aggrieved customer and a civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500) for each violation, not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

History of Section.

P.L. 2009, ch. 247, § 1; P.L. 2009, ch. 285, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 528, § 39.

 

§ 6-52-4.  Exemptions.

This chapter does not apply to any of the following:

(1) Any bank, credit union, or financial institution as defined under the federal Gramm Leach Bliley Law that is subject to the regulation of the Office of the Comptroller of Currency; the Federal Reserve; the National Credit Union Administration; the Securities and Exchange Commission; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Federal Trade Commission; the Office of Thrift Supervision; and the U.S. Department of the Treasury or the Department of Business Regulation; and is subject to the privacy and security provisions of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6801 et seq;

(2) Any health insurer, non-profit hospital, or medical service corporation, as defined in chapters 19 and 20 of title 27, and any health care facility that is subject to 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 report agency that is subject to, and in compliance with, the Federal Credit Reporting Act. 15 U.S. C. § 1681 et seq., as amended; or

(4) Any business that enters into a contractual agreement with another business to complete the destruction of a customer's personal information and has physical evidence of that contractual agreement.

History of Section.

P.L. 2009, ch. 247, § 1; P.L. 2009, ch. 285, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 528, § 39.

 

Safe Destruction of Documents Containing Personal Information (Rhode Island General Laws, Title 6, Chapter 52, Sec. 6-52-1 through 6-52-4, added by Laws of 2009, Chapter 247, enacted November 10, 2009, effective January 1, 2010.)

 

For more information, see here:  http://webserver.rilegislature.gov//Statutes/TITLE6/6-52/INDEX.htm

 

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