Confidential Records

Confidential records are public records that are exempt from public inspection according to the provisions of state and/or federal statutes and/or regulations.

Examples of state statutes are:

G.S. § 126-22, which covers state employees' personnel records
G.S. § 132-1.7, which states that detailed drawings or plans of public buildings and infrastructure--blueprints for example--are not public records and not available for public viewing

Examples of federal statutes are:

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which covers health care, medical records, treatments, and billing information.
FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), which covers student educational records.

When we write schedules, based on your input, we try in every relevant case to supply the citation to a statute if you tell us that records are not open to public inspection. If a record is not covered by such a statute, then remember that the public may see and inspect the record.

Examples of Confidential Records
Records covered by attorney/client privilege (i.e. advice to legal counsel to local boards or agencies)	Sensitive public security information
Tax information	Trade secrets
Public billing information	Autopsy photos

Remember that when confidential records are destroyed, the method of destruction, whether for paper or electronic records, should not expose confidential records to unauthorized persons.

For further information, click the link in the Learn More sidebar on the left of this page to read Laws Relating to Confidential Records Held by North Carolina Government.

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Managing Public Records

for Local Government Agencies