(a)        An environmental audit report or any part of an environmental audit report is privileged and, therefore, immune from discovery and is not admissible as evidence in civil or administrative proceedings, except as provided in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8-58.54 and N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8-58.56 Provided, however, all of the following documents are exempt from the privilege established by this Article:

(1)        Information obtained by observation of an enforcement agency.

(2)        Information obtained from a source independent of the environmental audit.

(3)        Documents, communication, data, reports, or other information required to be collected, maintained, otherwise made available, or reported to an enforcement agency or any other entity by environmental laws, permits, orders, consent agreements, or as otherwise provided by law.

(4)        Documents prepared either prior to the beginning of the environmental audit or subsequent to the completion date of the audit report and, in all cases, any documents prepared independent of the audit or audit report.

(5)        Documents prepared as a result of multiple or continuous self-auditing conducted in an effort to intentionally avoid liability for violations.

(6)        Information that is knowingly misrepresented or misstated or that is knowingly deleted or withheld from an environmental audit report, whether or not included in a subsequent environmental audit report.

(7)        Information in instances where the material shows evidence of noncompliance with environmental laws, permits, orders, consent agreements, and the owner or operator failed to either promptly take corrective action or eliminate any violation of law identified during the environmental audit within a reasonable period of time.

(b)        If an environmental audit report or any part of an environmental audit report is subject to the privilege provided for in subsection (a) of this section, no person who conducted or participated in the audit or who significantly reviewed the audit report may be compelled to testify regarding the audit report or a privileged part of the audit report except as provided for in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8-58.53(d), 8-58.54, or 8-58.56.

(c)        Nothing in this Article shall be construed to restrict a party in a proceeding before the Industrial Commission from obtaining or discovering any evidence necessary or appropriate for the proof of any issue pending in an action before the Commission, regardless of whether evidence is privileged pursuant to this Article. Further, nothing in this Article shall be construed to prevent the admissibility of evidence that is otherwise relevant and admissible in a proceeding before the Industrial Commission, regardless of whether the evidence is privileged pursuant to this Article. Provided, however, the Commission, upon motion made by a party to the proceeding, may issue appropriate protective orders preventing disclosure of information outside of the Commission’s proceeding.

(d)       Nothing in this Article shall be construed to circumvent the employee protection provisions provided by federal or State law.

(e)        The privilege created by this Article does not apply to criminal investigations or proceedings. Where an audit report is obtained, reviewed, or used in a criminal proceeding, the privilege created by this Article shall continue to apply and is not waived in civil and administrative proceedings and is not discoverable or admissible in civil or administrative proceedings even if disclosed during a criminal proceeding. ?(2015-286, s. 4.1(a).)