Records of the department; limits of confidentiality.

The information or records of individual persons, as defined in this section, obtained by the department as a result of a report, investigation, or verification required by the department shall be open to the public, except such information the disclosure of which would be likely to cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person providing such information and which is requested to be held confidential by the person providing such information. Such proprietary information is confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). Information reported by entities other than the department in documents or reports open to public inspection shall under no circumstances be classified as confidential by the department. Divulgence of proprietary information as is requested to be held confidential, except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction or except to an officer of the state entitled to receive the same in his or her official capacity, shall be a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in ss. 775.082 and 775.083. This section does not prohibit the publication or divulgence by other means of data so classified as to prevent identification of particular accounts or reports made to the department in compliance with s. 377.603 or to prohibit the disclosure of such information to properly qualified legislative committees. The department shall establish a system which permits reasonable access to information developed.