Nothing in this article shall serve to prevent the Attorney General from investigating and pursuing unfair and deceptive acts or practices committed under Part 2 of Article 15 of this chapter, the "Fair Business Practices Act of 1975." Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, or any other information which could reasonably serve to identify any person making a complaint about unfair or deceptive practices under Part 2 of Article 15 of this chapter, the "Fair Business Practices Act of 1975," shall be confidential. However, the complaining party may consent to public release of his or her identity by giving such consent expressly, affirmatively, and directly to the Attorney General. Nothing contained in this Code section shall be construed to prohibit any valid discovery under the relevant discovery rules, or to prohibit the lawful subpoena of such information.
(Code 1981, §10-1-856, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1092, § 2; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1088, § 10/SB 148.)
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted "Attorney General" for "administrator appointed under Code Section 10-1-395" in the first sentence, substituted "Attorney General" for "administrator or the administrator's employees" in the third sentence, and deleted "to prevent the subject of the complaint, or any other person to whom disclosure of the complainant's identity may aid in resolution of the complaint, from being informed of the identity of the complainant," following "shall be construed" in the last sentence.