---
title: O.C.G.A. § 37-1-53. Classification of privileged materials.
collection: code
id: 37-1-53
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 37-1-53 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-1-53
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-1-53.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/37-1-53/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t37-t39-(v28)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6f93000f_0#page=16
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: MENTAL HEALTH / GOVERNING AND REGULATION OF MENTAL HEALTH / HEARINGS AND EVIDENCE
---

# O.C.G.A. § 37-1-53. Classification of privileged materials.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the department is authorized by regulation to classify as confidential and privileged documents, reports, and other information and data obtained by them from persons, firms, corporations, municipalities, counties, and other public authorities and political subdivisions where such matters relate to secret processes, formulas, and methods or where such matters were obtained or furnished on a confidential basis. All matters so classified shall not be subject to public inspection or discovery and shall not be subject to production or disclosure in any court of law or elsewhere until and unless the judge of the court of competent jurisdiction, after in camera inspection, determines that the public interest requires such production and disclosure or that such production and disclosure may be necessary in the interest of justice. This Code section shall not apply to clinical records maintained pursuant to Code Sections 37-3-166, 37-3-167, 37-4-125, 37-4-126, 37-7-166, and 37-7-167.

## History

Code 1933, § 88-306, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 12; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228; Ga. L. 2022, p. 352, § 37/HB 1428.

## Amendments

The 2022 amendment, effective May 2, 2022, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “This Code section” for “This subsection” at the beginning of the last sentence.