Product liability, needed or not? We work it out for you.
With some policies it is already included, with others it is not. We check it by chat, without you having to look anything up.
What does product liability insurance cover?
The damage a product causes someone else once it has left your business. Not the cost of the product itself, but what it does.
Think of:
- An appliance that short-circuits and starts a fire at a customer’s.
- A part that breaks and damages a machine.
- A food product that makes people ill.
- An installation that starts leaking after months.
What surprises most business owners: you do not have to have made the product yourself. Anyone who imports, distributes, sells or installs can be held jointly liable. The customer turns to whoever they had a contract with, and that is you. Whether you can recover anything from your supplier afterwards is a second argument, and it can take years.
Then there is the question that brings most people to this page: is this already in my public liability policy? With some policies it is, in whole or in part; with others it is not. It depends on your activity and on how your policy was drawn up at the time, and you only notice the difference when there is damage.
What we work out in that conversation
We ask the questions that determine how far your liability reaches: what you sell or supply, whether you produce yourself or resell, where you buy and who you supply.
Do you already have a policy? Send it along in the conversation. We will tell you whether product liability is already in it, for what amount and with which limits.
Because we are a broker and not an insurer, we have no policy of our own to sell. We compare what different insurers offer and explain where the differences lie. In product liability, those differences are mostly in how long you stay covered after delivery, whether recall costs come with it, and which countries fall within the cover.
Everything runs through chat and stays in the same conversation. If you widen your range, start exporting or something goes wrong, you pick up the thread where you left it.
How to start
You send a message through the chat on this page.
You answer a few targeted questions about your products. No long questionnaire.
You get a tailored proposal usually within two working days, explaining what is covered, up to what amount, and what is not in the policy.
If you agree, you confirm the proposal.
What a conversation with Ōmata looks like
You do not need to know which policy you are looking for, and there is no form to fill in.
Start your request
Viktor is online
You are talking to an AI assistant. You can ask for a human colleague to take over at any time.
- CustomerWe sell a lamp that we buy in China. A customer says it caused a fire.
- ŌmataReport it to your insurer today and pull the model from sale for now. Because you buy from outside the EU, you count as the producer here. Do you hold product liability cover?
- CustomerWe have public liability. Is that the same thing?
- ŌmataNot quite — this is a separate section and it is not always included. How many units of that model have you sold?
- CustomerAbout 600 units, over a year and a half.
- ŌmataNoted. I will pass this on to our expert as urgent. You will hear from us today.
Try it yourself
Who this is for
Anyone placing a product on the market. You do not have to make it: importing, modifying or selling under your own name is enough.
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Manufacturers and assemblers
Anyone who makes things or combines components into one whole that leaves the works.
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Importers
Anyone buying outside the EU and selling inside it. The most important group on this page, and the least aware.
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Webshops and retail
Especially those ordering straight from a foreign supplier rather than a European wholesaler.
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Software and connected products
A device with firmware, an app that drives a machine. The line between product and service is moving.
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Food, cosmetics and care products
Products that touch the body, where a single batch can mean a full recall.
Who this is not for
- Anyone delivering services only. Without a product on the market there is nothing to insure here. Your risk sits in professional indemnity.
- Anyone who installs without supplying. If you fit material the customer bought themselves, your risk sits in post-delivery liability and not here.
- Anyone reselling within the EU from a European supplier. The producer or EU importer stands first in line. Your own risk is smaller — but not zero, certainly not under your own brand.
- Anyone reselling second-hand without modification. Reselling used goods falls outside ordinary product liability, as long as you change nothing about them.
What product liability insurance covers
Product liability insurance usually covers the bodily injury and property damage your product causes third parties after delivery, plus defence costs. What it does not automatically cover is the product itself and the cost of recalling it; those two are why two proposals can sit far apart.
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Bodily injury Injury to whoever uses your product or is near it.
The heaviest part, and where the amounts rise fastest.
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Property damage What your product damages at the customer: a device that overheats, a component that stops a machine, a leak that attacks a floor.
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Consequential loss at the customer The lost production or business interruption flowing from a failing component.
Often a separate section with its own limit.
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Defence costs Lawyer, expert and court costs, including when it later turns out your product had nothing to do with the damage.
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Your suppliers’ products What you buy in and resell under your own name or brand.
You then stand at the front of the chain, with no production of your own.
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Design, manufacturing and instruction defects The three classic defects: the design was wrong, one batch went wrong, or the manual warned too little.
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Recall The cost of getting a batch back, usually a separate section that must be requested.
See the block below: this is where a gap most often sits.
What product liability insurance does not cover
Not covered are the product itself, a defect you already knew about, and the pure cost of repair or replacement. Fines and penalties stay with you, as does what you promised contractually beyond the law.
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The product itself The value of what you delivered is not damage to a third party but a warranty or trade issue.
Replacement and repair fall outside.
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A defect you already knew about If you knew a batch was faulty and shipped anyway, that falls outside the policy and possibly outside what is insurable.
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Recall without a separate section If the section is not expressly in the policy, recall costs are not covered — even though the damage is.
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Fines and penalties Administrative and criminal sanctions after a product incident stay personal.
The damage that follows may well be covered.
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Contractual guarantees beyond the law If you promise a result or a service life the law does not require of you, that slice of liability is yours.
Just ask
The importer trap
Anyone who buys outside the European Union and sells inside it is treated in the EU as the producer. Not as an intermediary, not as a trader: as the maker. That is the rule most webshops and importers do not know, and which only becomes clear at the moment there is damage.
Recall costs: often dearer than the damage itself
Product liability pays the loss of whoever was injured or lost property. It does not automatically pay what it costs to get the rest of the batch back — and that is usually the biggest bill.
Tracing customers, communicating, arranging transport, destroying or repairing, and halting sales in the meantime. In food, cosmetics or children’s goods that quickly exceeds the claim itself.
Where this policy stops and post-delivery liability begins
The two look alike and are often confused. The difference is what fails: in product liability it is a defect in the product, in post-delivery liability an error in the work you did around it — the assembly, the fitting, the installation.
A delivered boiler that explodes through a manufacturing defect is product liability. The same boiler leaking because your fitter did not tighten the coupling is post-delivery liability. Anyone who supplies and fits needs both; it is one of the few places where having one of the two is as dangerous as having neither.
The European rules are moving, including for software
The European rules on product liability have been revised. The most important change here: software and digital products come expressly within the scope, and the positions of importers, fulfilment service providers and online platforms are defined more sharply.
What that means for you in practice depends on how the transposition into Belgian law turns out and when it takes effect. That transposition is under way. If you sell a device with firmware, an app that drives something or a service that looks like a product, have it discussed at your next renewal rather than assuming the old policy covers it.
What determines the price
A figure without your details is a guess. What determines the premium, we can list.
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Type of product
Food, children’s goods and machines sit highest.
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Turnover
And how many units reach the market each year.
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Markets served
Selling into the United States weighs structurally heavier.
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Sum insured
Per claim and per insurance year combined.
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Recall
Whether the section is included, and with what limit.
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Claims history
Earlier complaints, recalls or notifications.
Frequently asked questions
I import from China. What does that mean for my liability?
Anyone buying outside the European Union and selling inside it is treated in the EU as the producer. The injured party comes after you, not the manufacturer, and you may then try to recover from a supplier outside the EU. Buy from a European wholesaler and they stand first in line.
Are recall costs covered?
Not automatically. The policy pays the loss of whoever was injured or lost property, but not by default the cost of getting the rest of the batch back. That is a separate section with its own limit, and it has to be requested expressly. Check it in your proposal: this is where policies differ most.
Does this also apply to software?
The European rules have been revised and bring software and digital products expressly within scope.* Exactly how that works out in Belgian law and from when depends on the transposition, which is under way. If you sell a device with firmware or an app that drives something, have it discussed at your next renewal.
What is the difference with post-delivery liability?
In product liability the product itself fails: a design, manufacturing or instruction defect. In post-delivery liability the work you did around it fails: the assembly, the fitting, the installation. Anyone who supplies and fits needs both.
I only resell. Am I liable?
Within the EU the producer or EU importer stands first in line, and your own risk is smaller. That changes as soon as you sell under your own brand or modify the product: you then count as the producer yourself. With direct import from outside the EU that is the case in any event.
How long do I stay liable for a product?
Product liability runs for years after the sale, and the periods are set in law. More important for your policy is which insurance responds when the complaint arrives: look at how your policy treats products delivered before its start date.
Who is behind Ōmata?
Ōmata Insurance is the AI-first studio of the Induver group and a sister company of Group Induver NV: two companies within the same group, not parent and subsidiary. Ōmata puts you in touch with Group Induver NV, an insurance broker holding FSMA number 016880; that is where the advice and the policy come about. The full identification is set out in the legal notices.
About Ōmata
Ōmata is the AI-first insurance studio of Group Induver. You tell us what you want to insure over chat; usually within two working days you receive a proposal, drawn up by an insurance broker at Group Induver NV, registered with the FSMA under number 016880.
Ready to start?
Send us a message and tell us briefly what you want to insure. You get an immediate reply and your proposal usually within two working days.
Notes on the asterisks on this page
- The new European directive and its transposition are given here without a directive number, date or deadline, since those can still shift.