What it is for
Covers third parties you injure or whose property you damage — the exposure that follows a business owner or a property lease into China.
What a sensible policy would cover
- ✓Third-party bodily injury liability
- ✓Third-party property damage
- ✓Legal defence costs
- ✓Cover that responds to a claim made in China, under Chinese law
How the structure comes in
Insurers sell the same category in several structural forms. The form matters more than the marketing name, because it decides how the claim is paid and what you have to do yourself.
Public liability
Third-party injury and property damage.
What decides eligibility
- Liability cover is written around the activity insured, so the business description, the premises and the turnover all drive the terms.
- Some policies are only issued to entities registered in mainland China.
What usually goes wrong
- Where social insurance already covers employees' work injuries, employer liability cover usually sits on top rather than instead.
Myths that cause claims to fail
Each category carries a few assumptions that only turn out to be wrong at claim time. Read the right-hand column before you sign.
| What people assume | What the contract actually says |
|---|---|
| My staff are covered by social insurance, so I do not need this. | Employer liability cover sits on top of, not instead of, social insurance work-injury cover. The two answer different parts of the same risk. |
| Any business can buy it. | Some policies are issued only to entities registered in mainland China. The terms follow the activity insured, the premises and the turnover. |
| It covers everything my business does. | Cover is written around the insured activity. Outside that defined scope, a claim may not respond. |