Liability insurance for a graphic design agency
At a design agency the expensive loss rarely arises in the office. It arises at the printers, and that is exactly the type of loss that business liability insurance does not cover.
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In brief
A graphic design agency rarely startles anyone with a falling object. The real risk is an error in the file: a wrong colour profile, a missing bleed, a typing error in a run of tens of thousands, a logo that sits too close to an existing trade mark. The client then claims the cost of a reprint or of a new campaign. That is pure financial loss: nothing is damaged and no one is injured, only money is gone.
Pure financial loss is excluded on almost every AVB. Those claims belong on professional indemnity insurance, where cover turns on the professional error. The AVB remains necessary alongside it for the physical side of the agency: a visitor falling over a cable that has been unrolled, coffee over a client's laptop, fire or water damage in the rented office and injury to staff under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Two covers sit directly alongside. If you work with client files, email address lists and a CMS, look at cyber insurance. For disputes with a client about an unpaid invoice or a copyright issue, business legal expenses insurance is often more useful than any liability policy. The basic structure of the AVB is set out on the hub page.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
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Business liability insurance (AVB)
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What to look out for
Four points on which design agencies come unstuck in practice.
Reprint costs are not property damage
A print run that goes into the shredder because of your prepress error produces a bill from the printer or the client. Insurers classify that as financial loss and not as damage to your own property. Without professional indemnity cover you pay yourself. Work with a written approval of the proof as well: that shifts the burden of proof considerably.
Images, fonts and trade mark infringement
A stock photo with the wrong licence, a font whose web embedding was not purchased or a corporate identity that sits too close to an existing trade mark leads to a demand from a rights holder. The AVB has no cover for this. Consider whether your professional indemnity policy has a section for intellectual property and what it excludes.
Clients' equipment and leased equipment
Laptops, colour-calibrated monitors or test equipment you hold on behalf of a client fall under the care, custody and control exclusion. The same applies to leased hardware you do not own. Ask for a care, custody and control clause or deal with it through the lease terms, and record when equipment arrives with you and leaves again.
Promising more by contract than the law requires
Large clients impose purchasing conditions under which you are liable without limit for consequential loss or give an indemnity. The AVB covers only liability you carry in law; additional liability accepted is excluded. Have provisions of this kind assessed before you sign, and hold on to a limitation of liability in your own terms.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual yardstick in services
- Payroll and number of employees: decisive for employers' liability
- Type of clients: government bodies and listed companies apply stricter conditions
- Size of print runs: large runs increase the consequences of an error
- Office arrangements: rent, floor area and the presence of visitors
- Area of cover: work for clients abroad calls for confirmation
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A visitor trips over a cable unrolled in your studio and breaks a wrist | Yes | No |
| An employee knocks coffee over a client's laptop during a presentation at your office | Yes | No |
| A tap is left running on your floor and the rented building suffers water damage | Yes | No |
| A website you delivered turns out to be unusable and has to be rebuilt by another agency | No | Yes |
| You deliver a campaign late and the client loses his reserved advertising slot | No | Provided that |
| Your client database leaks after a phishing email reaches one of your designers | No | No |
For leaked data and systems held to ransom, cyber insurance is the policy that pays.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Our error cost the client a complete reprint. Is that covered?
Not under public and employers' liability insurance. The cost of a reprint is pure financial loss: there is no injury and no damage to a third party's property. Professional indemnity insurance is needed for this. That too has an excess and a requirement that the error was made and reported within the period of insurance.
Why have an AVB at all for an office-based agency?
Because the physical side remains. Visitors and couriers come by, staff move equipment and you rent premises in which fire or water damage can occur. Employers' liability for screen work and commuting counts as well. Many clients also require a valid AVB before they sign a framework agreement.
We hire freelancers. Are they covered?
That depends on the circle of insured persons on your policy. For damage caused by a third party you engage, Article 6:171 of the Dutch Civil Code can make you liable towards the client. Have it established whether freelancers count as insured persons and also require them to show their own liability insurance. Include that in your purchasing arrangements.
Are fines or penalty payments after a copyright demand insured?
No. Fines, penalty payments and fixed contractual penalty clauses are excluded on liability policies, because they are not compensation for loss but a punishment or an agreed sanction. Intentional conduct falls outside cover as well; Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes damage caused by the insured's intent or wilful recklessness.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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