Claims-made · retroactive date · duty to remediate
Environmental Protect through Chubb
Environmental policies rarely respond at the moment of the contamination. What matters are the retroactive date, the policy period and whether the contamination was already known.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Environmental Protect via Chubb.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
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- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Environmental Protect is a product name within Chubb's business range. What the policy actually covers is set out in the policy conditions and on the insurance card (verzekeringskaart); you receive those from us before you sign. Finass Advies acts as an independent broker and compares several insurers, so the question is not whether this product is good, but whether the conditions fit your sites, your activities and your history.
With environmental cover, almost everything turns on time. Contamination often arises years before anyone discovers it. Environmental policies are therefore usually written on a claims-made with a retroactive datebasis: what is covered are claims brought during the policy period, provided the cause lies after the retroactive date. If that date is missing or coincides with the start date, your entire history is uninsured. If you switch, the new policy must adopt the old date; otherwise a gap arises that can no longer be repaired.
Besides compensation to third parties, there is the public law duty to remediate. Title 17.2 of the Dutch Environmental Management Act requires anyone causing environmental damage to take preventive and remedial measures, even where no injured party comes forward. Those costs run alongside a civil claim under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Check that your policy covers both bases. Some conditions mention liability only. We set the choice between types of cover against a standard business environmental damage insurance.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare personal liability insurance (AVP).
What to look out for
Four provisions that determine whether an environmental policy actually pays out for a specific contamination.
Known circumstances are excluded
Everything already reported, measured or suspected when the policy was taken out falls outside the cover. A report in your own file recording an elevated reading is enough for a later claim to be refused. Disclose known situations expressly when you apply. That does not remove the exclusion, but it prevents argument about Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Transactions call for multi-year cover
If you buy or sell a site, liability for historic contamination often continues for years under the sale agreement. An annual policy does not cover that. For such situations there are multi-year contracts per site, with the term aligned to the indemnity period in the contract.
Maintenance is not damage
Replacing a leaking pipe, testing a tank, making a floor liquid-tight: those are maintenance and improvement costs and they are excluded. The policy pays for cleaning up what has escaped, not for repairing the installation that caused it. Deferred maintenance can also be an independent ground for exclusion.
Arrange run-off cover before you cancel
With a claims-made policy, cover ends with the policy period, including for contamination already present. If you cease trading, sell the business or switch insurer, arrange the run-off period before you terminate the old policy. Afterwards, run-off cover is almost never obtainable.
What does your premium depend on?
- Retroactive date: the further back, the higher the premium
- Contract term: an annual policy or a multi-year site contract
- Quality of the soil file: a recent survey makes acceptance easier
- History of use of the site: a former industrial use counts heavily
- Remediation costs included: public law measures alongside civil claims
- Excess per claim: usually substantial for environmental damage
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Third-party liability | Public-law duty to remediate |
|---|---|---|
| The neighbour demands remediation after contamination from your site reaches his plot | Yes | No |
| The environmental agency orders you to take preventive measures without anyone holding you liable | No | Provided that |
| A leak last year leads this year to a claim from a customer | Yes | Provided that |
| A water authority claims the costs of cleaning up polluted surface water | Yes | Yes |
| Soil contamination you find after buying the neighbouring business premises | Provided that | Provided that |
| A penalty payment because you let the remediation deadline pass | No | No |
A policy that names only the left-hand column leaves you on your own as soon as the authorities act before there is an injured party.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
What does a retroactive date mean?
That date determines how far back the cover reaches. If the cause of the contamination lies before it, there is no cover, even if the claim is brought during the policy period. When switching to another insurer, ask for the old retroactive date to be adopted. If that is not done, the period between the two policies falls outside all cover.
Does the policy also cover measures imposed by the competent authority?
That varies by wording. Title 17.2 of the Dutch Environmental Management Act may require you to take preventive and remedial measures without anyone holding you liable. Policies covering liability only do not pay those costs. So ask expressly whether public law remediation costs are included and whether a separate limit applies to them.
Is contamination I discover myself insured?
Only if the cause lies after the retroactive date and the situation was not yet known when the policy was taken out. Report the discovery to the insurer immediately; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires this. Do not start digging or removing material on your own initiative before the insurer and an expert have established the extent, because that destroys the evidence of cause and dating.
Are fines from the environmental agency insured?
No. Administrative fines, penalty payments and criminal sanctions are excluded under every environmental policy; they are a punishment and not compensation. The costs of legal assistance during enforcement proceedings may sometimes fall under legal expenses cover. Remediation costs you have to incur under an order subject to a penalty payment are assessed separately.