Product liability · EU Directive 2024/2853 · returns
Liability insurance for webshops
As soon as an item from your warehouse causes damage to the buyer, the first question is not who made it but who placed it on the market in the European Union.
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In brief
Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code places liability for a defective product with the producer, regardless of fault. Article 6:187 DCC also treats as the producer anyone who sells the product under their own name or brand and anyone who imports it into the European Union. An online shop that imports itself or sells under a private label is therefore not a link in the chain but the liable party.
If you only resell and the producer is within the EU, you can refer the injured party to that producer. If you cannot say within a reasonable period who supplied you, liability comes back to you after all. Your purchase records and the conformity documentation you keep are therefore not a formality but your actual defence.
EU Directive 2024/2853 has to be implemented by 9 December 2026 at the latest. It brings software and digital components within the concept of a product and widens the group of liable parties. If you sell devices with firmware or connected products, have it checked before that date whether your policy is set up for it.
What does liability insurance for online shops cover?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The essentials
Damage to property and personal injury
Damage to other people's property and injury to other people.
Injury to third parties
Damage to other people's property
Also during visits to clients' sites
For staff
Employers' liability
Accidents at work and occupational illnesses.
Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code
Hired-in staff as well
Not in traffic
Optional
Extensions
What is excluded as standard.
Care, custody and control
Work after completion
Environmental damage
What is covered
Situation
AVB
Another policy
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
An accident at work involving an employee
Yes
No
Injury to staff in traffic
No
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
Sometimes
Pure financial loss caused by a professional error
No
Yes
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Importing makes you the producer
If you bring in container loads directly from a country outside the EU, you count within the Union as the producer of everything in them. The manufacturer in the country of origin is practically out of reach for a Dutch consumer. The claim stays with you. Ask for the CE documentation, the EU declaration of conformity and test reports for each item, and keep them for as long as the product can be in circulation.
A private label moves liability to you
If you put your own brand or logo on an item someone else produced, you are treated as the producer under Article 6:187 DCC. That also applies where you repack items in your own packaging. Record in the purchase agreement that the supplier indemnifies you, check whether that supplier is insured, and keep a record for each batch of who supplied it.
A recall costs more than the damage itself
If a consignment of items turns out to be unsafe, a recall follows: contacting customers, processing returns, destroying stock and informing the regulator. Those costs are not a third party's loss and fall outside the standard cover; there is separate recall coverfor that. Make sure you can trace for each item which customers received which batch, otherwise you have to write to your entire customer base.
What the policy does not pay out
The value of the defective product itself falls outside the cover. That is a matter of warranty and non-performance between you and the buyer. Pure financial loss caused by incorrect product information on your website is not property damage or injury and belongs with professional indemnity insurance. Returns that are damaged in your warehouse are in your care and fall under the care, custody and control exclusion.
Care, custody and control is excluded as standard
Damage to property that you have in your care: borrowed, hired, being worked on or held in safekeeping: is not covered by the standard cover. For professions where this is the core of the work, a separate care, custody and control module with its own limit is essential.
Your AVB excludes damage caused with or by motor vehicles. It is precisely there that the Hoge Raad (the Dutch Supreme Court) recognised a separate liability based on the duty to act as a good employer: an employer must arrange proper insurance for employees who take part in traffic for work. A WEGAS insurance policy fills that gap.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
That depends on what you can show. If you can identify the producer within the EU, the injured party can turn to that party. If you no longer know who you obtained the consignment from, or the manufacturer is outside the EU, you count as the producer yourself. Your purchase records decide the matter here, not your terms and conditions.
Are recall costs insured?
Not as standard. The basic cover pays for injury and property damage to third parties, not the cost of recalling and destroying your own stock, communicating with customers and replacing items. There is separate recall cover for that, with its own limit. Have it checked in advance whether that cover also applies where only a regulator forces a recall.
A customer says my product description was misleading. Is that covered?
Not on this policy, unless injury or property damage resulted from it. A financial disadvantage without anything being damaged or anyone injured is called pure financial loss and belongs with professional indemnity insurance. Incorrect instructions for use that do lead to a fire or injury, by contrast, fall squarely within product liability.
How long do I remain liable for what I have sold?
Longer than your warranty period. Product liability has its own lapse and limitation periods that are separate from what you agreed with the customer, and the defect may only come to light years after supply. If you stop a product group or close the online shop, have it assessed whether run-off cover is needed before the policy ends.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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