Placement · use of freelancers · scheduling
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for an interpreting agency
An interpreting agency does not interpret itself. The risk lies in whom you send, whether that person is qualified for that assignment, and whether they are there on time.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een tolkbureau.
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.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- 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
An agency runs two kinds of risk at once. The first is the error in the interpreting itself, made by the interpreter you engaged. Towards your client you are liable for that as if you had made the error yourself. That follows from Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code on auxiliary persons engaged. The second is your own process: the wrong language or language variant scheduled, an interpreter without the required registration on an assignment where it is compulsory, or a double booking that means a hearing or a consultation cannot go ahead.
The insured loss is pure financial loss: the costs of a postponed hearing, an application that has to be made again, a treatment that is moved. So agree expressly whether the freelance interpreters you engage are named as co-insured on your policy. If you do not, you will pay the claim but have nothing to fall back on when you want to recover it from the interpreter, unless that person holds their own professional indemnity insurance for interpreters has.
Your own duty of care as an intermediary runs through Article 7:401 of the Dutch Civil Code. That includes checking registration and certificates of good conduct, recording confidentiality arrangements and keeping out interpreters with a personal connection to one of the parties. For the files, recordings and personal data that pass through your scheduling system, a cyber insurance belongs alongside it.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
What to look out for
Four points where placement work differs from interpreting itself.
The wrong interpreter on the wrong assignment
Language and language variant are not the same thing, and in sensitive settings there may also be a wish for an interpreter of a particular sex or without ties to the client's community. Record your matching criteria and the check on registration in the file. Without that record, an allegation of careless selection is hard to rebut.
Liable for whoever you send
Your client comes to you, not to the freelancer. If you arrange nothing, you carry someone else's mistake. Two routes work: naming the interpreters as co-insured on your policy, or requiring by contract a own professional indemnity insurance (BAV) with a minimum sum insured, checked annually.
No-shows, absence and scheduling
An interpreter who does not turn up costs your client half a day. That is often not an insured loss but a failure to perform carrying a contractual penalty. Liability arising solely from a penalty clause is excluded. Arrange back-up, notification periods and a maximum payment in your own terms.
What is excluded
Excluded are intent and wilful recklessness (Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code), fines and penalty payments, reductions and penalties under a public tender contract, repayment of your own placement fee and putting your own service right. Guarantees on response times or quality levels that go beyond the professional standard also remain for your own account.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the turnover placed is usually the basis
- Number of interpreters engaged: the size of your pool determines the spread
- Share of justice and healthcare work: assignments with serious consequences weigh more heavily
- Co-insurance of freelancers: including them raises the premium but closes a gap
- Public tender contracts: penalty and guarantee clauses are assessed separately
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and capped per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| An interpreter you engaged translates a deadline incorrectly and the case has to be heard again | No | Yes |
| An interpreter without the required registration is put on a criminal hearing and the interview is unusable | No | Yes |
| An interpreter turns out to be related to one of the parties and the judgment is challenged | No | Provided that |
| A client imposes a contractual penalty for an exceeded response time | No | No |
| Your scheduler damages a monitor at a client's premises | Yes | No |
| A freelancer demands payment after you cancelled an assignment | No | No |
Anything arising solely from a penalty or guarantee clause is not liability in law and therefore remains for your own account.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Are our freelance interpreters automatically co-insured?
No. As standard the policy covers the agency and its employees, not the self-employed people you engage. Some insurers include them as long as they work on your instructions and under your name. If you do not choose that route, require a policy of their own with a minimum sum insured and check the evidence annually. Otherwise the claim stays with you.
A hearing was postponed because our interpreter did not turn up. Is that covered?
Often not. If the claim rests solely on a penalty clause or on an agreed payment for a no-show, it falls outside the cover. If there is actual loss that the client could have recovered from you without that clause as well, cover comes into view. The distinction lies in the contractual basis, not in the size.
We tender for contracts with penalties on response times. What does that mean?
Contractual penalties and reductions are not insurable, not even where an interpreter's error is the cause. Insurers ask about clauses of this kind when you apply because they increase the exposure. Have tender documents assessed beforehand and allow for the uninsurable part in your pricing.
Do we also need public and employers' liability insurance (AVB)?
Yes, as soon as people attend a site or equipment is used. Damaged interpreting equipment, a booth that falls over or injury in a hall is property damage and injury, and that falls outside this cover. It belongs on a public and employers' liability insurance. The two policies divide the risk along the type of loss.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
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- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering it consultancy
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