Professional Indemnity Insurance (Responsabilité Civile Professionnelle)
This type of insurance is also know as Business liability insurance and public liability (l’assurance responsabilité civile professionnelle).
As a general rule professional indemnity insurance is not obligatory in France, this is not the case with certain activities, notably:
- Building trades;
- Estate Agents;
- Accountants, architects, solicitors and similar;
- Health professionals;
- Transporters;
- Travel agents;
- Automobile professionals
Since 2014 it has been obligatory for all businesses who are required to take out professional indemnity insurance to indicate on their invoices the name of the insurance and the activity covered, the geographic area covered by the policy, and the contact details of the insurer.
It covers you for acts that may cause damage to your customers, suppliers or third parties while working with or for you. The acts concerned are: professional misconduct, omissions or negligence, errors in your business advice and lack of technical assistance. This insurance is key to any business whether you are a translator (translation errors on medical terms for instance) or receiving customers in your workshop located in your home (to cover accidents).
The annual cost of taking out a this cover will depend on the nature of the activity, size of the business, and the scope of the policy, ranging from several hundred to several thousand euros a year.
