Professional Indemnity Insurance – Can You Work Internationally?

It is becoming extremely popular nowadays for international business to be conducted on a day to day business as it is all part of our modern global economy. However, it is important to bear in mind that this can have an impact on your professional indemnity insurance – or, more specifically, your professional indemnity insurance can have an impact on how you conduct international business.

Do You Need International Professional Indemnity Insurance?

Most UK insurers’ PI policies cover working abroad, however, there are a few things that you may need to bear in mind. Your insurance is subject to two different types of limits – geography and jurisdiction:

  • Geographical limits – refer to where physically in the world that you can work.
  • Jurisdiction limits – refer to the country’s law your contracts must be subject to/written in. you might see jurisdiction referred to as ‘applicable courts’.

Your policy schedule will mention both geographical limits and jurisdiction. It is important to check this, as there are variations of these limits and your schedule might specify any of the UK, EU, worldwide excluding USA and Canada, and worldwide – in any combination.

if you work outside the EU, you need to make sure it’s specifically noted in your policy schedule. If it’s not, you’re not covered. Unless you have made it clear that you require international professional indemnity insurance with wider cover, it’s likely your PI will only cover you for working in the EU. This largely depends on what you do and who you’re insured with.

Working In The USA

The jurisdiction of many ‘worldwide’ policies exclude USA and Canada as standard. If you are working for an American or Canadian client, and the contract is written in their local law, you’ll need a PI policy to match.

Always Notify Your Insurer

Whether or not you think that your policy covers the area that you are working within, we strongly advise that you disclose to your insurer that you are carrying out work abroad. It is a material fact and all details should be notified to insurers when the policy is taken out and at renewal.

If you have any queries, please contact a member of the team who will be happy to help.