Newsletter
PRODUCT LIABILITY INSUR-ANCE FOR FOODSTUFF BUSI-NESSES
Pursuant to Article 21 of the Food Hygiene Control Act, on 2 May 2007 the Department of Health issued an announcement on the purchase of product liability insurance by foodstuff busi-nesses. The main content of the announcement is as follows:
．Any for-profit foodstuff enterprise, including foodstuff manufacturers, foodstuff importers, and suppliers of foodstuffs manufactured by others under contract, should before engaging in such business purchase product liability insurance for its products. It should maintain the insurance policy in force, and retain re-lated documents for inspection.
．A product liability insurance policy taken out by a foodstuff enterprise should include the following content:
1.Minimum insured amounts:
a.Physical injury, per person: NT$1 mil-lion.
b.Physical injury, per insured event: NT$4 million.
c.Damage to property, per insured event: NT$0.
d.Maximum cumulative payout during term of insurance: NT$10 million.
2.Scope of insurance: Physical injury, dis-ability, or death suffered by a third party as a result of failure of the insured products to meet reasonable safety expectations, due to defects such as unforeseeable hazard or toxicity.
3.If the insurance policy defines a deductible to be borne by the insured for each insured event, the amount of the deductible should be negotiated between the applicant and the insurer on a case-by-case basis.
4.Deductions from compensation payments: Insurance payments paid out by the insurer in accordance with these rules are deemed to be part of the compensation payable by the insured. The insured may deduct the amount of such payments from compensa-tion claims that it receives.
5.Insurance premiums are to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis according to the actual insurance product.
6.Coverage under the insurance may not ex-clude risks also covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.
7.When a claim is settled under the insurance, the amount payable to the injured party by the insurer does not include medical bene-fits paid by the NHI.
8.Any subrogated right of the NHI insurer to reclaim medical benefit payments against the insurance will not be affected by any settlement, abandonment, or other agree-ment made by an injured party.
．If a multinational foodstuff enterprise has taken out international insurance that complies with the DOH requirements, it need not take out further insurance in Taiwan.
．The product liability insurance requirements will take effect after the following periods from the date of the announcement:
1.Frozen cooked foodstuffs, dairy products and beverages: one year.
2.Packaged meal manufacturers, pasta manufacturers, tourist hotel restaurants, canned and bottled foodstuff manufacturers: one year and six months.
3.Caterers contracted to supply food and beverages to educational institutions, sup-pliers of packaged meals to educational institutions, restaurants supplying banquets under contract, caterers supplying meals from a central kitchen, contract institu-tional caterers, self-service restaurant op-erators, bakers, manufacturers of edible oils and fats: two years.
4.Other foodstuff enterprises: two years and six months.