Business Design and Distribution Obligations
Business insurance updates
We’ve been busy making updates to our business liability insurance cover to help make things a little clearer for you.
See what's changed
This table is a guide and lists the main changes to the Business Liability Insurance Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). The information in the table does not replace or vary our PDS so please read the entire PDS for details of features and benefits and to ensure that this product is right for you.
| PDS section | Page # | Update type | Change in the PDS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole document | 1 - 31 | Clarification | Policy document now titled ‘Small Business Insurance Product Disclosure Statement and Policy Wording’. |
| 1 - 31 | Clarification | New sections format: General Information / Cover (Sections 1-5, plus Extensions) | |
| GENERAL INFORMATION | 3 - 18 | ||
| Introduction | 4 - 5 | ||
| About this Product Disclosure Statement | 4 | Clarification | Explanation of who retail customers are and when parts of the document form part of their PDS. |
| Your duty of disclosure / When answering our questions | 5 | Clarification | The Duty of Disclosure has been replaced with the duty of an insured “to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation when answering our questions”. |
| Important information | 4 - 9 | ||
| Cancelling your policy | 5 | Benefit | Cancellation fee reduced to $22, with clarity on when this will apply. |
| What if I have a complaint? | 6 | Clarification | Updated details regarding our complaints process. |
| Your responsibilities | 7 - 8 | Clarification | Improved transparency with expanded details on the requirement to maintain a valid email address. |
| 8 | Clarification | Additional 'Take reasonable precautions' requirement with an example to clarify the obligations. | |
| General claims conditions | 9 - 12 | ||
| Authorised persons on your claim | 9 | Clarification | Updated to describe (1) how to add an authorised person and (2) conflict of interest. |
| How we settle your claim | 11 | Clarification | Updated to provide clarity on how we settle claims. |
| Quality guarantee | 11 | Benefit | New part describing our quality guarantee on authorised works. |
| Excess | 12 | Clarification | What you need to provide for us to waive your excess. |
| Actions of others | 12 | Benefit | New part describing circumstances where cover may not be limited by the actions of other people. |
| General exclusions | 13 | ||
| Electronic data | 13 | Reduction | Added general exclusion for electronic data. |
| Definitions | 14 - 18 | ||
| Business | 14 | Benefit | Definition added and removal of $100,000 limit on businesses involved in the maintenance and/or repair of buildings. |
| Consequential loss | 15 | Clarification | New definition added. |
| Goods in care | 16 | Clarification | New definition added. |
| Insured person | 16 | Clarification | New definition added to clarify principals and other interested parties in Section 1. |
| Storm | 18 | Clarification | New definition added. |
| Third party | 18 | Clarification | New definition added. |
| Vehicle/s | 18 | Clarification | Updated definition to exclude the requirement for the trailer to be attached. |
| You / your / yours | 18 | Clarification | Removed reference to "employee/s and any persons acting for the policyholder or business". Updated to clarify principals and other interested parties in Section 1. |
| COVER | 19 - 31 | ||
| Section 1 – Public and Products Liability | 19 | Benefit | Added cover for Advertising Liability |
| 19 | Benefit | Update to ‘territorial limits’ extending liability cover for incidents occurring overseas (excluding North America). | |
| - | Benefit | Removed exclusion of ‘household member’. | |
| - | Clarification | Removed reference to ’joint insureds’. | |
| 20 | Benefit | Narrowed exclusion for the failure to insure business premises despite it being required by the lease agreement. | |
| 20 | Benefit | Narrowed exclusion for legal liability assumed under any contract or agreement. | |
| 20 | Clarification | Updated cover for legal liability claims brought by workers against the business. | |
| 22 | Benefit | Goods in Care cover now noted as an Extra Cover, and increased limit from $50,000 to $100,000. | |
| 22 | Clarification | Clarify how goods in care are treated under legal liability. Replaces reference to 'custody and control'. | |
| Section 2 – Business Items | 22 | Benefit | Expanded cover to include business items worldwide and removed the 45-day limit. |
| Section 2 – Business ItemsSection 2 – Business Items | 22 | Benefit | Increased the business item limit to $2,500. |
| 22 | Clarification | Clarifying that cover is for ‘portable’ business items. | |
| Section 3 – Business Property Damage | 23 - 24 | Benefit | New cover section, which includes cover for Stock in Trade, Business Contents and Flood. |
| 23 | Reduction | Added 72 hours cover exclusion for flood, storm or bushfire events. | |
| 23 | Reduction | Additional exclusions added to include pets or livestock, growing crops or pastures and mechanical, electrical or electronic (including computer software) breakdown or failure. | |
| Section 4 – Glass | 24 | Benefit | Removed exclusion under ‘What is not covered’ to glass that was cracked or imperfect prior to the loss or damage for which you are claiming. |
| 25 | Benefit | Costs now noted as an Extra Cover, and extended to include materials attached to the broken glass, such as burglar alarm tape/wiring or reflective/shatter proofing film and glass/plastic/Perspex in external signage. | |
| Section 5 – Money | 25 | Benefit | Added cover for ‘safe or strongroom’. |
| Extensions of Cover to Section 1 | 26 - 31 | ||
| Queensland Electrical Contractors Cover (Consumer Protection) | 26 - 28 | Clarification | Updated to reflect to current regulation. |
| 28 | Reduction | Notification period of cancellation by us reduced from 30 days to the standard 3 days. | |
| Victorian Plumbers Warranty Cover (Warranty) | 28 - 31 | Clarification | Updated to reflect to current regulation. |