How do you buy the right public liability policy?
Find out the limit your free zone, landlord or client requires, then ask insurers for the policy wording as well as a price. You must answer the insurer's questions truthfully: the law lets an insurer end a policy for concealment in bad faith. Check the limit, sub-limits, excess and territory on the schedule.
What do you need to know before you buy?
The limit each party requires of you. Your free zone, landlord, permit office and clients may each set one; buy at least the highest. The published figures are on how much cover you need. United Fidelity asks you to give the limit you want for any one claim, any one event and any one period of insurance.1
Where can you buy it?
From an insurer directly, through its online quote form, or as part of a package. Tokio Marine takes quote requests on its public liability page.2 DMCC companies can buy or renew third-party liability insurance through the “Apply for Insurance” request on the member portal.3 GIG Gulf’s Business Secure is a package for a business type, with public liability as one section and others you can add.4
The insurers directory lists UAE companies that publish public liability products.
What must you tell the insurer?
Everything it asks to assess the risk. Under the Civil Transactions Law you must disclose, when you take out the policy, all information the insurer requests for that purpose, and tell it of anything during the policy that increases the risk.5 If you conceal something or give a wrong answer in bad faith, the insurer can ask to end the contract.5
GIG Gulf’s wording makes the truth of the answers on the proposal form a condition of the insurer paying a claim.4
What should you check on the schedule?
The limit and how it applies, the sub-limits, the excess, the territory, and the extensions you asked for.
| Term | Example from a published wording |
|---|---|
| Limit of indemnity | The amount on your schedule |
| Damage to your landlord’s premises | Up to 5% of the limit of indemnity |
| Employees’ and visitors’ belongings | Up to AED 25,000 each claim |
| Excess | First AED 2,500 of each property damage claim |
| Territory and jurisdiction | Judgments from a court in a GCC country only |
GIG Gulf also sells comprehensive general liability with optional covers such as product, pollution and advertising liability.6 Before you pay, check the insurer’s name on the Central Bank of the UAE register.7
Ask two or more insurers for the full policy wording and schedule, and compare the terms in the table line by line before you choose.
The small print
- Law. Articles 961 and 962 of the Civil Transactions Law issued by Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025. Without fraud or bad faith, an insurer that ends the contract must return the premium for the period it no longer covers.5
Sources
7
1United Fidelity Insurance Company, Liability Insurance. Last checked 12 Nov 2026. Source document: Liability Insurance
2Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance, UAE, Public Liability Insurance. Last checked 12 Nov 2026. Source document: Public Liability Insurance
3DMCC, Application guideline, Apply for Insurance. Last checked 12 Nov 2026. Source document: Application guideline, Apply for Insurance
4GIG Gulf, Business Secure, Beauty and Personal Care policy handbook. Last checked 12 Nov 2026. Source document: Business Secure, Beauty and Personal Care policy handbook
5UAE Legislation, Federal Decree by Law No. (25) of 2025 Promulgating the Civil Transactions Law. Effective 1 Jun 2026. Last checked 12 Nov 2026. Source document: Federal Decree by Law No. (25) of 2025 Promulgating the Civil Transactions Law
6GIG Gulf, Business Liability Insurance in UAE. Last checked 12 Nov 2026. Source document: Business Liability Insurance in UAE
7Central Bank of the UAE, CB Register September of 2026. Last checked 12 Nov 2026. Source document: CB Register September of 2026
- Owner
- Publicliabilityinsurance.ae research team
- Last review
- Next review due
- 11 May 2027
- Status
- Published