Product liability insurance for U.S. companies importing from China.

Why the U.S. importer is exposed

A claimant may pursue the domestic business that selected the product, placed it into U.S. commerce, supplied specifications, applied its brand or sold it to a retailer. Recovering from a Chinese manufacturer may be difficult, making the U.S. importer the accessible defendant with domestic assets and insurance.

Describe the Chinese supply chain

Identify the legal factory, trading company, sourcing agent and any subcontractors. Explain who owns the design and tooling, who chooses materials, how changes are approved, where inspections occur and whether production can move between factories. Underwriters need the real chain—not only the name on an invoice.

Contracts and practical recovery

Supplier indemnity is valuable, but consider governing law, venue, enforceability, financial strength and whether the manufacturer carries insurance that can respond to a U.S. suit. A certificate from overseas should not be treated as a substitute for the importer’s own U.S. product-liability policy.

Testing, inspection and compliance

Document applicable U.S. standards, laboratory qualifications, pre-production samples, factory audits, in-process inspection, final random inspection, labeling, warnings and shipment release. Testing must match the actual materials and production run; an old sample report may not reflect later substitutions.

Unauthorized product changes

Require written approval before changes in materials, components, formulas, tooling, factories or subcontractors. Preserve specifications, purchase orders, inspection reports and samples. Silent substitutions can turn a familiar product into a materially different risk.

Traceability and recall readiness

Use lot, batch or date codes that connect U.S. inventory to a production run and supplier. Maintain customer and distribution records, complaint escalation procedures and a written recall plan. Traceability can keep one suspected batch from becoming a recall of every unit sold.

Policy questions to examine

Review named insureds, covered products, classifications, territory, jurisdiction, vendor or additional insured requirements, defense costs, deductibles, products aggregates, impaired-property and recall exclusions, discontinued products and whether umbrella coverage follows the exposure.

Related coverage

Consider product recall for specified withdrawal and crisis costs, manufacturers E&O for certain financial-loss allegations, cargo and stock-throughput coverage, cyber protection for ecommerce data, commercial property, and umbrella or excess limits.