Ihr US-Kunde verlangt eine Cyber- und Berufshaftpflichtversicherung: Kann ein armenisches IT-Unternehmen diese Anforderungen erfüllen?

Yes, an Armenian IT company can usually meet a US customer’s insurance clause, which typically asks for USD 2 million to USD 5 million of cyber and tech E&O cover per claim, but the route is narrower than many founders expect. Under Armenia’s Law on Insurance and Insurance Activity, ordinary liability cover for a software business is placed through an Armenian-licensed broker with an insurer authorised in Armenia, and international insurance markets come in as reinsurers behind that policy. The clause itself decides how hard this is, so read it before you call a broker.

This page is for founders, CFOs and in-house counsel of Armenian software companies, and for foreign parents supervising an Armenian subsidiary. For general business cover in Armenia (property, health, employer liability) see our guide to choosing insurance coverage in Armenia.

What the insurance clause is actually asking for

Customer insurance schedules look alike, but each line carries a separate obligation. Published US examples from 2026 show the range:

• Microsoft’s US supplier agreement: cyber cover of USD 2 million per claim and professional (E&O) cover of USD 2 million per claim, a retroactive date no later than the start of the agreement or statement of work, and cover kept in force for 12 months after the work ends.
• Visa: combined tech E&O, privacy and cyber cover of USD 5 million each claim and in the aggregate, worldwide territory, a retroactive date no later than the start of services, a 2-year extended reporting period, and an insurer rated A VIII or better by A.M. Best (or otherwise acceptable to Visa).
• UC Health: professional liability of USD 2 million and cyber cover of up to USD 10 million depending on the data handled, claims-made cover maintained for 3 years after termination, and both certificates and endorsement pages.
• City of Pasadena: insurers authorised to do business in California with an A.M. Best rating of A:VII or better, and a 5-year extended reporting period on claims-made cover.

Each is one customer’s own terms. Armenian law imposes none of them, and your clause will differ. Check each of the following items against it.

Limits: per claim and aggregate

A per-claim limit caps what the insurer pays for one claim. An aggregate limit caps the total for the policy year. A customer asking for USD 5 million “each claim and in the aggregate” wants both numbers at USD 5 million. If your policy covers several customers, they share the aggregate, and a large claim from one customer reduces what is left for the others.

Claims-made trigger, retroactive date and tail

Tech E&O policies are almost always claims-made: they respond to claims made while the policy is in force, for work done after the retroactive date. That is why customers specify a retro date no later than the start of the work and require you to keep cover, or buy an extended reporting period, for 1 to 5 years after the contract ends. If you switch insurers, the new policy must keep your old retro date or the earlier work loses cover.

Gebiet und Gerichtsbarkeit

A US customer will expect the policy to respond to claims brought in the United States under US law. Policies written for a domestic market sometimes limit territory or jurisdiction to that country. “Worldwide” in the customer’s schedule means the policy wording must say so.

Exclusions, deductibles and insurer rating

Read the customer’s list of exclusions you may not have (contractual liability, war, infrastructure failure are common battlegrounds) and the maximum deductible or retention it will accept. Many US customers also require an insurer rating from A.M. Best or an insurer authorised in their state. An Armenian insurer may not hold such a rating, which is the point to raise first with a broker and, if needed, with the customer.

Certificates, endorsements and additional insured

A certificate of insurance (COI) is evidence of cover, not the cover itself; under the ACORD form’s own terms it cannot amend or extend the policy. That is why some customers also want the endorsement pages. “Additional insured” status mainly attaches to general liability and auto policies and is unusual on cyber or E&O cover. A waiver of subrogation has to be granted line by line, so check which policies it must appear on.

Can an Armenian company place this cover locally?

The Law on Insurance and Insurance Activity, supervised by the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), shapes the answer in three ways.

Foreign insurers selling directly into Armenia

A foreign insurer without an Armenian branch or subsidiary may offer insurance in Armenia only for a closed list of risks: marine transport, civil aviation, space launches and freight; international cargo; and reinsurance and retrocession. It must also be registered in a country that is party to the relevant WTO agreements. Professional liability for software services, cyber cover and general corporate liability are not on the list, and using an Armenian broker does not extend it.

What Armenian brokers can place

A broker acts for you, the policyholder, and must be a commercial legal entity licensed by the CBA; an individual cannot hold a brokerage licence. An insurance agent, by contrast, is registered with the CBA and acts for one or more insurers. The law defines intermediation broadly, covering advice, arranging the contract and helping with claims, so an adviser who calls the service “consulting” may still need a licence. Check any broker against the CBA’s published register before you engage it.

Armenian intermediaries may place insurance only with insurers authorised in Armenia, with an exception for reinsurance. A broker’s accreditation at Lloyd’s or another foreign market does not let it place your software liability policy directly with an unlicensed foreign insurer. What it can do is arrange an Armenian-issued policy that is reinsured abroad. Under the Civil Code your claim lies against the Armenian insurer named on the policy and the certificate, and the foreign reinsurer has no direct liability to you.

Was der Markt bietet

At least one CBA-licensed broker advertises specialist cyber placement for technology businesses and access to Lloyd’s, and Armenian insurers advertise general professional liability cover. We could not confirm that any Armenian insurer currently publishes a software-specific tech E&O wording, or that a US customer has accepted an Armenian-issued certificate for this cover. Treat local cover as available for enquiry, and ask for the wording before you commit to a customer deadline.

Buying abroad, or relying on a parent’s global policy

Armenian law does not settle whether an Armenian company may itself buy a policy from a foreign insurer that is not authorised in Armenia, whether the buyer then has any reporting duty to the CBA, or whether a foreign parent’s global programme can lawfully cover the Armenian subsidiary. These buyer-side questions need legal advice on your specific structure before you rely on them.

Is the cover compulsory?

Compulsory insurance in Armenia must be imposed by law, and motor third-party liability is the familiar example. We could not identify a generally applicable Armenian statutory requirement for ordinary software companies to buy cyber or technology E&O insurance; the Cybersecurity Law adopted in 2025 imposes security duties but no duty to insure was found in it. Sector rules, public tenders and your own contracts can still require cover.

Negotiating the liability cap and indemnities alongside the cover

Insurance and liability are negotiated in the same contract, and they should match. Visa’s terms, for example, state that the insurance requirement is separate from your contractual liability and indemnity, so buying USD 5 million of cover does not by itself cap what you owe at USD 5 million.

Caps under Armenian law

The Civil Code entitles the injured party to full compensation unless the law or the contract sets a lower amount, which gives a contractual cap a statutory foundation. An agreement made in advance to exclude or limit liability for an absichtlich breach is void. The Code says intentional only; we found no Armenian rule that voids a cap for gross negligence, and none that sets a general numeric ceiling on caps between businesses.

Armenian law compensates actual loss and lost profit. “Indirect” or “consequential” loss is not a defined category in the Civil Code, so an exclusion written in those words may not do what a US-drafted clause expects under Armenian law. Name the heads of loss you are excluding: lost revenue of the customer’s customers, data reconstruction costs, regulatory fines, and so on.

Penalties, service credits and termination charges

Where Armenian law governs, a contractual penalty (a fixed sum or an accruing daily rate) is subject to statutory ceilings: the aggregate penalty may not exceed the outstanding principal debt, and the annual rate may not exceed four times the CBA’s bank-interest calculation rate, which the CBA sets at 12%, giving 48% a year. A penalty agreement that breaches these ceilings is void, and a court may reduce a penalty at the debtor’s request in the circumstances the Code lists. How far the ceilings reach for penalties that secure non-monetary obligations, such as SLA failures, is unsettled; a Court of Cassation judgment of 19 May 2026 addresses the point and is under review. Whether a service credit counts as a penalty or as a price adjustment is also unsettled.

The Civil Code also lets a customer withdraw from a paid-services contract on paying the provider’s actually incurred expenses. Whether that rule overrides early-termination fees or “remaining subscription” charges in a software contract depends on how the contract is characterised and is not settled.

Entschädigungen

Armenian law recognises contractual obligations that the Civil Code does not name, which gives an express reimbursement undertaking a footing. It has not confirmed that a US-style “defend, indemnify and hold harmless” clause operates independently of breach or fault. Draft the indemnity precisely: what triggers it, which third-party claims it covers, whether defence costs are advanced, who controls counsel, who must consent to a settlement, and whether the indemnity sits inside or outside the cap. Then check that your policy responds to the same claims; an indemnity your insurer excludes is uninsured.

ausländisches anwendbares Recht

Most US customers choose New York, Delaware or California law. Armenian courts will not apply a foreign rule whose consequences manifestly contradict the foundations of Armenia’s legal order, but no authority we found decides whether the Civil Code rules on intentional breach, penalty ceilings and withdrawal from services override a foreign governing law for work performed in Armenia. Assume neither that the foreign law insulates your cap nor that Armenian rules automatically apply.

Praktische Checkliste vor der Unterschrift

1. Extract the insurance schedule into one table: each line of cover, per-claim and aggregate limits, territory, retro date, tail period, maximum deductible, insurer rating, and certificate or endorsement requirements.
2. Send the table, your revenue, headcount, customer list by country and a description of the data you handle to a CBA-licensed broker. Ask for a quotation together with the full policy wording.
3. Compare the wording with the schedule line by line, especially US territory and jurisdiction, the contractual liability exclusion and the claims-made terms.
4. Ask the broker who the reinsurer is and whether the customer’s rating requirement can be met; if it cannot, raise it with the customer before signing.
5. Align the liability cap, the excluded heads of loss and the indemnity with what the policy actually covers.
6. Confirm the policy covers work done by contractors as well as employees; see our Dienstleistungen zur Einhaltung der Arbeitsgesetze if your team mixes the two.
7. Agree who owns renewals and certificate requests, and how fast you must deliver a certificate after renewal.
8. If cover will not be bound by signing, agree in writing with procurement a date for the certificate.

Unsere IT company services cover customer contract review, and the IT company setup guide explains the corporate and tax side. If you have not yet set up the Armenian entity, start with Geschäftsanmeldung. Review the insurance schedule and the liability clauses together, because the customer will negotiate them as one.

Häufig gestellte Fragen

Letzte Aktualisierung: 13. Oktober 2026