Travel Insurance

For non-fieldwork business travel, you will need to buy your own personal travel insurance to make sure you are covered while you are traveling.

IMPORTANT: As suspected, MANY travel insurance companies DO NOT cover business travel as a standard part of their personal travel insurance package. Business travel ('zakenreis' ) insurance must be purchased separately at a cost additional to the basic premium.

The MPI has a collective agreement with the insurance company Allianz Global Assistance and it will be possible to purchase this additional business travel insurance directly from MPI. For each business trip, you have the option to take the insurance from MPI, this should be stated on the business trip request form. If you decide to take the insurance, an insurance fee of €2,00 per day as of 01.01.2025 will then be deducted from your travel expenses reimbursement.

The MPI DOES NOT reimburse travel insurance costs. Under the German Public Service 'Bundesreisekostengesetz', which MPG must abide by, travel insurance is not currently recognised as an expense that can be reimbursed.Hoi angela,

If you combine a business trip with a private trip, the business travel insurance can also cover the private part, but only in the case when the number of business travel days is more than the number of private travel days. But if you already have your own personal travel insurance, you will only need MPI coverage for the business travel days. It is therefore important that you state the correct number of days you wish to take the MPI insurance!

Any medical costs that are made during the non-fieldwork business trip should always first be claimed with your own private health insurance. If they do not reimburse you for the costs, you should get a statement from them confirming this. Then you can give that statement and the original receipts to Operations and they will claim the costs from the MPI business travel insurance.

If you do not purchase additional personal travel insurance, certain things may be covered through either your Dutch health insurance and/or by standard MPG accident insurance, which applies to all staff while they are on a business trip. If you are thinking about relying on your personal health insurance, without getting additional coverage, make sure you know what countries it applies to, what costs are covered (please note that in many countries the fees for medical costs are much higher than in the Netherlands), and whether there are additional regulations concerning business as opposed to personal travel. The MPG accident insurance will NOT cover medical costs, except those that relate to an accident, and will not cover any additional travel problems such as lost luggage, delays, etc.

The MPI provides fieldwork business travel insurance through Allianz Global Assistance to staff and students who are conducting fieldwork, providing you state this on the business trip request form. No insurance fees will be deducted for fieldwork business travel.

The Max Planck Society has a policy of not insuring equipment. This means that MPI equipment will not be insured while you are at your fieldsite. Of course, you should take very good care of all equipment, but if something out of the ordinary should happen, you will NOT be personally liable for the cost of repairing or purchasing new equipment.

Please note that the insurance does not cover when the country involved is marked with a negative travel advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the start of the travel.

For EU citizens: when traveling outside the EU in an area where your country of nationality does not have consular representation, you are entitled to help during an emergency from any other EU Member State's embassy or consulate. For more information please click here.

Any medical costs that are made during the fieldwork business trip should always first be claimed with your own private health insurance. If they do not reimburse you for the costs, you should get a statement from them confirming this. Then you can give that statement and the original receipts to Operations and they will claim the costs from the MPI business travel insurance.

Please find here (in Dutch) a brief overview of what eventualities are covered under the Allianz Global Assistance business travel insurance.

The emergency number of Allianz Global Assistance is:

+31-(0)20-592 92 92 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week). 

Please use as reference number our policy number: 5229-MM110268281.