compétent - What is the English translation? English translators help English translators with the translation of compétent

Conges terminology question

166 months ago

Kate (a guest user) asked this question:

Language pair:	French > English
Subject:	Other
Level of diffculty:	Easy / medium
Word or term in question:	compétent
Context:	dès lors qu'il n'y a pas d'interruption entre deux garanties successives
Keywords:	et que la réclamation est adressée à l'assuré ou à son assureur avant l'expiration du délai subséquent de la garantie initiale, l'un des deux assureurs est nécessairement compétent et prend en charge la réclamation --- would you say "competent"? or..."liable", maybe? this is not in a legal context, we're talking about insurance here. thx

The answer of MACVieira was rated best

one of the two insurers will necessarily be contractually responsible and shall undertake the ...

My comment:

Competent is not, that's for sure.
I would add "contractually" to "responsible", because that is the meaning here.
When drafting contracts, especially in England, one would say that the insurer:
- "shall be responsible for" or "undertakes responsibility"
or
- shall be held liable.

Responsible is usually utilised when we are discussing the potential of being held liable under the conditions of a contract, whilst "liable" is mostly used within the context of the protected event/disaster having already taken place, more in line with legal consequence.
I know the difference is not all that clear unless you work with contractual law all the time, but this is the normal usage.
In the case of your paragraph, it seems to discuss the coexistence of two insurance policies during the discussed period and the responsibility of one of the insurers should an insured event take place. Under your paragraph, this consequence would be that one of the two insurers would have to honour the agreed coverage.