# las autoridades competentes



## willyd

hey,

La primera parte elaborara conjuntamente con la segunda parte de cara a agilizar la obtension de licencias necesarios de las autoridades competentes.

I was thinking it was the correct authorities but im not sure

Many thanx

Willyd


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## jacinta

¿Tiene ese sentido en español?  Competente a mí quiere decir "capaz".

No creo que sea correcto decir "correct authorities" y es un oxímoron decir competent authorities! (como si no fueran)  

¿Cuál es el contexto?


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## Alundra

jacinta said:
			
		

> ¿Tiene ese sentido en español? Competente a mí quiere decir "capaz".
> 
> No creo que sea correcto decir "correct authorities" y es un oxímoron decir competent authorities! (como si no fueran)
> 
> ¿Cuál es el contexto?


 
Hola Jacinta,

Para mí sí tendría sentido en esta frase. Las Autoridades competentes son aquellas que tienen competencia en determinados asuntos, o sea, que están capacitadas para determinados asuntos...

Según esta frase, es posible que las autoridades competentes sean las que emitan esas licencias, y por tanto es competencia suya...

No sé si me explico...

Alundra.


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## fenixpollo

_Appropriate_ would work here.  One "set phrase" in American English is the proper authorities.





			
				willyd said:
			
		

> La primera parte elaborara conjuntamente con la segunda parte de cara a agilizar la obtension de licencias necesarios de las autoridades competentes.


 _The first part will describe jointly with the second part with a view to facilitating the obtaining of the necessary licenses from the proper/appropriate authorities._

Not a very good translation, because it's too literal for my taste, but that's my go at it.

Saludos.


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## Mrs.Todaka

la traduccion es COMPETENT AUTHORITY.
es competente pòrque tiene competencias, no porque es capaz de hacer algo.La competencia referiada a ambito de actuacion es competence.
Espero que te ayude


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## cirrus

Sorry I beg to differ.  They may well have the competence but we don't use competent that way in English.  Proper authorities would be the word.  Possibly the word relevant might fit here too.


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## Mrs.Todaka

I UNDERSTAND.
but if you check , for example, http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l31055.htm they say:
*The cooperation partners*
Each Member State informs the other Member States and the Commission of the "competent authority" it has designated to apply this Regulation. They also designate a "central liaison office" with principal responsibility for contacts with other Member States in the field of administrative cooperation.

I think here competent authority means exactly what we are talking about.
what do you think?
anyway, i´m not english, but i read this term in many documents.


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## medio-payaso

Sorry Mrs Todaka.......

I'm with everybody else on this one......*Proper authorities *is the phrase needed.

If an authority is competent, in english that simply implies that they are capable of doing there job.  All authorities should be competent, or they should be fired, because an incompetent person doesn't accomplish anything. (Unfortunately in the US a LOT of our authorities are incompetent, but thats just my opinion)


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## Lucy 2

I agree with you, Mrs Todaka. I've always heard "competent authorities" in this context.
For "competent" my English dictionary says: suitable, fit, legally qualified, legitimate".
In the Yahoo search, there are 913,000 entries - all the ones I read were in this context.


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## AlfonsoHKG

willyd said:
			
		

> hey,
> 
> La primera parte elaborara conjuntamente con la segunda parte de cara a agilizar la obtension de licencias necesarios de las autoridades competentes.
> 
> I was thinking it was the correct authorities but im not sure
> 
> Many thanx
> 
> Willyd


 
Are you trying to translate into English?

Not sure, because your sentence in Spanish has many mistakes

About "autoridades competentes" in your Spanish sentence if I understand it well ... I would suggest you translate it using "Authorities in charge"

... as they are in charge for the "obtencion de licencias"


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## fenixpollo

_Authorities in charge_ definitely doesn't sound right to me.  _Competent authorities_ doesn't sound good because it suggests that all the other authorities are *in*competent.  It's not used in the U.S. very much. 

Maybe what we have here is a British/American difference in usage.


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## AlfonsoHKG

... corresponding authorities, haha


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## cirrus

The term competent authorities may well be used by the European Commission but they are famous for inventing a language all of their own and one which has only a passing resemblance to English even when the language is nominally English.  

I say this as someone who used to be indirectly employed by the EU and worked for years on regeneration schemes which were funded by the EU.  

If you google on this term, many of the sites that come up are in English as a second language.


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## davidl243

I would definitely favour "relevant authorities" since none of the other alternatives satisfy me - even "proper" sounds a little awkward, as if implying other authorities would be "improper". Relevant would be the word most likely to appear in an English equivalent of your sentence.


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## fenixpollo

davidl243 said:
			
		

> even "proper" sounds a little awkward, as if implying other authorities would be "improper".


   Funny, david!  But since we don't use "proper" in AE the same way you do in BE, it doesn't sound awkward.





			
				davidl243 said:
			
		

> _Relevant_ would be the word most likely to appear in an *English *equivalent of your sentence.


 I think you mean British English.

I agree with cirrus' conjecture that "competent authorities" probably does not come from a native speaker.


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## willyd

The term was from a cleaning contract and therefore in semi-legal language that can often sound forced or unusual- so competent authorities may not be a bad suggestion particularly as it has been used in a contractual context. Proper authorites is also good although it is to be translated into British english, so I imagine we may use a different term. My favourite is relevant authorites as this sounds familar to me. 

cheers for all your help


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## Cereth

Sé que es muy tarde pero si alguien algún dia necesita de la traducción de autoridades comptentes , creo que también puede referirse a las "autoridades correspondientes, involucradas, etc".
Mi apuesta es : "Involved authorities"
Consideren si les es útil


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## Peruvian lady

A estas alturas ya todos deben hacer confirmado que el término para autoridades competentes es "competent authorities" y la palabra competent en este caso no significa capacidad sino que tienen la autoridad y han sido designadas para realizar esa labor en esa área.


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## cirrus

Peruvian lady said:


> A estas alturas ya todos deben hacer confirmado que el término para autoridades competentes es "competent authorities" ...



Me pregunto si has leído el hilo.  Si miras a las intervenciones por parte de los nativos anglohablantes, se ve el contrario.


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## valdo

Que tal "from the respective authorities...."....?

saludos,


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## cirrus

That would certainly work and doesn't have any connotations about whether or not they are failing in their work - unlike competent.


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## Barri

hola, soy nuevo en ésto y voy a opinar sobre algo antiguo, pero buceando en el forum para encontrar la palabra más adecuada en inglés para Autoridades "Competentes", me pareció más adecuada "Relevant". Trabajo en una firma de ingeniería americana con compañeros ingleses y americanos, y, en general, todos coinciden en que la Autoridad que tiene competencia en algo encaja más con relevant, aunque pudieran existir otras opciones que, según el contexto y el origen/dialecto/acento del lector, suenen algo mejor.
Espero haber sido de ayuda
saludos


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## Gloria Guevara

Al ver los hilos, cabría la pregunta de: ¿A que público o lenguaje terminal va dirigida la traducción?, en mi caso yo me inclino por COMPETENT AUTHORITIES porque mi traducción va dirigida para ser leída enTaiwan, y creo que van a entenderme bien. Ninguna palabra del español que se traduzca al Inglés va a equivaler al 100% en su significado, todo dependerá del contexto y de quien lo vaya a leer, gracias a todos los que intervinieron porque nos enriquecen a todos tantos buenos comentarios.


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## pumpkin

If you are translating into English, please for Pete's sake do not use "competent authorities", it sounds so silly.


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## Heredianista

Re:


pumpkin said:


> If you are translating into English, please for Pete's sake do not use "competent authorities", it sounds so silly.


 Businessdictionary.com has an entry for the term "competent authority": http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/competent-authority.html 
  Note: I amended this reply after reading cirrus' comment (below).

Then, re: 


cirrus said:


> The net is very good at repeating rubbish. Competent authority still sounds awful to this native speakers ears and from the look of the responses from other native speakers who have posted on this thread, I am by no means alone on this one.


 As cirrus has so aptly observed, "The net is very good at repeating rubbish." And the world of business is particularly good at creating 'terms' that make my skin crawl (such as 'productize' and 'productization.') 

Thank you for the reality check, cirrus! 

As another native English speaker,  I agree that "competent authority" sounds peculiar. In fact, _it did not even *occur* to me, initially, to translate "la autoridad competente" as "the competent authority"_ (see below). 

Having said that, legal documents are full of terms that are legitimate and specific in meaning and yet sound peculiar to me. 

I am translating  _La Ley General de Educación de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos,_ in which the phrases "las autoridades educativas competentes," "las demás autoridades federales competentes," "las autoridades competentes" and "la autoridad competente" appear on nearly every page. Example: 

    "Las funciones de estos Consejos son:...
  c. Emitir opinión fundada respecto a planes y programas de estudio que proponga *la autoridad competente*..."

*I translated the passage above as follows:*
  "The functions of these Councils are:...
  c. To issue a well-founded opinion regarding study plans and programs proposed by *the appropriate authority*..."

I submitted this translation     to a senior colleague in our department for her review (before continuing with my translation). 

*She changed my translation to the following:*
  "The functions of these Councils are:...
  c. To issue a well-founded opinion regarding study plans and programs that *the competent authority* may propose..."

I imagine, therefore, that it is the policy of our legal translation office to translate autoridad competente as competent authority. However, I would like to verify the accuracy of this translation. 

Notes: 
~The three WR forum threads entitled "autoridad competente" suggest: "relevant authority" and "competent authority." These threads appear here: 1, 2 & 3.
~In other threads, suggestions on translating the word "competente" in _similar contexts _include: responsible, legitimate, relevant, appropriate, competent, governing, proper, corresponding and jurisdictional.

All of this is to say that the most accurate translation, in this case, _may_ be one that does sound awful (or silly) to native ears. 

I have posted a question regarding the proper translation of "autoridades competentes" in the category of legal translations, should anyone wish to pursue this thread of inquiry. 

Thank all of you, as always, for your time and contributions. 

Sincerely, 
Genève


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## cirrus

The net is very good at repeating rubbish. Competent authority still sounds awful to this native speakers ears and from the look of the responses from other native speakers who have posted on this thread, I am by no means alone on this one.


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## Heredianista

Addendum:

The word "competent" does appear to have _legal definitions_ that are outside of the scope of any definitions of "competent" that may be found in a standard dictionary, and the expression "competent authority" does appear to be a widely recognized and utilized legal term with precisely defined  meanings in legal and governmental contexts. 

Here is a legal document defining the term "competent authority" as "the official organisation empowered to execute various functions." 

This source states: "Competent authority could be any person or organization that  has the legally delegated or invested authority, capacity, or power to  perform a designated function... The term Appropriate Authority... has the same meaning.
Synonym: proper authorities."

Another glossary in a Manual on Effective Mutual Agreement Procedures states: "“Competent authority” is a term used in tax conventions to identify  the person who represents the State in the implementation of the treaty,  as defined under Article 3 of a tax treaty."

This legal text states: "the authorised representative shall inform the competent authority of the  Member State in which he has his registered place of business of the  details referred to in paragraph 1."

Competent Authority Agreements are discussed here, and examples of such agreements appear here and here.

Here is a dictionary of legal terms that refers to "competent authority."

This document states: "The government of each Member State is required to appoint a *Competent Authority*  responsible for medical devices. The Competent Authority (CA) is *a body  with authority* to act on behalf of the government of the Member State..."

Even a general dictionary definition of "competent" includes "having legal capacity" and "appropriate."

I hope that this is helpful.


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## cirrus

I think that source - namely EU documentation - proves the point. This is about an institution which talks about the acquis meaning the legal framework the EU demands new members sign up to when they join. To my mind it's not English, it's gibberish. It may well be used ad nauseum in Brussels documents but it's not English as it's used by native English speakers. One of the criticisms that was aimed at eurodicatom - the EU's multilingual bank of frequently used terms - see iate.europa.eu - is that is riddled with repeated bits of garbage with a weak peer review process. It'd be a pity if wordreference were to go to the same way   .


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## Blind Clam

I just wanted to confirm that *competent authorities* is standard EU terminology. No doubt about it. 
However, as others have pointed out, it may not work in other contexts.


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## Heredianista

Thank you, Blind Clam.


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## jeph1566

Proper authorities is commonly used in the American court system.  "Please alert the proper authorities." https://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=0KoEpiJpWN2azWwIpGHfFA&cp=9&gs_id=22y&xhr=t&q=alert+the+proper+authorities&pq=alert+proper+authorities&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&pbx=1&oq=alert+the+proper+authorities&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=e497b0ef37f63d8f&biw=800&bih=497

Think about it....  If you are assaulted by a person, would you alert Animal Control?  No.  They are not the proper authority.


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## Obberon

Certificación de la autoridad competente del Estado miembro ........

I'm putting "Certification from the relevant authority of the member State ........"
(British English)


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## FromPA

cirrus said:


> Sorry I beg to differ.  They may well have the competence but we don't use competent that way in English.  Proper authorities would be the word.  Possibly the word relevant might fit here too.



It actually is used that way in English.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competent_authority


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