The Insurance Services Office (ISO) Commercial General Liability (CGL) Coverage Forms are extremely broad. They insure the bodily injury liability, property damage, and personal and advertising injury liability exposures of a variety of commercial businesses, enterprises, and ventures.

The named insured’s basic exposures that CGL coverage forms insure are:

• Ownership, maintenance, or use of the premises
• Operations conducted or performed on or off the premises
• Certain written contracts and agreements
• Products manufactured, sold, or distributed
• Completed operations
• Personal injury
• Advertising injury
• Medical payments on the premises or at jobsites, without regard to fault

Each of these coverages is subject to certain definitions, exclusions, and limitations.

The eligibility criteria for either of the ISO CGL coverage forms is very broad and applies to all commercial exposures. Some limitations apply with respect to certain classes or exposures that are not eligible to be included in commercial package policies or for the package policy premium discount. However, there are no limitations on using the CGL coverage form itself. It is designed to respond to and meet the general liability coverage needs of virtually any commercial risk or class of business.

Section I–Coverages provides three distinct coverages:

• Coverage A–Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability
• Coverage B–Personal and Advertising Injury Liability
• Coverage C–Medical Payments

It describes each of these coverages with respect to the insuring agreement, exclusions, and supplementary payments that apply to them.

Section II–Who Is an Insured describes eligible parties that are considered insureds.

Section III–Limits of Insurance explains how each limit of insurance applies as well as how they work together and relate to one another.

Section IV–Commercial General Liability Conditions describes the specific conditions that apply to CGL coverage. Some of them involve the named insured's responsibilities after a loss. Coverage is voided if one or more of these conditions are violated.

Section V–Definitions describes certain words and phrases used with and related to the coverage provided. They are different than the ones found in the dictionary and are very important because coverage can be given or taken away through a definition.