COMPARE: ISO CGL AND PRODUCTS/COMPLETED OPERATIONS LIABILITY COVERAGE FORMS

(July 2024)

INTRODUCTION

Both versions of the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Products/Completed Operations (P/CO) Liability Coverage Forms are ISO Commercial General Liability (CGL) Coverage Form “cut-outs.” They have no additional coverages or exclusions. The differences between them are due to coverages that do not apply and are therefore "cut out" of the P/CO Coverage Forms.

SECTION I–COVERAGE

ISO CGL Coverage Forms provide three separate coverages:

· Coverage A–Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability

· Coverage B–Personal and Advertising Injury Liability

· Coverage C–Medical Payments

ISO P/CO Coverage Forms provide only Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability Coverage. As a result, they remove all references to these coverages by letter and eliminate all references to Personal and Advertising Injury Liability and Medical Payments coverages.

1. Insuring Agreement

The CGL Coverage Forms refer to the general obligation to pay damages. The P/CO Coverage Forms state that the obligation to pay damages is only when they arise from bodily injury or property damage considered part of the defined P/CO hazard.

2. Exclusions

The following exclusions in the ISO CGL Coverage Forms are not in the ISO P/CO Coverage Forms as they are inapplicable to the products completed operations hazard:

f. Pollution

g. Aircraft, Auto or Watercraft

h. Mobile Equipment

o. Personal and Advertising Injury

q. Recording and Distribution of Material or Information in Violation of Law

Damage to Property Exclusion

This exclusion functions similarly in the P/CO and CGL forms, with the following differences:

• Subpart (5) is not in the P/CO because it applies only to operations, not completed operations.
• Subpart (6) is not in the P/CO because it does not apply to any damage considered products-completed operations.
• The first exception paragraph is not in the P/CO because it applies to coverage for premises rented to the named insured, a protection that is not part of the P/CO Coverage Forms.
• Because five CGL exclusions are removed in the P/CO forms, the remaining exclusions are re-lettered.

SUPPLEMENTAL PAYMENTS

The supplemental payments sections have a single difference. Item b., which provides $250 bail bond coverage for traffic accidents, is not part of the P/CO.

SECTION II–WHO IS AN INSURED

This section has two changes:

• Volunteers are not considered insureds under the P/CO Coverage Forms.
• All references to Personal and Advertising Injury are removed.

SECTION III-LIMITS OF INSURANCE

The following differences exist compared to the CGL Coverage Forms:

• All references to General Aggregate, Personal and Advertising Injury, Medical Expense and Damage to Premises Rented to You are not in the P/CO.
• “Aggregate” is used rather than “products-completed operations aggregate” because only one aggregate applies under the P/CO.

SECTION IV–CONDITIONS

The changes in this section are minor.

• This section is referred to as Commercial General Liability Conditions in the CGL Coverage Forms. It is referred to as Products/Completed Operations Liability Conditions in the P/CO Coverage Forms.
• Condition 2. Duties is different. It is titled Duties In The Event Of Occurrence, Claim Or Suit. in the P/CO. “Offense” as a term is not part of the P/CO so it is not part of the title and it also does not appear through the condition because personal and advertising injury coverage is not provided.
• Condition 4. Other Insurance has no references to Coverages A, B, or to any excess provisions. The P/CO Coverage Forms respond on a primary basis even if the named insured is an additional insured under another coverage form or policy. The P/CO Claims Made Coverage Forms respond on an excess basis only if the other policy is an occurrence form that has overlapping coverage.

SECTION V–DEFINITIONS

The following definitions in the CGL Coverage Forms are not used in the P/CO Coverage Forms:

• Advertisement – Definition 1. in the CGL
• Hostile fire – Definition 7. in the CGL
• Personal and advertising injury – Definition 14. in the CGL
• Pollutants – Definition 15. in the CGL
• Volunteer worker – Definition 20. in the CGL

The following definitions are modified:

• Mobile equipment (Definition 12. in the CGL) is slightly modified by removing the word “any” in front of land vehicles in the last paragraph of the definition. Mobile equipment is definition 10 in the P/CO Coverage Forms.
• Products-completed operations hazard item b. (3) (Definition 16. in the CGL) is modified to not include any products or operations if the classification on the declarations includes products/completed operations. Products-completed operations hazard is definition 12. in the P/CO Coverage Forms.

Note: The same paragraph applies in the CGL Coverage Forms but refers back to the general aggregate. This could be very confusing if an insured that purchases coverage under one of the P/CO Coverage Forms has a classification on the declarations that includes products/completed operations and coverage is then excluded because of this definition.

• Suit (Definition 18. in the CGL) is modified by removing references to personal and advertising injury. This term is definition 14. in the P/CO Coverage forms.