Glossary

General average losses are maritime partial losses sustained from voluntary sacrifice, such as jettisoning part of the cargo, to save the ship or crew, or from extraordinary expenses incurred by one of the parties for everyone's benefit, such as the cost to tow a disabled vessel.

General counsel is the highest-ranking lawyer within a corporation.

General damages represent a subjective monetary award that is designed to compensate an injured person for their pain and suffering.

General Data Protection Regulation pertains to data privacy that was passed by the European Union and that went into effect in May 2018. GDPR is aimed at improving security and enforcing notification requirements for all companies processing personal data for persons residing in the European Union, regardless of the company's location. GDPR states that businesses can be fined "up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 million (whichever is greater)" for the most serious violations. The GDPR makes notification of data breaches mandatory within 72 hours of a business becoming aware of the breach and when it is likely to result in a substantial risk to affected individuals. Any business operating in Europe or that has European users or customers—regardless of where the company itself is headquartered—must abide by GDPR. Since S&P's 500 US companies generate roughly one-seventh of their revenue in Europe, GDPR remains significant even in the United States.

The general duty clause is at section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970. In the absence of a health or safety standard, the general duty clause in section 5(a)(1) of OSHA delineates an employer's responsibilities.

A general employer is an employer involved in a borrowed servant arrangement who is the worker's original employer and responsible for loaning the worker to another employer.

In workers compensation insurance, general exclusions are operations (e.g., aircraft operations) that are specifically excluded from the basic classifications and are always separately classified unless specifically included in the basic classification wording.

In workers compensation insurance, general inclusions are operations (e.g., commissary or restaurant for insured employees) that are to be included in all the basic classifications, even though they may appear to be separate operations.

A general indemnity clause is a hold harmless agreement that refers exclusively to fault or negligence of the indemnitor, without explicitly mentioning how it will respond with respect to fault of the indemnitee.

General liability insurance protects commercial insureds from most liability exposures other than automobile and professional liability.