Although desistimiento generically denotes “withdrawal” or “abandonment,” the appropriate translation of the term in legal contexts depends on the practice area in which it is used. In criminal law, in the context of defining “criminal attempt” (tentativa de delito), desistimiento de la tentativa refers to a criminal perpetrator’s voluntary abandonment of or withdrawal from a crime before it is consummated (desistimiento voluntario antes de consumar el delito). In English this is often formally called “renunciation of criminal purpose.”

In contract law desistimiento de contrato likewise denotes the voluntary, often unilateral withdrawal from a contract (desistimiento unilateral), and in English this may be expressed as a “unilateral cancellation (or) termination of contract.” Likewise, the right to withdraw from or to unilaterally terminate a contract and cancel a purchase (called derecho de desistimiento) is a feature of Spanish consumer protection legislation (Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de la Ley General para la defensa de los consumidores y usuarios).

In other contexts, desistimiento (del demandante) is likewise used in civil procedure to denote the plaintiff’s abandonment of a proceeding before a trial of the issues, which does not preclude future prosecution of the claim (declaración unilateral del actor por la que tiene por abandonado el proceso, sin que ello suponga renuncia a la acción). In many US jurisdictions this “abandonment of suit” is known as a “voluntary dismissal” of the action or claim.

For the difference between desistimiento and renuncia in civil proceedings see: https://rebeccajowers.com/2016/07/26/espanol-juridico-8/

undertaking; to undertake

In the language of contracts “undertaking” denotes a “promise” or “pledge,” and is most often expressed in Spanish as compromiso. In its verb form, “to undertake (to do something)” is comprometerse (a hacer algo). Thus, for example, in an employment contract there may be a “confidentiality undertaking” (compromiso [or] acuerdo de confidencialidad) in which “Employee undertakes not to disclose Employer’s confidential information” (el Empleado se compromete a no divulgar la información confidencial del Empleador).

But in the language of EU competition law “undertaking” has a very different meaning, being a generic term for “business entity” that encompasses all types of enterprises without reference to any specific corporate form. In this context “undertaking” refers to any entity engaged in economic activity that offers goods or services in a given market, regardless of its legal status. In Spanish this generic term “undertaking” is rendered simply as empresa. Thus the EU competition rules set forth in Article 101 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Tratado de Funcionamiento de la Unión Europea) prohibit activities in restraint of trade including “all agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices.” In the Spanish version of the Treaty this is expressed as todos los acuerdos entre empresas, las decisiones de asociaciones de empresas y las practicas concertadas.”

And, ¡ojo! Although in this context “undertaking” is empresa, in modern usage “undertaker” cannot be rendered as empresario, as the term has sometimes been mistranslated. Indeed, since the late 1600s (according to the Online Etymology Dictionary), the term “undertaker” denotes “a person whose profession is the preparation of the dead for burial or cremation and the management of funerals; funeral director” (Collins English Dictionary). Thus, “undertaker” may be more properly described as director de servicios funerarios (or with a similar expression) and is definitely not a generic term for empresario.

Competencia can’t always be translated as “competence”

There are several legal contexts in which competencia does not mean “competence.” In the context of constitutional law and with respect to the legal system in general, competencia often has the meaning of “power,” as in competencia tributaria (“taxing powers,”) competencia legislativa (“legislative powers,”) or “competencia ejecutiva” (“executive powers” or “powers of the executive”). In that regard, an expression such as ámbito de competencias (or ámbito competencial) de las Comunidades Autónimas en materia sanitaria denotes the “scope of the Autonomous Communities’ powers in the healthcare sector.” Likewise, atribuir competencias is to “grant powers, while transferencia (or) traspaso de competencias (ejecutivas o legislativas) is “transfer of (executive or legislative) powers.”

In the context of procedural law, competencia often denotes “jurisdiction,” i.e., the power of a court (or other adjudicating body) to rule on given case. This is the meaning in expressions such as competencia por razón de la materia (“subject-matter jurisdiction”); competencia por razón de la persona (“personal jurisdiction” or “in personam jurisdiction) and competencia por razón de la cuantía del litigio (“jurisdiction based on the amount in controversy (or) the jurisdictional amount”). Competencia territorial is “territorial jurisdiction,” referring to the “forum” or “venue,” i.e., the court in which a case is heard. And competencia funcional (although often translated narrowly as “appellate jurisdiction”) actually determines which court has jurisdiction over each stage in a given proceeding, including the hearing of interlocutory motions, appeals and enforcement proceedings (incidentes, recursos y ejecución de sentencias). In addition, in this sense expressions such as conflicto de competencias, cuestión de competencia (as well as conflicto de jurisdicción) may perhaps be described generically as “jurisdictional disputes.”

In this context the adjective competente means “having jurisdiction.” This is the meaning in expressions such as tribunal competente (“court of competent jurisdiction”), tribunal competente en primera instancia (“court of original jurisdiction”), tribunal competente en última instancia (“court of last resort”) or tribunal competente en primera y única instancia (“court of first and last resort”).

In other respects, the expressions incompetencia and falta de competencia denote “lack (or) want of jurisdiction:” se inadmitió el recurso por falta de competencia (“the appeal was deemed inadmissible for lack (or) want of jurisdiction”). And, when warranted, a judge may “decline jurisdiction,” which in Spanish is declararse incompetente. But, ¡ojo! in this context juez incompetente refers to a judge (or court) who lacks jurisdiction over a given matter and obviously cannot be rendered as “incompetent.” Indeed, suggesting that a judge is “incompetent” might warrant a citation for contempt of court (desacato al tribunal).

In the context of “competition law” (Derecho de la competencia) competencia is logically rendered as “competition” rather than “competence.” This is true in a number of standard expressions including falseamiento de la competencia (“distortion of competition”); política de competencia (“competition policy”); competencia destructiva (“cut-throat competition”); competencia excesiva (“excessive competition”); competencia perfecta (“perfect competition”) or competencia desleal (“unfair competition”). And an expression such as practicas restrictivas de la competencia may often be rendered as “practices in restraint of trade.”

And finally, in the context of employment contracts cláusula de no competencia refers to a “non-competition clause,” likewise known as a pacto de no competencia (“covenant not to compete”).