"tiene que estar/ser autorizada por..."

Question

"En la Unión Europea no está permitida la venta de productos provenientes de animales clonados o sus crías y en el Reino Unido, la leche y la carne de ganado clonado tiene que estar autorizada por las autoridades antes de ser vendida."

The above is an extract from BBC Mundo. I would have written "tiene que ser autorizada por..." because surely the construction is passive? Or are both acceptable?

Thanks in anticipation,

Andrew

Answer 1

tiene que ser autorizada por..

Both ways are correct. There is a slight difference in the timeline. If you use "ser", you are saying that it may have not been done yet, or has been recently authorized. Using "estar" somehow is implying that the authorization already exists but you are not sure about it.

Maybe these examples will clarify:

"La venta del medicamento ha sido autorizada ". This just has happened.

"La venta del medicamento está autorizada". I'm just telling you that the drug is authorized. No idea on when it was done.

í Wuah, Guillermo muchas gracias, he aprendido también una cosa nueva y útil hoy ¡ :) - FELIZ77, Aug 3, 2010

Thanks Guillermo! I would also say that your 1st example represents an action whereas the 2nd represents a state or condition. - silverlake, Aug 3, 2010

That's correct. - 00e657d4, Aug 4, 2010

Answer 2

I am with you on this. Ser is correct. Grammatical mistakes are common enough in all languages, even Spanish. Thanks for bringing this up!