DCW is reporting from the ICC Banking Commission Technical Meeting in Rome on 7-9 November. The Draft ICC Opinions panel met yesterday (Wednesday, 9 November) and as usual produced spirited conversation amongst participants. Some noteworthy takeaways from the 14 discussed Draft Opinions include:

ICC Draft Opinion TA.842: "A copy of a document is something that represents an image of an original document." Therefore, "all documents" does not include copies. If you want them signed, then you must say so. A key part of analysis will be changed to something along the lines of "all documents, and also copies, are to be manually signed." 

ICC Draft Opinion TA.849: The Legal Committee consulted on this opinion that was held over from the ICC  Banking Commission Meeting in Johannesburg this past April. Discrepancy not valid. Also, this is not a sanctions clause, so no reference to sanctions regulations in Conclusion.

ICC Draft Opinion TA.853: During discussion, a commenter thought there is a past ICC Opinion that states "all documents includes drafts". The Technical Advisors stated that they will check for it. If found, it will be reflected in changes to this opinion.

ICC Draft Opinion TA.860: By far the most heavily discussed opinion of the day. Does "spare parts" constitute additional goods or not? Comments were mixed. ICC national committees from Belgium, Czech Republic, India, and Germany said spare parts are additional goods, whereas ICC USA and UK said no. The no's won out, largely because 80% of national committees stated in pre-Rome comments that spare parts are not additional goods. Technical Advisor said that "goods & spare parts are intrinsically linked." This does not create a conflict with the description of goods in the credit or on the invoice.

ICC Draft Opinion TA.861: Technical Advisors changed this Opinion radically. Pre-Rome comments from the national committees convinced them to do so. More to come on the changes soon.

For more live updates from the ICC Banking Commission Technical Meeting in Rome, visit the IIBLP page on Twitter.

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