In advance of its next meeting, the ICC Banking Commission has sent out to national committees and groups its set of 13 draft opinions which will be discussed in Paris on 17 Nov.

All but one (dealing with a URC522 collection matter) involve queries relating to UCP600 commercial LCs. These draft opinions address queries regarding: conflicting data on a certificate of origin; under-drawn LC; confirmation of a credit never requested by beneficiary; weight details in B/L copies in conflict with packing list; presented documents showing weight in excess of gross weight; shipment of partial units under a credit allowing partial shipments; clarification of signature of insurance document; signature and capacity of signing party on charter party B/L; abbreviation of applicant’s name in LC; payment terms shown on presented invoice; whether data in “Flight/Date” box of airway bill is shipment date; absence of a statement on B/L as to regular liner vessel.

With one exception, the ICC Technical Advisers concluded that the cited discrepancies challenged in these queries were not valid. If indicative of commercial LC practice at large, this supports the notion that too many claimed discrepancies are unfounded. This continuing trend does little to bolster confidence in the commercial credit as an efficient payment mechanism.

The queries were submitted by the national committees of: Australia; Czech Republic; Finland (2); Hong Kong (2); India; Italy; Netherlands; South Africa; and Sweden (3).