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UCP 500 + eUCP Comprehensive Book Version
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ICC Publication No.: ICC No. 500/2
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In Force as of April 1, 2002
A new Supplement to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits, UCP 500, entitled UCP Supplement for Electronic Presentation (eUCP) issued by the ICC, brings the documentary credit into the electronic age.
The 12 Articles of the eUCP Supplement work in conjunction with UCP 500. They cover a range of issues common to electronic documents including the relationship of eUCP to UCP, format, definitions, presentation, originals and copies, and examination of electronic records. In addition, they provide helpful definitions of terms that have different meanings in the electonic and paper worlds such as "appears on its face," "place for presentation," "document," or "sign."
This comprehensive publication incorporates the full texts of both UCP 500 and the eUCP Supplement. It also contains selected Opinions of the ICC Banking Commission and ICC Banking Commission Decisions and Policy Statements to enhance your understanding. Click on Table of Contents, above, to view complete outline.
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ICC Uniform Customs & Practice for Documentary Credits
Foreword
A. General Provisions and Definitions
B. Form and Notification of Credits
C. Liabilities and Responsibilities
D. Documents
E. Miscellaneous Provisions
F. Transferable Credit
G. Assignment of Proceeds
eUCP: Supplement to UCP 500 for Electronic Presentation
Preface
Introduction
| Scope of the eUCP
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e1
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| Relationship of the eUCP to the UCP
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e2
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| Definitions
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e3
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| Format
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e4
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| Presentation
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e5
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| Examination
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e6
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| Notice of Refusal
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e7
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| Original and Copies
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e8
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| Date of issuance
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e9
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| Transport
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e10
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| Corruption of an Electronic Record after Presenation
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e11
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| Additional Disclaimer of Liability for Presentation of Electronic Records under eUCP
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e12
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ICC Banking Commission Decisions & Policy Statements
The Determination of an "Original" Document in the
Context of UCP 500 sub-Article 20(b)
ICC Endorsement of the UNCITRAL Convention on
Independent Guarantees and Stand-by Letters of Credit
The Impact of the European Single Currency (euro) on Monetary
Obligations related to Transactions involving ICC Rules
Selected Opinions of the ICC Banking Commission
| Whether an issuing bank and/or advising bank can give a deadline for the notification of an amendment
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9(d)(iii)
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| Does accepting discrepant documents mean that a bank has to accept similar discrepancies on future drawings?
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14(d)
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| Whether the phrase "substitute vessel" constitures a "similar qualification" under sub-Article 23(a)(iii)
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23(a)(ii), 23(a)(v)
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| Where bill of lading and signatures thereon are produced by imaging technology and sent via the Internet, can they qualify as original documents under sub-Article 20(b)?
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20(b), 23, 26
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| Questions concerning whether insurance must be precisely 110% or whether it can be rounded up; if the credit is silent regarding the insurance coverage, must the insurance cover the entire voyage reflected in the transport document?
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34(f)(ii), 34(e), 35(b)
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| Introduction by Dan Taylor
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| As its meeting on 24 May 2000 in Paris, the Task Force on the Future of the Commission on Banking Technique and Practice ("Banking Commission") set as one of its goals a greater focus on electronic trade. Further discussion identified a need to develop a bridge between the current UCP 500 and the processing of the electronic equivalent of paper-based credits. While the UCP have been extremely successful over their 60-year history in providing self-regulation for the letter of credit industry, the need was apparent to update the rules to accomodate technological changes.
With the current evolution from paper to electronic credits, it was determined that the market was looking to the ICC to provide guidance in this transition. In response, the Banking Commission established a Working Group consisting of experts in the UCP, electronic trade, legal issues and related industries, such as transport, to prepare the appropriate rules as a "supplement" to the UCP. The Commission approved this recommendation, and the result of 18 months of intense effort by the Working Group is the new Supplement to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits for Electronic Presentation or "eUCP".
The eUCP is not a revision of the UCP. The UCP will continue to provide the industry with rules for paper letters of credit for many years. The eUCP is a supplement to the UCP that, when used in conjunction with the UCP, will provide the necessary rules for the presentation of the electronic equivalents of paper documents under letters of credit.
The eUCP provide definitions to allow current UCP terminology to accommodate electronic presentation and the necessary rules to allow the UCP and the eUCP to work together. The eUCP have been written to allow for presentation completely electonically or for a mixture of paper documents and eletronic presentation. Although the practice is evolving, providing exclusively for electronic presentation is not entirely realistic at this time, nor will it promote the transition to total electronic presentation.
The eUCP does not address any issues relating to the issuance or advice of credits electronically, since current market practice and the UCP have long allowed for this to be done. In this respect, it is important for users of the eUCP to understand that many Articles of the UCP are not impacted by the electronic presentation of the equivalent of paper documents and do not require any changes to accommodate it. When read together, the UCP and eUCP are broad enough to allow for developing practice in this field.
The eUCP is specific to UCP 500 and, if necessary, may have to be revised as technologies develop, perhaps prior to the next revision of the UCP. For that reason, the eUCP are issued in version numbers that will allow for a revision and subsequent version if the need arises. The current version is Version 1.0.
The eUCP have been drafted to be independent of specific technologies and developing electronic commerce systems; in other words, they do not address or define the specific technologies or sytems necessary to facilitate electronic presentation. These technologies are evolving and the eUCP leave the parties free ot agree on the technology or systems to be used. Nor do the eUCP specify the format - for example, e-mail or one of the various document processing progammes - to be used in the transmission of electronic messages. This too is for the parties to decide.
All of the Articles of the eUCP are consistent with the UCP except as they relate specifically to electronic presentations. Where necessary, changes have been made in the eUCP to address the differences between presentations in paper and electronic form.
In order to avoid confusion between the Articles of the UCP and the eUCP, the Articles of the eUCP are numbered with an "e" preceding each Article number.
For credits allowing for the presentation of electronic documents (or a mixture of paper and electronic), it will be necessary to specifically incorporate the eUCP if the parties wish them to apply. It is not necessary to incorporate both the UCP and eUCP, since the supplement incorporates the UCP in any credit subject to it.
I would like to thank my co-Chair of the eUCP Working Group, Rene Muller, for his invaluable assistance in this process. I would also like to thank all of the members of the Working Group for their belief in this project and their dedication to it. The Working Group also expresses its appreciation to all of the ICC national committees and individuals who provided comments during this process. Without their input, it would not have been possible to produce this supplement.
Dan Taylor, Co-Chair, eUCP Working Group
Vice Chair of the ICC Banking Commission and
President, International Financial Services Association
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The completion of the UCP Supplement for Electronic Presentation (eUCP) brings the documentary credit into the electronic age. It recognizes that while electronic documents are still relatively new, they represent the way of the future. And it positions the ICC - which has established rules on documentary credits for more than 60 years - to maintain its pre-eminent role in setting standards in the field.
A supplement to, and not a replacement of the UCP, the eUCP has been written to allow UCP 500 and eUCP to work together. The new supplement provides helpful definition of terms that have different meanings in the electronic and paper worlds. Terms such as "appears on its face", "place for presentation" and "sign" are redefined in the eUCP to take account of the electronic environment.
The eUCP also address other key issues of electronic presentation, among them.
- The format in which electronic records are to be presented;
- The consequences if a bank is open but its system is unable to receive an electronic record;
- How notice of refusal of an electronic record is to be handled;
- How original documents are to be defined in the electronic world; and
- What happens when an electronic record is corrupted by a virus or other defect.
The publication of the eUCP is a watershed event in the history of the documentary credit. Clearly, future UCP revisions will have to take into account the growing use of electronic documents and the trend towards electronic trade. This will mean that professionals working in the field will have to make adjustments and that rule makers will have to give them the legal framework within which they can do their jobs.
While the paper-based credit is likely to be with us for some time to come, no one working with documentary credits can afford to ignore the new realities of our age - internet sites that promise to handle a trade transaction from start to finish; imaging techniques that allow documents to be "signed" and transmitted directly to customers; and new software that simplifies the work of applicants, beneficiaries and document checkers alike.
But whether credits are paper-based or electronic, the new world of trade finance will still require a framework of rules that all the parties can have confidence in. ICC has provided that framework since the 1930s. The development of the eUCP guarantees that it will continue to do so in the years ahead.
I want to thank all members of the working group who made this text possible and to offer special thanks to Dan Taylor (U.S.) and Rene Muller (Switzerland) for the superb job they did in co-chairing this fine effort.
Dieter Kiefer, Chairman
ICC Banking Commission
December 2001
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