Experts ponder e-supplement to documentary credit rules

Istanbul, 12 October 2000 - An electronic supplement to the ICC rules on documentary credits will be discussed by the ICC Banking Commission at its semi-annual meeting in Istanbul on 21-22 November 2000.

The eUCP, as it has been termed, would be attached to the ICC's universally recognized rules on letters of credit, UCP 500. "The market is looking to the ICC for guidance on how to deal with electronic documents," says Dan Taylor, Vice-President of the Banking Commission.

UCP 500, us ed by banks worldwide, deals essentially with paper documents. But new web sites are sprouting all the time, claiming to provide all the tools to complete trade transactions online. ICC believes that these developments will accelerate, and because they will, the Commission has decided that it is in the best interests of the parties to have a UCP flexible enough to handle them.

This amounts to nothing less than a revolution in trade finance.

Apart from the UCP, the Banking Commission has developed the Uniform Rules for Collections (URC 522), the Uniform Rules for Bank-to-Bank Reimbursements under Documentary Credits (URR 525) and the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (URDG 458). The Commission has been travelling at least once a year outside of its Paris headquarters to demonstrate how it does its job. Opening its meetings to observers has "allowed bankers and exporters to have a better understanding of how we reach our decisions", said one Commission source.

More than 75 persons from 27 countries have already registered for the meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Istanbul, and the Commission expects to draw more than 150 attendees, many of whom will be bankers from Middle Eastern countries. The meeting is open to all those who wish to attend.

Apart from the eUCP, the Commission will consider a project to develop an ICC brochure on "international standard banking practice", and a look at the special problems surrounding the use of documentary credits in the Middle East. Speakers at the meeting include the Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey, Gazi Er§el.

Persons interested in attending can receive forms and information from Audrey Di Russo at ICC headquarters: Telephone +33 1 49 53 28 05; fax +33 1 49 53 28 59; e-mail Click here to send a mail. There is no fee for ICC members and a nominal $100 fee for non-members.

Commission on Banking Technique and Practice