Electronic documents and letters of credit - the way of the future

One day it will all be electronic

Paris, 3 December 2003 - Our Book of the Month for December offers authoritative guidance on how to use the electronic supplement to ICC's universally applied rules on documentary credits, UCP 500.

Launched in April 2002, the eUCP raises numerous questions for documentary credit practitioners as its popularity grows.

The ICC Guide to the eUCP explains the supplement's principles for dealing with the growing number of electronic documents - shipping records, customs clearance and banking documents - that are now being presented in letter of credit transactions.

The book discusses key issues, such as the eUCP and local law; the way applicants, banks and beneficiaries can prepare to use the supplement; and how readers should approach the Guide itself.

Cross-references provide specific links to other provisions within the eUCP, as well as information on the relationship of eUCP to relevant rules and legal statutes.

Appendices provide excerpted texts, such as the UN Model Law on Electronic Commerce and the UN Convention on Independent Guarantees and Standby Letters of Credit.

The authors are DanTaylor, who co-chaired the working group that developed the eUCP, and Professor James E. Byrne, Director of the Institute of International Banking Law and Practice.

The ICC Guide to the eUCP 2003 may be ordered from ICC Publishing, in Paris, online from the ICC Business Bookstore, or from ICC national committees around the world.