Comments on eUCP Draft Version 0.8

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Scope of the Working Group Project
At its meeting on May 24, 2000 in Paris, the Task Force on the Future of the Commission on Banking Technique and Practice ("Banking Commission") set as one of the goals for the Banking Commission a greater focus on electronic trade. Further discussion identified a need to develop a bridge between the current UCP and the processing of the electronic equivalent of paper-based credits. With the current evolution from paper credits to electronics, it was determined that the market was looking to the ICC to provide guidance in this transition. The industry has also expressed the desire for more specific guidance and rules like the UCP for the electronic equivalents of paper credits. It was recommended that this concern might best be addressed by a "supplement" or "addendum" to the UCP that details how specific UCP issues are treated for electronic issuance and presentation. Therefore, it was recommended that the Banking Commission establish a working group consisting of experts on the UCP, electronic trade, legal aspects and related industries to prepare the appropriate rules as a "supplement" to the UCP. The Commission on Banking Technique and Practice approved this recommendation and established a Working Group.
General Comments
The Working Group has concluded that its task is to create a supplement to the UCP that will deal with the issues of electronic presentation. The official name for the work is "UCP Supplement for Electronic Presentation". It uses the acronym "eUCP". The eUCP provides definitions to allow current UCP terminology to accommodate the presentation of the equivalent of paper documents electronically and to provide necessary rules to allow the UCP and the eUCP to work together. The eUCP has been written to allow for presentation completely electronically or to allow for a mixture of paper documents and electronic records presentation. While practice in this area is evolving, the Working Group believes that providing exclusively for electronic presentation is not entirely realistic, nor will it promote the transition to total electronic presentation to develop.
The Working Group has not seen the need to address any issues relating to the issuance or advice of credits electronically, since current market practice and the UCP have long allowed for credits to be issued and advised electronically.
It is important for the reader of the eUCP to understand that many of the Articles of the UCP are not impacted by the presentation of the electronic equivalent of paper documents and do not require any changes to accommodate electronic presentation.
When read together, the UCP and the eUCP will provide the necessary rules to allow for electronic presentation and are broad enough to allow for developing practice in this area. Where specific words or phrases used in the UCP are defined in the eUCP, these definitions, unless otherwise stated, apply in presentation of electronic records or a mix of electronic records and paper documents, wherever the terms appear in the UCP. The Working Group, in drafting the eUCP has reviewed and considered definitions used in other ICC documents as well as rules and regulations promulgated by governmental and international bodies. These definitions have been used or partially used to the extent possible. Because the business is evolving, it is necessary in many cases to modify these definitions or to create new definitions specifically to address the unique requirements related to the presentation of the electronic equivalents of paper documents under the UCP.
The eUCP is specific to UCP 500 and if necessary may need to be revised as technologies develop, perhaps prior to the next revision of the UCP. For that purpose the eUCP is issued in version numbers that will allow for a revision and subsequent version if the need arises.
The eUCP has been specifically drafted to be independent of specific technologies and developing electronic commerce systems. That is, it does not address specific technologies or systems necessary to facilitate electronic presentation. These technologies are evolving and it is left to the specific parties to the credit to agree on the technology or systems to be used to provide for presentation of electronic records in compliance with the requirements of the eUCP.
The eUCP has been created to meet the demands of the market for the presentation of electronic documents. The market, as it is developing, has created a higher standard in anticipation of increased processing efficiencies when the electronic equivalents of paper documents are presented. In anticipation of this demand and to meet the market expectation, several changes to the standards established by the UCP have been deemed necessary when an entirely electronic presentation occurs. These changes are consistent with current practice and the expectations of the marketplace.
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 to address the unique issues related to presentation of the electronic equivalent of paper documents.
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.
Articles e1-e12: ...
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