ICC Meeting Announces & Reflects on Frustrating, Disappointing Results

At its third quarterly meeting of the year conducted virtually on 11 July 2023, the ICC Banking Commission reported on the fate of Draft Opinion TA927rev2, published and forthcoming Technical Advisory Briefings, updates to eRules and ISBP, and the future of ISBP.

ICC Draft Opinion TA927 dealing with a query involving “free of charge goods” and interpretation of ISBP745 Paragraph C12(b) had been discussed at the January 2023 ICC Meeting, re- drafted and taken up again at the April 2023 ICC Meeting, but could not be finalized (see Apr. 2023 DCW, p. 30). In advance of the July 2023 Meeting, ICC National Committees (NCs) were given three choices regarding ICC Draft Opinion TA927rev2 (further re-drafting was not an option) and asked to respond. The results: 9 NCs expressed approval of the existing wording; 2 NCs indicated approval with caveats; and 11 NCs favored inviting the initiator to withdraw submission of the query. It was then disclosed that ICC China confirmed with the query’s initiator their request to withdraw. Consequently, TA927rev2 will not become a formal ICC opinion. The issue will be set aside and considered for a future ISBP update.

Given that a majority viewpoint to approve the opinion was expressed during the April 2023 Meeting but did not convince dissenters, frustration was expressed that the Banking Commission could not move forward with an official opinion. One NC representative credited ICC China for securing withdrawal of the query, although noting that it is not a solution that can be applied on a regular basis. An ICC representative who had disagreed with the opinion was pleased it was not finalized, but would have preferred a further re-drafting. Another meeting attendee commented that withdraw is not a solution.

To date, the ICC Banking Commission has published seven Technical Advisory Briefings (TABs), the latest being TAB No. 7 “Title of Invoice” released on 7 July 2023 (see YYY). Future TABs in the pipeline include “Handling of Certificates under Documentary Credits Subject to the UCP 600” (to be released in 4Q23), “Presentation of Documents Direct to Issuing Bank”, and “Issuing Bank Charges”. Suggestions of topics to be considered for future Briefings may be sent to Tomasch.KUBIAK@iccwbo.org and davidmeynell@aol.com

The Banking Commission also informed of eUCP Version 2.1 and eURC Version 1.1, both published on 29 June 2023, and release of the new International Standard Banking Practice for the Examination of Documents under UCP 600 (ISBP 821), published on 3 July 2023. eUCP and eURC are available for free and ISBP 821 is available for purchase in eBook or Book format from ICC Publishing.

ISBP 821, which replaces ISBP 745 formulated ten years ago, ensures alignment of ISBP with ICC Official Opinions approved from October 2013 to January 2023. In this regard, nine ICC Opinions were identified as containing content appropriate for incorporation into the updated ISBP 821 (see Mar. 2023 DCW, p. 6).

From there, the Banking Commission announced voting results from ICC National Committees who had been asked to state their recommended course of action about the future of ISBP: 6 NCs favored “No further work” on ISBP; 6 NCs voted for a “Full review” of ISBP, retaining its scope as limited to “examination of documents”; 8 NCs expressed support for extending the scope of ISBP beyond “examination of documents”; and 2 NCs advocated for the “drafting of separate independent guidance publications covering issuance, advising, confirmation, amendment”.

Reflecting on the results, it was observed that the tallied votes do not provide a strong mandate to do anything. That is, could the Banking Commission justify undertaking a massive amount of work based on the stated preference of 8 or 6 NCs? Disappointment was expressed that just 22 NCs overall cast a vote on the future of ISBP. The voting results will be discussed with the Banking Commission’s Steering Committee and a decision will be announced at the ICC Banking Commission Technical Meeting in Paris on 24-25 October 2023. Conducted as a hybrid event, the meeting will be open to a limited number of in-person attendees and others via Zoom.