ICC Digital Library

International Standard Demand Guarantee Practice

Introduction


The International Standard Demand Guarantee Practice for URDG 758 (ISDGP) is a companion document to the ICC Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees 758 (URDG). It supplements the URDG by identifying and recording best practice in relation to the URDG rules and beyond.

While international standard practice in demand guarantees— which the ISDGP is intended to represent—is referred to in article 2 of the URDG in relation to the determination of a complying presentation, it may be used as a useful guide beyond the mere examination of documents, to cover all the stages in the lifecycle of a demand guarantee and counter-guarantee. Collected during over a decade of the application of the URDG in thousands of transactions identified by ICC members as international best practice in demand guarantees, but also from mishaps that led to costly court proceedings, the ISDGP offers an unparalleled insight into the correct application of the URDG in a practical context. Its authority stems primarily from the participative process of its drafting. Seventy-two sets of national comments received from 27 ICC national committees on five continents, and countless individual comments from practitioners across the world, have permitted a collaborative drafting of the ISDGP that is truly representative of international guarantee practice. The standards listed in this publication span all types of demand guarantees, domestic and international, in all the sectors of trade and industry.

The ISDGP is a statement of best practice when applying the URDG; it is not an amendment of the URDG, nor can it conflict with their rules. It offers guidance as to how rules and practices codified in the URDG are to be applied regardless of the applicable law, the mandatory rules of which will always prevail. Accordingly, the ISDGP must be read in conjunction with the URDG, not alone. Where examples are given in the ISDGP, these are solely for the purpose of illustration and are not exhaustive. The ISDGP may also be used as an aid for the interpretation of URDG 458 where the relevant rule in URDG 458 does not contradict the revision in URDG 758.

Over the past 30 years, courts and arbitral tribunals have been regularly referring to the URDG as a compendium of customs and usage in demand guarantees, even where the guarantee in dispute did not incorporate the URDG. In the same vein, it is expected that the ISDGP shall also offer guidance on best practice in demand guarantees even where the URDG are not specifically incorporated.

The listing of best demand guarantee practice in the ISDGP is not exhaustive, nor is it ever expected to become so. Other international standard demand guarantee practices under the URDG may be identified on a case-by-case basis. Those additional, uncodified practices may apply alongside or instead of the ISDGP where both their relevance to the case in hand and their international and widespread character are evidenced. Official Opinions of the ICC Banking Commission naturally add to and supplement the ISDGP even if those opinions are not listed in this publication or any addenda that may later be published. In contrast, local practice, however widespread in the relevant country, should not be held to amount to international standard demand guarantee practice under the URDG.

For the avoidance of repetitions, terms used in the ISDGP carry the meaning ascribed to them in the URDG. In particular, “guarantee” means a demand guarantee and includes a counterguarantee, and “guarantor” includes a counter-guarantor, unless otherwise stated in the relevant practice. Reference in the ISDGP to “article” followed by its number refers to the corresponding rule in the URDG unless otherwise indicated.

In this publication, the practices are classified in accordance with the successive steps of the lifecycle of a demand guarantee. An index at the end of the publication links each listed practice with the relevant articles of the URDG.

Acknowledgments

The co-chairs acknowledge the invaluable contribution to the ISDGP by all the members of the ICC Task Force on Guarantees led by Dr Andrea Hauptmann (Austria). The co-chairs express their immense gratitude to their colleague members of the ISDGP Working Group for their steadfast commitment to the drafting and discussion process throughout its duration. The members of the ISDGP working group are (in alphabetical order): Mazen Al-Ghanim (Bahrain), Laurence Bacon (Ireland), Sir Roy Goode (United Kingdom), Amr Kamal (Egypt), Elena Medvedeva (Russia), Caroline Paturle (France), Véronique Remilien (France), Rita Ricci (Canada), Christina Seierup (Denmark), Pradeep Taneja (India), Mireille Troosters (Belgium), Hou Yun (PRC) and Zhu Hongsheng (PRC). In addition, Glenn Ransier, Zhu Hongsheng and Amr Kamal drafted the concordance tables in pages 48 et seq.

Georges Affaki (France) and Glenn Ransier (USA) Co-Chairs of the ISDGP Working Group