Bolero, the SWIFT-backed electronic trade finance platform, says it has adopted the new eUCP rules designed by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) for the online presentation of letters of credit (L/Cs), effective as of midnight on 31 March 2002.

The eUCP rules supplement the UCP rules. The eUCP supplement provides rules for L/Cs presentations made in electronic or part-electronic form.

Ready to go

Bolero is ready to use the new rules says head of standards, Peter Guldentops. Its new messaging "will be eUCP compliant the minute the new supplement comes into force. As a result, it is now even easier for customers, in particular in the financial community, to move from paper to electronic ways of trading and to adopt Bolero," he says.

Over the past few months, a Bolero banking committee including representatives from BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Citibank and HSBC has worked on ensuring that Bolero's messaging conforms to the twelve articles contained within eUCP.

Central hub

According to BNP Paribas' Raanan Barzel, Bolero is well placed to provide a central role in the structures required to operationalise eUCP transactions. "The core requirement of eUCP for document authentication would require each trading party around the world to manage and access potentially all the world's certification authorities." This he says would be impractical. "The only way to proceed is via a trust broker's central hub. Bolero is a prime candidate for this function," he says.

Bolero has published an explanatory user-guide on the impact of eUCP on its standards at www.bolero.net/boleroxml/introduction/

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.