ICC Digital Library Forum

Art. 16 - c) states the contents of the notice that a nominated bank must give to the presenter of documents. According to i), the notice must state "that the bank is refusing to honour or negotiate". I am interested in the forum's opinion as to how mandatory the use of the exact word "refuse" is, as it can have quite a harsh sounding when this is a notice to the client (e.g. beneficiary under export L/C). My understanding is that the notice must have that general meaning but not exactly use the word "refuse". I will appreciate your opinions and comments on the above.

Thanks,
Doriana Nedkova

Doriana,
If your advice of refusal is sent to l/c's bnf by mail,you may use either word "reject" or word "refuse".
when using SWIFT MT734 you don't need to use the a/m words because MT734's scope is to advice your refusal to the presenter.
regards,
bogdan

Given the possibility of falling foul of the 'preclusion rule' (16(f) in 600) if the UCP's provisions regarding refusal are not literally followed it would seem to me singularly ill advised not to do so out of concern for the possible sensibilities of beneficiaries.