reasonable time for sending advice of refusal (docs are sent

[NataliaFedorova]

We, as issuing bank, received from nominated Bank documents under Letter of Credit. Documents were sent to us by two mails. In first mail we found 2 of 3 originals of Bill of Lading enclosed among other originals of documents. Forwarding letter for documents had reference that third original of Bill of Lading was sent to us by second mail. Documents contained no discrepancies and were released by us to applicant.But when we received second mail we found there copy of Bill of Lading instead of it's original.We decided to send our advice of refusal to Nominated Bank but we received second mail after 7 banking days after date of receipt of first mail. In this connection please clarify us when "reasonable time" begins when documents are sent by two mails and first and second mail are received separately. Are we in position to send advice of refusal to Nominated Bank in this particular case?

[larryBacon]

If you receive only part of the presentation in the first posting, you are not in a position to say that documents are in order, because you do not have all of the documents called for in the L/C. If all of the documents received in the first post are in compliance with the L/C, you are not in a position to say that there are no discrepancies & consequently documents should not have been released to the applicant.

If you were acting as a negotiating bank and a beneficiary presented some, but not all originals of the documents required would you say that documents presented showed no discrepancies ? The answer is negative in both cases because the absence of a document whether original or copy is a discrepancy in itself.

If your L/C called for documents to be sent to you in two lots, the time allowed for checking documents by yourself only starts when you have received all documents, or you are advised that the remaining documents are & will remain absent.