ICC Digital Library Forum

DOCUMENTS STRICTLY COMPLYING WITH LC WERE SENT (AND RECEIVED) IN DUE TIME TO THE REQUESTED ADDRESS IN NY (NOT IN WORLD TRADE CENTER).AFTER MANY TRACERS,THE ISSUING BANK STATES THAT "AS A RESULT OF TERRORIST ATTACKS,DOCS ARE INACCESIBLE AT THIS TIME"AND REQUESTS THE SENDING OF DUPLICATE DOCUMENTS.THE SHIPPING CO.OMITS THE ON BOARD CLAUSE IN DUPLICATE B/L (THE GOODS IN THE MEANTIME ARE YET AT DESTINATION PORT)AND THE ISSUING BANK AND ITS CLIENT-PROFITING FROM THE CIRCUNSTANCES-REFUSE TO ACCEPT DOCS.AND PROPOSE A DISCOUNT OF 50 PCT.

Few points to clarify from the inquirer

1. What is meant by “ in due time”, does it mean that the L/C was still valid during the issuing bank receipt of the document?

2. Did the L/C expire after their receipt of documents during or after the 911 events?

3. What does the issuing bank mean by “DOCS ARE INACCESIBLE AT THIS TIME” I mean, is the documents lost and the issuing bank did not receive them at all, or the documents were buried under debris of demolished building as a result of 911? Although I suppose the second option.

I would assume that if documents are lost due to 911 attacks then Article 16 of the UCP 500 might offer you the protection of payment for this L/C provided that your bank is
1. A nominated bank in the credit, and that
2. The documents were dispatched to the issuing bank as per credit stipulations, by courier, by mail, etc.
If your bank did not fulfill the second option then you should bear the risk and not the beneficiary.

If the documents were received by the issuing bank but the bank could not access them for ultimate delivery to the applicant and therefore the applicant is refusing payment or trying to blackmail the nominated bank then that does not mean the issuing bank is let off the hook by virtue of article 16 the issuing bank should pay without delay

You need to be more precise in your query as article 17 may have some rule in your case.

If the documents were received by the issuing bank within the validity period of the credit and within the period stipulated in article 43a, why would an issuing bank refuse to pay / accept the documents? Since the issuing bank has received the documents, the force majeure article (17) may not apply.

Here I assume that the place of expiry of the credit is at the issuing bank's counter. If otherwise, the beneficiary may have even more protection. He would have performed by presenting documents at the counter of the nominated bank.