ICC PUBLISHES E-COMMERCE GUIDE ON DOCUMENTARY CREDIT

ICC PUBLISHES E-COMMERCE GUIDE ON DOCUMENTARY CREDIT    The International Chamber of Commerce has published a new guide to the “electronic supplement” to its rules on documentary credits.
   The guide explains how the electronic supplement, known as “eUCP,” should be used in day-to-day practice.
   The eUCP came into force on March 31, 2002. It was a response by the International Chamber of Commerce to the growing number of electronic documents being used in international trade.
   Written by two members of the task force that drafted the eUCP — Professor James E. Byrne and Dan Taylor — the guide deals with basic issues faced by users of electronic documents. For example, the guide addresses the following questions:
   * What constitutes “authentication” of an electronic presentation?
   * What are the elements of a “notice of completeness” that signals when the electronic presentation is complete?
   * And how do you decide whether an electronic record has been “corrupted” and is therefore unusable?
   “The product of more than two years of work, the eUCP is expected to revolutionize the way letters of credit are commonly used,” the Paris-based international organization said.