21. Are banks prepared to handle electronic presentations? How will this system work?It doubtful to say that banks are prepared. Very few Identrus cards have been issued at this point. There is no expectation that banks will actually start receiving electronic documents on April 1st; the purpose of the eUCP is to provide a framework for banks to develop a system for their customers.
However we can predict that some Applicants may "jump the gun" by waiving the authentication requirements and allowing payment against unauthenticated e-mail copies of invoices and, perhaps, scanned images of waybills (non-negotiable). This should provide sufficient evidence of shipment to some importers that they will allow payment. (In this scenario, there is questionable value to having a Nominated Bank as the documents could be e-mailed directly to the Issuing Bank, but exporters may be uncomfortable with dealing directly with foreign banks.)
22. After an e-documents presentation, how would the Beneficiary ensure that the Nominated Bank has received the e-documents?
The issue is the same as for documents presented by mail. If desired, the Beneficiary can electronically request the Nominated Bank to electronically acknowledge receipt of the e-documents.
23. What happens when an electronic document is infected or corrupted?
This is an example of how the eUCP provides a framework. Article e11 indicates that the bank receiving the corrupted file can require re-presentation without refusing the documents. It goes on to explain what happens to the deadlines for examination and presentation.
24. What constitutes corruption of an electronic record? Can the Nominated Bank simply declare that a record is corrupted whenever they are not able to read it? What if the issuer of the document has evidence that the corruption occurred after receipt by the Nominated Bank—can the Nominated Bank be held responsible for negligently corrupting the electronic record?
Article e11 does not define what constitutes corruption of data. It is left to the courts/national law to interpret the meaning of corruption of an electronic record. (Note that “electronic record” is a term defined in the eUCP; all electronic documents must qualify as electronic records to be acceptable.)
Nonetheless, it reasonable to interpret corruption as occurring when a record is truncated or rendered not readable, whether by a virus and or by technical problems encountered in transmission, data storage, and retrieval.
25. If an Issuing Bank wishes to make a letter of credit subject to the eUCP, would they advise the credits as per current practice to the Advising Bank and would the Advising Bank, in turn, receive electronic documents from the Beneficiary?
As described above, the Issuing Bank must choose a Nominated Bank who is prepared to receive and authenticate the documents. If an Issuing Bank tries to nominate someone who is not prepared to do this, they will decline to receive the documents. If an Issuing Bank tries to make them the Advising Bank (as they should), they should respond at that time if they will not be able to receive the documents electronically, similar to turning down a request to add confirmation.
eUCP - Anwers to FAQ - Part 1
eUCP - Anwers to FAQ - Part 2
eUCP - Anwers to FAQ - Part 3
eUCP - Anwers to FAQ - Part 4
eUCP - Anwers to FAQ - Part 5 (Final Part)
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