eUCP - Answers to FAQ - Part 4

16. What happens if the bank electronic documents are presented to cannot authenticate the documents?

Article e5(f) covers this directly. It says, “An electronic record that cannot be authenticated is deemed not to have been presented.” This will result in a discrepancy that can possibly be corrected by the Beneficiary or waived by the Applicant.

17. If I want to be able to sign documents digitally, how do I obtain a digital certificate?

As discussed in question 14, a digital certificate provides a means of creating digital signatures that identify the signer and also assure that the document is unaltered. There are various “certificate authorities” who issue such certificates. The issuance process itself is questionable in many cases, making some digital signatures “better” than others. As with many other matters governed by the eUCP, it is up to the parties involved to choose what means of authentication is acceptable. If digital certificates are to be used, the parties should further agree who are acceptable certificate authorities.

18. Is the Beneficiary of an L/C (subject to eUCP) expected to submit a paper-based letter of instructions to the Nominated Bank when they are presenting a full set of electronic documents?

Whenever presenting documents electronically, the Beneficiary must include a “notice of completeness,” in addition to the documents specified in the letter of credit, to signify that all the documents have been submitted and are ready for the Nominated Bank to negotiate/pay/accept. This provision in the eUCP allows the Beneficiary to present electronic documents one at a time and to mix paper and electronic documents (see question 5). The notice can serve as a cover letter and include, where applicable, any requests for discounting/financing as well as settlement and other instructions. It may either be paper-based or in electronic form, according to the Beneficiary's choice.


19. How long does a Nominated Bank have to examine electronic documents?

The eUCP makes no changes in the length of time allowed to examine documents. The UCP rule of “a reasonable time, not to exceed seven banking days” continues to govern. (If the rule were different, it would require a great deal of complexity to address mixed presentations.) Nonetheless, keep in mind that what constitutes a reasonable time is dictated by the circumstances; seven days is only an outside parameter.

20. How can the parties in an eUCP transaction ensure that their electronic systems are compatible with one another?

Note that the eUCP requires only that the Nominated Bank, the bank to whom documents are presented by the Beneficiary, verify the authenticity of the documents. The Issuing Bank is expected to rely on the Nominated Bank’s verification. Thus, it is not necessary that the 2 banks have compatible systems, only that the parties creating the documents use a means of authentication that the Nominated Bank considers secure.

Our expectation is that supply chains will align for this purpose, i.e., importers and Issuing Banks will specify Nominated Banks based on arrangements they know these banks have made for receiving and authenticating electronic documents from the exporters.

The "open" alternative is that importers can require in their L/Cs that the electronic documents be signed using Identrus signatures. Any Identrus bank can then be nominated to receive the documents as e-mail attachments.

Remember that it is very important to specify the data format for any documents that will be presented by e-mail, to make sure the Nominated Bank can open and examine the data files and then relay them to the Issuing Bank in a format they can relay to the Applicant. It is expected that e-mail attachments will commonly be required to be in Word or Acrobat formats (with the version number specified as well).


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)