Commercial invoice special condition

[jabra]

Dear Sir,

I received a commercial invoice which shows the following at the bottom -

Other condition to apply

1. This proforma invoice is valid for 15 days.

2. Deliveries are subject to availability of stock

3. All transport risk on buyer’s accounts

The other details of the invoice complies with the credit terms and the invoice is titled as "commercial invoice"

should we raise a discrepancy because of these clauses?

[picant]

Hi Pals,

I would like to know the terms and conditions of the L/C, as the wording clearly indicates a proposal not a sale. However one reasont, to me, or non accepting this invoice is that the invoice is a pro-forma invoice. Isbp 681 point 57.

Other comments appreciated

Ciao

[Judith]

If the LC required presentation of an invoice, then the document presented is discrepant.

In any case, the title of the document becomes less important if the conditions in the document contradict the title.

E.g. a document titled “Bill of Lading” is less important if it contains a clause “Subject to Charter Party”. (It will be treated as a Charter Party Bill of Lading instead of Bill of Lading.)

Similarly, in your example, the document clearly states “This proforma invoice…” and therefore the document will be treated as a proforma invoice.

[shahriar]

great answer dear judith. just like to add something. ISBP says

57. A credit requiring an "invoice" without further definition will be satisfied by any type of invoice presented (commercial invoice, customs invoice, tax invoice, final invoice, consular invoice, etc.). However, invoices identified as "provisional", "pro-forma" or the like are not acceptable. When a credit requires presentation of a commercial invoice, a document titled "invoice" will be acceptable.

so there should be no indication that the invoice is provisional one. so based on point 1, i would consider it discrepant. however only point 2 and 3 is not sufficient to raise discrepancy in my opinion.

if there is a transport document, i would not worry about point 2
point 3, it depends on the INCOTERM. unless its a D class incoterm, i see no problem with it.

[wongvv]

Hi !

Neither any one of three points indicates that the these invoices themselves are provisional or proforma invoices. Therefore, if other parts of the invoices comply with L/C's terms and UCP, there is no discrepancy.

V.V.

[cristiand969]

2. Deliveries are subject to availability of stock
The other details of the invoice complies with the credit terms and the invoice is titled as "commercial invoice"
should we raise a discrepancy because of these clauses?

.
I would mention that is not so simple to give a correct answer based of short information from the full set presented.
From what I quoted above, I assume that a quantity stated correspond with the one stated in transport document as being SHIPPED as opposed to SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY of STOCK. In this situation the latter shall no longer apply and it is a true commercial invoice.
I guess the actual fact and intention of the seller were that he turned the proforma invoice into a commercial invoice based on a delivery effected and the remaining information remained as in PI. I do not regard as a discrepancy. The content of the documents seems to unveil a DELIVERY and not a promise of delivery.
regards

[Judith]

The logic behind your argument is clear and before I swap sides, I do have one question.

Would your answer be different if the document was titled as “Proforma Invoice”?

[iLC]

i remember a definition of commercial invoice where it was defined as a bill of sale which gives the detail of goods and indicates the terms of sale. so technically i would consider this invoice as discrepant specially when it is stand alone. i would feel really confuse if there is no transport document.

[ldt5205]

I will treat it as a discrepency,for the sake that the "commercial invoice" actually is a proforma invoice.

[cristiand969]

It is indeed difficult to give an aswer to your question without having seen the document in question as well as the related transport document. My best quess was based just on a such poor info of the question.
I would like to stress once again what I have wrote in my previous post namely that it is too dificult to give a correct answer without being aware of the whole situation and documentation.
Best regards