Backside of an CMR and CE Certificate vs EC declar. Conf.

[Navi]

Hi Friends.
.
I want your kindly comments for 2 problems I offen face while examining documents.
1) LC requests CMR to be issued in English... The presented CMR was issued in German, not seem to be signed by carrier or its agent etc. We refused document. However, the presenting bank rejected discrepancies due to following reasons:
a) English translations of all fields on CMR are stated on the backside of document.
b) CMR signed by a company on field 23 of the document and the translation of the field on the back is as "issuing carrier", so carrier is defined,
.
Should we check the back of the documents? My belief is no. But the presenting bank is persisting.

2) Our customers often request CE certificate when they issue LCs. But we sometimes receive EC declaration of conformity instead and we consider it as discrepancy. Do these docs have the same purpose and should we accept despite different names?
.
Thanks and regards

[iLC]

dear navi,

the CMR is acceptable to me. on the face doesnt mean the front side of the document to me.

i dont understand the meaning of CE and EC....

iLC

[Navi]

Dear İLC,
.
As far as I know, we should not check back of docs. except for endorsement etc. All required info should be on the front side otherwise it would be really pain to check a transport document. That's my point of view, I may be wrong of course...
.
EC and CE documents are about quality standarts for European community but I don't know more details. They are very common in my country. Maybe it is not a proper question for this forum...
.
Regards...

[iLC]

dear navi,

its not always necessary that you will get the answer of your questions. it may even happen that the person to whom you are asking a question may infact learn something from it. i have learned about the certificates from you and im very happy about it.

by the way, the following ICC opinion may be helpful

The request within a credit for documents to be issued in English is made to enable the issuing bank to be able to determine compliance of the documents, on their face, in a language that it is able to understand. Where credits are issued to beneficiaries where English is not the first or second language, the issuing bank faces the task of reviewing documents which may individually or collectively be in a language which would require obtaining a translation before any review could take place.

iLC

[shahriar]

i think both of u should consider this

commentary on ucp600

The concept of “on their face” does not refer to a simple front versus the back of a document, but extends to the review of data within a document in order to determine that a presentation complies with international standard banking practice and the principles contained in UCP. Because the term remained in the UCP in relation to the examination of documents in general, the Drafting Group did not see any reason to repeat it in other articles, such as the transport, insurance and commercial invoice articles, as was the case in UCP 500. Banks are not obliged to go beyond the face of a document to establish whether or not a document complies with a requirement in a documentary credit or with any requirement in the UCP.

hope that will help

regd

shahriar

[shahriar]

FYI

ICC Opinion 647rev
The CMR is pre-printed in dual languages with French being one of the languages. Although the other language in this case was Croatian, the document did provide the description of the fields in English on the reverse.
A previous ICC Opinion, R 564, addressed this same issue, i.e., the effect of a condition stating "all required documents must be issued in English" and, although issued in respect of a credit subject to UCP 500, the reasoning equally applies under UCP 600. The conclusion to that Opinion stated: "The stipulation in the credit that 'all required documents must be issued in English' relates to the data thereon that would evidence compliance with the terms of the credit and the relevant provision(s) of the UCP."
The data inserted in the respective fields of the CMR document was in English; there is no discrepancy.

regd

shahriar

[nesarul]

Dear ,
Nice discussion.
Thanks shahariar and ILC their nice input regarding CMR.
Certificate Vs Declaration issue:
I think it is a bit tough to make a general comment on this issue. but what i feel is that if the said document fulfil the paragraph 8 of ISBP then it ok.
regards
nesar