Contact: Mina Goldberg, National Center for Inter-American Free Trade: E-mail: [email protected]; phone: 520-622-1200, day; 520-744-0430, evening
University of Arizona students enrolled in the International Commercial Transactions Law course will assist the International Chamber of Commerce in the examination and actual use of banking practices. This is the first time in its history that the Chamber has enlisted the aid of students to make recommendations on its work.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) publishes the widely influential set of rules, Uniform Customs and Practices for Documentary Credits, last revised effective June 1, 1994, and known as UCP500. The ICC has enlisted the support of Professor Boris Kozolchyk and the participants in his International Commercial Transactions Law course at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law in the ICC's current project to identify more specifically, and to set forth, international standard banking practices actually used in examining the package of documents that constitute a letter of credit and making the decision on payment or rejection of payment. Among the many and complex documents to be checked are airway bills; ocean bills of lading; consular documents and insurance certificates, to name but a few.
An earlier effort to develop a detailed checklist was published in 1996 as Standard Banking Practices for Examination of Documents (SBPED) and represents the combined efforts of the U.S. Council on International Banking, the Mexican Bankers Association, and the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade (NLCIFT). The SBPED, published in both English and Spanish, dramatically reduced disputes and litigation within the NAFTA region.
Kozolchyk was a participant in drafting both the UCP500 and the SBPED. Kozolchyk and his students have prepared and submitted to the ICC working group an initial report and further studies are in progress. The initial report has been enthusiastically received. On November 15, a videoconference will include Kozolchyk, students enrolled in his course, NLCIFT, and some of the experienced and respected letter of credit bankers meeting in New York at the headquarters of Citibank to discuss the suggestions made. This work could be a substantial contribution to the final work product of the ICC and to the development of standard international banking practices.
In operation since 1992, the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade has worked toward facilitating trade and investment in the Western Hemisphere through the harmonization of laws and practices. The Center is funded by the United States Congress, the State of Arizona, and the private sector. Dr. Boris Kozolchyk, Director of the NLCIFT, is an internationally recognized scholar in commercial and international law.
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