Second Technical Advisory Briefing has been released
This week the ICC circulated its second Technical Advisory Briefing. The topic is Meaning of ‘without delay’ in UCP 600.
This Briefing is the second in the series. The first was “Non-documentary conditions in Documentary Credits”.
The second TA Briefing focuses on the interpretation of the sentence “without delay” in the context of UCP 600. It was debated and reviewed according to the principles of the issue brief scheme and are now available at the ICC (It has been circulated to the ICC Banking Commission members and is available in the ICC Digital Library).
The TA Briefing lists the places within the UCP 600 where the term ‘without delay’ is used; just as it references the ICC opinions referencing the phrase as well as relevant court cases.
Likewise, the TA Briefing discusses the implication of replacing ‘without delay’ with a specified period of time. In essence, to remove ‘without delay’ and insert a specific period of time would require the rule to also include a form of penalty. However, an advising bank cannot be forced to advise an LC or amendment within a certain period.
The TA Briefing summarizes that ‘without delay’ is a recognized term within UCP 600 but is deliberately not defined because, the precise interpretation of this term would depend upon the circumstances of each case. Likewise, the incorporation of a specific timeline would (as mentioned) require a form of penalty. Under international standard banking practice, reference in the UCP 600 to ‘without delay’ means that the bank in question must complete an action as soon as practicable for that activity considering the actual circumstances.