Case Studies on the Effect of Nondocumentary Conditions in the Letter of Credit Transactions

신용장거래에서 비서류적 조건의 유효성에 관한 분쟁사례연구

One of the important issues facing current letter of credit practice is the effect of nondocumetary conditions. A nondocumentary condition is a condition contained in the credit without stating the document to be presented in compliance therewith, so nondocumentary condition must be ascertained by reference to factual matters rather than by review of a tendered document. This study attempts to examine the regulations in UCP, ISP98 and UCC on the nondocumetary conditions and the opinions on the effect of nondocumetary conditions and to analyze various cases on the effect of nondocumetary conditions. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. Firstly, UCP, ISP98 and UCC stipulate that banks will deem nondocumetary conditions as not stated and will disregard then So the legal standards for nondocumetary conditions have established. Secondly, courts used to permit the effect of nondocumetary conditions on the basis of the Wichita rule, party autonomy. Thirdly, issuing banks and applicants should not attempt to put in any nondocumetary conditions in order to prevent disputes on the effect of nondocumetary conditions.