• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.22
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• pp.173-197
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• 2004

Letter of Credit between buyer and seller in International Trade Transaction is the means of payment which makes International Trade operate smoothly by guaranteeing an exporter against non-payment and an importer against non-delivery. Therefore, the parties to a sale apply UCP500 established by the International Chamber of Commerce, in accordance with principle of the freedom of contract among the parties concerned, to look to their own legal stability. However, we may recognize some cases to have been applied principle of faith and trust, one of the dominant principles of the civil law, by the Korean Supreme Court and other cases to have not been applied that principle by the Korean Supreme Court. The Court shall apply UCP500 strictly as long as the parties concerned adopt UCP500 in view of the legal stability. In other words, in case that the Court applies principle of faith and trust to the case related to L/C, this rule - principle of faith and trust - should apply to the subject matter which have not stipulated in UCP500 under certain restriction. We suggest keeping in mind points to korean companies as follows; First, the parties to a sale shall understand L/C basis transaction and principles related to L/C deeply. Second, the exporter shall prepare documents in compliance with L/C and fulfil his or her obligation according to UCP500 and L/C related to the contract. Third, as buyer or importer, when he or she receive the shipping documents with discrepancies from the notifying bank, he or she makes him or herself clear to all the parties concerned. Fourth, as bank, she shall examine all the documents according to UCP500 and L/C related to the contract, and if any document with discrepancies, the bank, by all means, shall approach applicant first, and then decide whether to pay the credit amount to beneficiary or not to.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.255-275
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• 2013

The purpose of the study is to examine compliance criteria for documents of the Letter of Credit(L/C) by the Korean Supreme Court in practical use. The judgement criteria of the court in documents' examination is supported by the doctrine of strict compliance. And, in examination of documents by the Supreme Court, the difference between documents presented and the credit should be followed by the allowance of international standard banking practices. In this case, the Supreme Court makes a reference for ICC's opinion or decision proposed as the international standard banking practices, or otherwise admit by exploring the practices. However, when documents reviewing by the bankers' auditors, it is very difficult for them to judge in a short time due to the lack of high level of knowledges and insights. As shown the cases of this study, the doctrine of strict compliance of an L/C be relaxed, and most of the recent precedents be ruled by the exception of the doctrine. Because, therefore, it is difficult for to documents reviewers of bank to judge these consistencies, conducting arbitrary document review will be inevitable. As a result, it will be difficult for banks and applicants to ensure the strictness of the documents, and free use of L/Cs in international transactions will be avoided. Finally, the expanded usage of the electronic negotiation system that simplifies the highly difficult compliance criteria to ensure the strictness of documents will be needed, and not only be eradicated the acts of arbitrary documents examination practices, but also be promoted the freely usage of L/Cs.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.41
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• pp.79-102
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• 2009

L/C transaction, the most important issue for the seller and the buyer is the theory of documentary transaction and the theory of strict compliance which are the principles of L/C transactions. According to the leading cases in England and America where the practice of L/C transactions was created and developed, the descriptions of the commodities specified on all the documents which are submitted based on an L/C, should be identical to the descriptions of commodities specified in the L/C. And further, many leading cases of L/C continuously repeat to emphasize strict compliance. However, the recent leading cases in and out of the country show that the principle of strict compliance is being weakened. The leading cases in America show two trends of weakening the principle of strict compliance. That is, on the contrary to strict compliance, tends to apply substantial compliance (which puts more value on the substance of the documents). These leading cases reflect the attitudes of the judicial and the legislative authorization that don't want to approve formal approach to the commercial law. Recently, the Supreme Court of Korea is giving a decision on the principle of strict compliance, "The documents attached to an L/C should strictly comply with the conditions in the L/C, but it doesn't mean that they should be perfectly identical without any mistake in words. In case the bank can understand through reasonable care that a small mistake in words is too trivial to give different meaning or to give damage to the conditions of the L/C, the documents are regarded to comply with the conditions of the L/C. However, the judgment should be based on whether the difference between the documents and the L/C can be admitted by the international standard bank transaction practice or not." This decision tells that the principle of strict compliance is quite much modified so application of this modification can't be ignored. However, from the viewpoint of the party who requests to open an L/C, there is a criticism that a bank's arbitrary judgement can be involved. Therefore, reviewing the original purpose of L/C transactions (activating international transactions), the principle of strict compliance may be thought old-fashioned because it emphasizes a form, but in reality, for prompt transaction and payment, the principle of strict compliance should be observed in L/C transactions. And further, if a legislative device is prepared to systematically compensate for several side-effects, the principle of strict compliance will improve dynamic flow of prompt and low-costly L/C transactions. On the other hand, it will be able to protect the interested parties.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.61
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• pp.191-211
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• 2014

This paper intends to study some problems in the application of UCP 600 in the international trade transactions with China. Generally speaking, China complies with UCP 600 well. Nevertheless, there are some problems in the application of UCP 600 in China owing to the difference in law and practices. There are some problems in the application of UCP 600 in China owing to the difference of practices under Bills of Exchange Act and The Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Some Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases of Disputes over Letter of Credit. The Act insists on the formal requirements, the consistency between a letter amount and a figure amount, the unconditional payment character of bills of exchange. The Provisions include the recognition of revocable credits, the difference of standard in examining documents, the difference in the treatment of issuing banks in relation to discrepant documents. These aforesaid matters of the Act and the Provisions are inconsistent with the practices under the UCP 600. There are two main problems in the operation of letters of credit in China. One is the lack of concerned parties' practice knowledge in relation to letters of credit in China. The other is the inactive stance of nominated banks in China. There are two main problems in relation to judiciary institutions in China. First, judges in China tend to abuse the injunctions owing to the lack of understanding in relation to letters of credit. Secondly, there are inconsistency in the court ruling in China.