When a copy or photocopy of a transport document is required for presentation in lieu of an original, it is the responsibility of the issuing bank and applicant to ensure that a documentary credit stipulates the terms and conditions that will apply to the examination of that document, otherwise sub-article 14 (f) will be applied due to articles 19-25 not being applicable.
Such terms and conditions should include any requirement for naming the carrier, any required evidence of the signing capacity and the means to determine the date of shipment.
However, when examining a copy transport document, a bank is to ensure that the named place of receipt, port of loading, airport of departure, port of discharge, airport of destination or place of delivery, as may be indicated in the documentary credit, is not in conflict. Similarly, any defined date of shipment, as shown on the copy transport document, is to be within any stated latest shipment date.
As with any other document, data on a copy transport document need not be identical, but must not conflict with data in the same document, another stipulated document or the credit.
Copies of transport documents are not automatically subject to the default presentation period of 21 calendar days as stated in sub-article 14 (c). A documentary credit should link the presentation period to a date that will (or is to be) apparent in the copy transport document. For this reason alone, it is beneficial to require a photocopy of the original transport document as opposed to a copy, which may be a true non-negotiable copy issued by the carrier or its agent, as such a copy may not bear any stamps, dates or signatures that appear on the original.
ISBP 745 paragraph A6 (a) determines the standard of examination of such documents.