ICC National Committees provided feedback in May-July 2023 and it was clearly apparent that most problems arise in respect to the examination of documents.
Furthermore, practices with respect to issuance, advising, confirmation, etc., are not sufficiently standardised, and can cause problems.
However, insufficient support was provided for any type of revision or update, and not a strong enough mandate to proceed with in-depth work at this stage.
During the October 2023 Banking Commission meeting, the SteerCo outlined the agreed next steps for ISBP 821.
It was highlighted that Banking Commission "Guidance Notes for Documentary Credit Formats" provide guidance in respect of the optimal approach required in order to achieve a straightforward, uncomplicated, documentary credit format.
In addition, a number of ICC Academy Guidance Papers for documentary credits are available for download free of charge. In combination with this, a number of Technical Advisory Briefing Papers have been issued on key issues.
It was further stated that ICC Opinions will continue to be evaluated for potential inclusion in future updates of ISBP.
Bearing in mind that the overwhelming majority of problems remain in document examination, a small Working Group, consisting of the "Briefing Papers" Technical Advisory team, will review ISBP 821 in order to assess content in line with current market practice.
Work will commence November 2023 and the Working Group will provide an initial report during the April 2024 Global Banking Commission Plenary session.
National Committees will then have the opportunity to discuss potential next steps.
We will keep you updated.