The ICC often receives requests for the interpretation or clarification of its rules in respect of problems encountered in the handling of trade instruments.
In response to these requests, the ICC Banking Commission established the "Official ICC Banking Commission Opinions" to provide expert interpretation and analysis of the rules in given situations.
Official Opinions are provided for UCP (Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits); URC (Uniform Rules for Collections); URDG (Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees); URR (Uniform Rules for Bank-to-Bank Reimbursements); URF (Uniform Rules for Forfaiting); and URBPO (Uniform Rules for Bank Payment Obligation). ISBP (International Standard Banking Practice for the Examination of Documents) is often used as guidance in the Opinions related to UCP.
The ICC Banking Commissions administers these official Opinions as well as responding to occasional technical and educational queries.
Requests for official Opinions are received by the ICC Banking Commission Secretariat from ICC National Committees based in the location of the initiator or, in the absence of a National Committee, a local Banking Association. Organisations requesting Opinions are not necessarily members of the ICC but in any event, member or otherwise, they are required to approach the relevant local ICC National Committee or Banking Association with a formal request for an official Opinion from the ICC Banking Commission.
Only one topic or issue may be raised in a request for Opinion, but each request may contain more than one question related specifically to that query. Where issues cover more than one transaction, they must be submitted as separate requests unless the facts are identical for each transaction. Any request should be contained within two A4 size pages and, wherever possible, should not include copies of documents.
Once received, the queries are sent to the Senior Technical Adviser (currently David Meynell; previously Gary Collyer) and subsequently assigned to one of the Technical Advisers to prepare a response, which is known as a Draft Opinion.
The Technical Adviser shares the initial draft of the Opinion with the other Technical Adviser for agreement prior to sending it to the Secretariat for distribution to the initiating ICC National Committee or Banking Association, within 4-6 weeks following the receipt of the request. It is the responsibility of the concerned ICC National Committee or Banking Association to distribute it to the initial inquirer.
The draft Opinion is not recognised as an official ICC response until it has been presented to the ICC Banking Commission and discussed and approved at one of its bi-annual meetings.