We previously addressed the issue of ‘strict compliance' in our blog of 9 November 2015.
Since then, the ICC Banking Commission released a paper on the principle of strict compliance - http://www.iccwbo.org/Advocacy-Codes-and-Rules/Document-centre/2016/ICC-Banking-Commission-Executive-Committee-Issues-Paper_Notes-on-the-Principle-of-Strict-Compliance/
As mentioned in the paper, the question of ‘strict compliance' has often been raised with regard to documents presented under documentary credits and a significant number of ICC Opinions and DOCDEX decisions have dealt with this issue.
The paper details the most relevant ICC rules and practices, backed-up by a summary of a number of DOCDEX decision and ICC Opinions.
A summary of the legal perspective highlights the interpretation given in a number of court cases, and reference is also made to a number of expert opinions.
The conclusion emphasises that developments in the past have proved that, as time goes by, it is customs and practice that will provide the required clarity in respect of ‘strict compliance'. And once such customs and practice have become commonplace, they will form part of a future revision of ISBP.
It is understood that various comments have since been received from practitioners around the world supporting this conclusion.