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ISBP

International Standard Banking Practice for the Examination of Documents under Documentary Letters of Credit

ISBP is the short and well-known name of the ICC publication No: 645; International Standard Banking Practice for the Examination of Documents under Documentary Letters of Credit. ISBP was approved by ICC banking commission in October 2002. After this approval, ISBP became an official ICC document.

UCP rules are written in a general manner. They are not detailed enough to cover the day-to-day practice. ISBP was prepared in order to fill the gap between general principals of UCP and the daily practice. UCP 500 was the latest version of the rules, which were governing the documentary letters of credit at the time of ISBP was being prepared. So first ISBP was constituted with the aim of explaining UCP 500 rules more explicitly. Another aim of the drafting commission of the ISBP was to achieve internationally accepted standards for examination of documents under documentary letters of credit. In order to succeed on this aim commission asked various ICC national committees and members to send checklists on how documents were examined in their organizations. After 14 meetings and 4 different drafts, the ISBP was finally put into its final shape.

ISBP 2007

UCP 500 is revised in 2007. UCP 600 replaced the previous rules. With the revision of the UCP, it has become necessary to renew the ISBP to bring it in line with the new letters of credit rules. Full name of the second version of the ISBP is International Standard Banking Practice for the Examination of Documents under Documentary Credits, 2007 revision for UCP 600. ICC publication number is 681.

ISBP 2007 consists of 10 chapters and consecutive 185 paragraphs. Headings of the ISBP 2007 chapters are given below. Under each chapter, very detailed explanations can be found relating to the specific subject.

  • PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
  • GENERAL PRINCIPLES
  • DRAFTS AND CALCULATION OF MATURITY DATE
  • INVOICES
  • TRANSPORT DOCUMENT COVERING AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT MODES OF TRANSPORT
  • BILL OF LADING
  • CHARTER PARTY BILL OF LADING
  • AIR TRANSPORT DOCUMENT
  • ROAD, RAIL OR INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT DOCUMENTS
  • INSURANCE DOCUMENT AND COVERAGE
  • CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN

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