DELIVERY CLAUSE IN THE BILL OF LADING

QUESTION

Is it a discrepancy if the bill of lading contains a pre-printed clause “If requỉred by the carrier one original bill of lading must be surrendered duly endorsed in exchange for the goods or delivery order”?

ANSWER

It is true there have been debates as to whether it is a discrepancy if the bill of lading contains such a clause. Some experts say it is a discrepancy and some others say it is not. Regarding this issue, Kim Christensen had an interesting article “The historic court cases that affected rules and customs, practices and practioners” published in LC VIEWS (click here http://www.lcviews.com/historic_court_cases.htm).

There is a truth that so far some banks still reject the bill of lading due to this troublesome clause.

My view, which is based on ICC Opinion TA675rev, is that it is not a discrepancy. The clause in the bill of lading “If requỉred by the carrier one original bill of lading must be surrendered duly endorsed in exchange for the goods or delivery order” is considered to be the terms and conditions of carriage and will not be examined according to sub-article 20(a)(v).

For easy reference, I would like to quote the analysis and conclusion in ICC’s opinion on a similar query (TA675rev):

Quote
Analysis
… There was no separate delivery clause stated on the bill of lading. The bill of lading does, however, contain the following wording: "Where the bill of lading is non-negotiable, the Carrier may give delivery of the Goods to the named consignee upon reasonable proof of identity and without requiring surrender of an original bill of lading. Where the bill of lading is negotiable, the Merchant is obliged to surrender one original, duly endorsed, in exchange for the Goods."
The wording appearing on this particular bill of lading, and as quoted under "Query" commencing with "[W]here the bill of lading is non-negotiable, the carrier … ", is considered to be terms and conditions of carriage and will not be examined according to sub-article 20 (a) (v).
It should be noted that in accordance with the terms and conditions of the credit the bill of lading has been issued in a negotiable form.

Conclusion
There is no discrepancy for this specific bill of lading. Unquote

Hoping it is helpful.

Best regards,
Mr. Old Man