INSURANCE ENDORSEMENT; GOODS DESCRIPTION ON BILL OF LADING

Early morning in Ha Long

QUESTION

Dear Mr. Old Man,

I have 2 questions:

1) An insurance policy presented shows on the face the word “endorsement” and the assured party signed near this notation but not endorsed on the reverse.

Is this ok?

2)  A bill of lading presented does not show description of goods but only related LC number.

Is it ok?

Best regards,

Shirki

——–

 ANSWER

Dear Shirki,

1) Whether an endorsement on the face of an insurance document is acceptable?

It is practice that where LC requires a blank endorsed insurance document, an endorsement would be made on the reverse side of  the insurance document. Notwithstanding such a practice, the manner in which the endorsement is completed is not governed by UCP, hence, the fact that the assured party signed near the notation “Endorsement” on the face of the insurance document in question is acceptable.

2) Whether a description of goods is required to appear on a bill of lading?

The following is ICC’s analysis and conclusion on a question similar to yours:

QUOTE

Official Opinion R729 / TA681rev

Analysis

It is general shipping practice that the carrier will not take responsibility for the description of goods shown on the bill of lading. Wording such as “said to contain”, “shippers load and count”, “particulars furnished by the shipper, carrier not responsible” or similar, are common features of bills of lading. The term and condition, “Which description the carrier has no reasonable means of checking and is not part of the BL”, is a similar form of wording.

Although sub-article 20 (a) (ii) includes the wording: “indicate that the goods have been shipped on board … “, this does not imply that a description of goods is to appear.

Conclusion 

The UCP does not require a goods description to appear on any document other than the invoice (sub-article 14 (e) refers). However, it is transport industry practice that a form of description will appear, and that description should not conflict with the description in the credit. The wording quoted on the bill of lading i.e., “and is not part of the BL” is similar to terms quoted in article 26, i.e., ‘shipper’s load and count’ and “said by shipper to contain”.

UNQUOTE

In view of the above, the bill of lading in question is acceptable.

Kind regards,

Mr. Old Man

P/s: Sometimes ICC try to avoid giving a direct answer/conclusion to the question. It’s just like a puzzle that requires the reader to guess what they really mean. I hate answers like that.