NOTIFY PARTY ON BILL OF LADING

QUESTION

Dear Mr. Old Man,

The Letter of Credit includes the following details:

• Field 50 (Applicant):

AAA Company

… Hong Kong

• Field 46A (Documents Required):

…

Full set of clean on board original ocean bill of lading made out to the order of ABC Bank Ltd, notify applicant, marked “freight prepaid”.

…

• Field 47A (Additional Conditions):

All documents must state notify party as BBB Company … Hong Kong.

I would like to clarify:

Should the bill of lading indicate the notify party as “AAA Company … Hong Kong” or “BBB Company … Hong Kong”?

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,

P

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ANSWER

Hi,

Thanks for your question. This is a classic case of ambiguity between LC fields 46A and 47A regarding the notify party on the bill of lading.

Let’s break it down:

• Field 46A instructs that the bill of lading should show “notify applicant”, i.e., AAA Company.
• Field 47A, however, requires that all documents indicate BBB Company as the notify party.

This creates a conflict.

To avoid confusion, the LC should have been structured more clearly:

If the intention is that only AAA Company should be the notify party on the bill of lading, the LC should say:

Field 46A:

Full set of clean on board original ocean bill of lading made out to the order of ABC Bank Ltd, notify applicant (“AAA Company … Hong Kong”).

Field 47A:

All documents except the bill of lading must indicate notify party as “BBB Company … Hong Kong”.

Alternatively, if the intent is for both AAA and BBB to be named as notify parties on the bill of lading, the LC should say:

Field 46A:

Full set of clean on board original ocean bill of lading made out to the order of ABC Bank Ltd, notify “AAA Company … Hong Kong” and “BBB Company … Hong Kong”.

Field 47A:

All documents must indicate notify party as “BBB Company … Hong Kong”.

So what now?

Under UCP 600 and ISBP 821 paragraph E14(a), a bill of lading may show one or more notify parties even if only one is mentioned in the LC.

That means:

• A bill of lading showing only AAA Company as notify party is still technically acceptable.
• But showing both AAA and BBB as notify parties would best reflect both Field 46A and 47A requirements—and help avoid any potential discrepancies or disputes.

Conclusion

The applicant assumes the risk of unclear or conflicting terms. While showing only AAA Company may be acceptable, the safest and most compliant option is to show both AAA and BBB as notify parties.

Kind regards,

Mr. Old Man