ANY SAFE PORT – LATE PRESENTATION – LC EXPIRED

In real life, many discrepancies do not arise because the rules are unclear, but because the timeline in a credit is not carefully read. The short Q&A below illustrates two issues that appear quite often in practice: the meaning of “any safe port” and the relationship between the presentation period and the expiry date.

QUESTION

Good morning, Sir!

1. An LC requires the Port of Loading as “Any safe port of Iraq.” Is there any ICC guidance on what constitutes a safe port?
2. If the presentation period is 21 days, and the LC also states “within 21 days from shipment date but within LC validity,” when is a presentation considered late?

Obidur

_______

ANSWER

Hi,

1. “Any safe port of Iraq”

ICC rules do not define what a “safe port” is. Under UCP 600, banks examine documents, not the actual conditions at a port. Therefore, banks are not expected to determine whether a port is in fact safe in a nautical or commercial sense.

If a transport document indicates a named port in Iraq, examination is limited to whether the document complies with the credit terms on its face. The commercial risk of using a broad expression such as “any safe port” rests with the applicant.

From a practical standpoint, issuing banks often advise applicants to name a specific port or simply state “any port in Iraq” to avoid unnecessary discussion during examination.

2. Presentation period and LC expiry

A fundamental principle under UCP 600 is:

A presentation must be made within the stipulated period for presentation and not later than the expiry date of the credit.

Both conditions must be satisfied. Meeting only one of them is not sufficient.

Consider the following example:

LC terms

• Latest shipment date: 14 February
• Date of expiry: 01 March
• Documents must be presented within 21 days from shipment date but within LC validity

Documents presented

• Shipment date: 14 February
• Presentation date: 03 March

Analysis

Twenty-one days from 14 February runs to 07 March, so the presentation on 03 March is still within the 21-day presentation period.

However, the credit expired on 01 March. Since the presentation was made after the expiry date, it is not complying and may be refused on the ground “LC expired.”

This example shows an important point:
Even when documents are presented within the allowed number of days from shipment, they are still unacceptable if the credit has already expired.

Late presentation vs. LC expired

In practice:

• Presentation after the presentation period but before expiry
  → discrepancy: Late presentation
• Presentation after expiry
  → discrepancy: LC expired
  (Expiry alone is sufficient ground for refusal.)

A practical drafting note

If the intention is to allow documents to be presented later than 21 days after shipment, the credit should clearly state that stale documents are acceptable or otherwise make clear that presentation may be made up to the expiry date regardless of shipment date.

Best regards,
Mr. Old Man