THE DIFERENCE BETWEEN UCP 600 SUB-ARTICLE 26 (c) and ISBP 821 PARAGRAPH D31 (a)

QUESTION

Dear Mr. Old Man,

How are you?

Hope you are well.

I need your guidance and clarification for better understanding the difference between UCP 600 sub-article 26 (c) and ISBP 821 D31 (a) with regard to  “charges additional to freight in transport document”.

Regards

Siva

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ANSWER

Hi,

UCP 600 sub-article 26(c) says“A transport document may bear a reference, by stamp or otherwise, to charges additional to the freight.”

It means that under normal circumstances, banks will not reject a transport document just because it mentions charges beyond freight (like loading, handling, or surcharges).

So unless the credit (LC) says otherwise, such references are considered acceptable.

WHEREAS,

ISBP 745 Paragraph D31(a) says“When a credit states that costs additional to freight are not acceptable, a multimodal transport document is not to indicate that costs additional to the freight have been or will be incurred.”

It means that if the LC explicitly prohibits any costs beyond freight (e.g., “no additional charges to freight allowed”), then a transport document must not show any such charges.

In this case, references to such charges would make the document non-compliant.

Just a joke! The difference between UCP 600 sub-article 26(c) and ISBP paragraph D31(a) is like the situation where UCP 600 says “You may wear hats indoors” while ISBP 821 says “If the host says no hats allowed, you take it off”

Best regards,

Mr. Old Man