WHAT DOES D/A AT 30 DAYS SIGHT MEAN?

QUESTION

Hi Mr. Old Man,

We’ve received D/A documents at 30 days sight. How to calculate the due date in this case? 30 days from the document arrival date or 30 days from the drawee’s acceptance date?

Our practice is that when the D/A documents arrive at our bank, we send the drawee the notice of document arrival at once or a few days later. The drawee may accept the documents on same day of receipt of the notice or a few days later.

Thanks a lot for your advice.

DM
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ANSWER

Hi,

D/A at 30 days sight means 30 days after the draft/documents is/are seen by the drawee (buyer). So, it should be commonly understood that for a draft drawn on the drawee at 30 days sight or after sight, the maturity date will be 30 days after the day the collecting/presenting bank presents the draft to the drawee (and not after the day the drawee accepts the draft).

It is unfair if the maturity is calculated based on the day the drawee accepts the draft. However, practice has shown that the collecting/presenting bank would send the drawee the notice of document arrival without presenting the draft/documents to the drawee and the drawee would wait for the goods to arrive at the destination port and then ask the bank to present the draft for his acceptance. In this case, the maturity would be 30 days after the acceptance day which is coincided with the presentation day.

Hope it is clear now.

Kind regards,
Mr. Old Man