VI. COORDINATION AND COOPERATION

1 579VI. COORDINATION AND Standby Practices (ISP98):Report of the Secretary-General( ) [Original: English] its thirty-second session in 1999, the Commissionconsidered, on the basis of a report of the Secretary-General,1 a request by the Director of the Institute of Inter-national Banking Law and Practice, Inc. to consider en-dorsing for worldwide use the new Rules on InternationalStandby Practices (ISP98) (letter of request of 3 March1999 is reproduced in annex I). However, owing to the factthat late publication of that report had prevented somedelegations from carrying out consultations, the Commis-sion felt obliged to postpone consideration of endorsementuntil the thirty-third session in official text of ISP98 in English, which has beenendorsed by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)and issued as ICC publication No.

2 590, is reproduced inannex IV. Translations into Chinese, French, Russian orSpanish are reproduced in annex IV of the respectivelanguage versions of this note. Translations into Bulgarian,Hebrew, Korean and Turkish have been prepared and pub-lished. Translations into German, Italian, Japanese andThai are currently being stated on the cover of that publication, ISP98 fills an important gap in the market standby letters of credit have similarities withcommercial letters of credit and other financial instru-ments, there are significant differences in scope andpractice.

3 Moreover, it is recognized that the ICC s Uni-form Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits(UCP), which is internationally accepted for commercialletters of credit, is not appropriate for all forms ofstandbys. A new set of Rules was required for this work-horse of commerce and finance, which, in terms ofvalue, exceeds commercial credits by a ratio of 5:1. ISP98 reflects a distillation of practices from a widerange of standby users bankers, merchants, rating agen-cies, corporate treasurers, credit managers, governmentofficials and banking regulators.

4 Like the UCP for com-mercial credits, ISP98 is destined to become the standardfor the use of standbys in international transactions. way of general background, it may be noted thatthe subject of documentary credits and bank guarantees hasbeen a topic in which the Commission has taken an interestsince the time of its inception. The Commission endorsedthe 1962 version of the Uniform Customs and Practice forDocumentary Credits (UCP) at its second session in 1969,2the 1974 version at its eighth session in 1975,3 the 1983version at its seventeenth session in 19844 and the 1993version at its twenty-seventh session in view of the close link between ISP98 and the 1995 United Nations Convention on Independent Guarantees andStand-by Letters of Credit, the Secretary of the Commis-sion participated in the preparation of ISP98 so as to ensureconsistency between these two supplementary texts.

5 Hisprologue to the ICC publication is reproduced in annex information on the reasons for the preparationof ISP98 and about its salient features may be deducedfrom the preface contained in annex ILetter of Professor James E. Byrne, Director of the Institute ofInternational Banking Law and Practice, IncI am writing to request endorsement of the International Standby Practices (ISP98) by the UnitedNations Commission on International Trade private rules of practice are intended to apply to standby letters of credit.

6 The idea toprepare such rules was conceived during the deliberations of the UNCITRAL Working Group on1 The present note largely reproduces , since atthe thirty-second session of the Commission only the English and theFrench versions of ISP98 were of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Lawon the work of its second session, Official Records of the General Assembly,Twenty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 18 (A/7618), para. of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Lawon the work of its eighth session, Official Records of the General Assembly,Thirtieth Session, Supplement No.

7 17 (A/10017), para. of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Lawon the work of its seventeenth session, Official Records of the GeneralAssembly, Thirty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/39/17), para. of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Lawon the work of its twenty-seventh session, Official Records of the GeneralAssembly, Forty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 17 (A/49/17), para. of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, 2000, vol. XXXII nternational Contract Practices which resulted in the United Nations Convention on IndependentGuarantees and Standby Letters of Credit ( the Convention ).

8 These rules were deliberately formu-lated to complement the Convention whose use is recommended in their Official Preface. TheISP98 drafting process itself was undertaken in regular consultation with the UNCITRAL secre-tariat and the Institute has used occasions to promote ISP98 as an opportunity also to promoteadoption of the became effective 1 January 1999. It has been endorsed by the International FinancialServices Association and the ICC Commission on Banking Technique and Practice, and issued asICC publication No.

9 590. It is currently being used and promoted by major banks which issuestandby letters of credit, and is expected to become the world standard within the next few of the close links between ISP98 and the Convention, and due to UNCITRAL s pastpractice of endorsing similar rules of practice, such as UCP500 and Incoterms 1990, the Instituteformally requests that the Commission consider endorsement of II 1998 Institute of International Banking Law & Practice, Rights Reserved.

10 Reproduction of any part of this work by any means withoutthe express written permission is by the International Financial Services Association and theICC Banking CommissionPREFACEThe International Standby Practices (ISP98) reflects generallyaccepted practice, custom, and usage of standby letters of provides separate rules for standby letters of credit in the samesense that the Uniform Customs and Practice for DocumentaryCredits (UCP) and the Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees(URDG) do for commercial letters of credit and independent formulation of standby letter of credit practices in separaterules evidences the maturity and importance of this financial prod-uct.