DRAFTS AND CALCULATION OF MATURITY DATE

DRAFTS AND CALCULATION OF MATURITY DATE
Tenor
45) The tenor must be in accordance with the terms of the credit.
a) If a draft is drawn at a tenor other than sight, or other than a certain period after sight, it must be possible to establish the maturity date from the data in the draft itself.
b) As an example of where it is possible to establish a maturity date from the data in the draft, if a credit calls for drafts at a tenor 60 days after the bill of lading date, where the date of the bill of lading is 12 May 2002, the tenor could be indicated on the draft in one of the following ways:
i. "60 days after bill of lading date 12 May 2002", or
ii. "60 days after 12 May 2002", or
iii. "60 days after bill of lading date" and elsewhere on the face of the draft state "bill of lading date 12 May 2002", or
iv. "60 days date" on a draft dated the same day as the date of the bill of lading,or
v. "11 July 2002", i.e. 60 days after the bill of lading date.
c) If the tenor refers to xxx days after the bill of lading date, the on board date is deemed to be the bill of lading date even if the on board date is prior to or later than the date of issuance of the bill of lading.
d) The UCP provides no guidance where the words "from" and "after" are used to determine maturity dates of drafts. Reference to "from" and "after" in the UCP refers solely to date terminology for periods of shipment. Where the word "from" is used to establish the maturity date, international standard banking practice would exclude the date mentioned, unless the credit specifically provides that "from" is considered to include the date mentioned. Therefore, for the purposes of determining the maturity date of a time draft, the words "from" and "after" have the same effect. Calculation of the maturity commences the day following the date of the document, shipment, or other event, i.e. 10 days after or from March 1 is March 11.
e) If a bill of lading showing more than one on board notation is presented under a credit which requires drafts to be drawn, for example, at 60 days after or from bill of lading date, and the goods according to both or all on board notations were shipped from ports within a permitted geographical area or region, the earliest of these on board dates will be used for calculation of the maturity date. Example: the credit requires shipment from European port and the bill of lading evidences on board vessel "A" from Dublin August 16, and on board vessel "B" from Rotterdam August 18. The draft should reflect 60 days from the earliest on board date in a European port, i.e. August 16.
f) If a credit requires drafts to be drawn, for example, at 60 days after or from bill of lading date, and more than one set of bills of lading are presented under one draft, the date of the last bill of lading will be used for the calculation of the maturity date.
46) While the examples refer to bill of lading dates, the same principles apply to all transport documents.