Four uncertainties around the fraud exception in documentary letters of credit under English law

The principle of independence underpins the financial attractiveness and utility of documentary credits, since it makes the assurance of payment by banks concrete. Fraud is however a well-known exception upon which the principle of independence can be set aside. It is argued in this article that English law suffers from four uncertainties as to the fraud exception and it is evaluated how such uncertainties can be remedied. It is mainly advocated that English courts should consider the issue of allocating the risk of fraud, as commercially expected by parties, as a factor in fashioning rules and equitable concerns for the fraud exception. Regrettably, the commercial reality of the distinction between complex (chain of banks) and simple documentary credits, as a core factor in determining liability, is overlooked by English courts. In contrary, there is a tendency by courts to overdramatise the role of contractual analysis. Finally, it is argued that the decision of the Privy Council in Alternative Power cannot be an authority to accept any kind of fraud that is not related to the presented documents (non-documentary fraud) as an exception to the principle of independence

An evaluation of the efficacy of UCP 600 within English and Jordanian legal orders and Jordanian commercial practices

The thesis develops and seeks to validate a conceptual model for the evaluation of the transnational effectiveness of terms regulating documentary credits. The standpoint of that evaluation is the commonly accepted median compromise of the contested needs of the parties who typically transact documentary credits. The model is formulated and validated by both a doctrinal study of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP) 600, and its previous iterations, and a functional comparative doctrinal study between English and Jordanian laws supplemented by an empirical study of Jordanian commercial practices. It is postulated that the functional elements of the substance of documentary credits are the embedded usages of irrevocability, conformity and autonomy, and that it is only by the optimal application of these usages that the sociological value of documentary credits can be achieved and the objective median compromise of the contested needs of the transacting parties arrived at are rationally deducted. It is contended, by adapting social systems theory, that what is termed in this thesis as embedded trade usages of transnational commercial transactions constitute socially diffuse law having a normative force to the extent of displacing even some categories of mandatory law arising under autopoietic Municipal legal orders. The socio-legal nature of the embedded usages of both conformity and autonomy is critically analysed in the conceptual model in order to evaluate the legal positions, and the legal communication, of UCP 600 terms under the English and Jordanian legal orders and Jordanian commercial practices

Switching from paper to electronic bills of lading - Part 1

The first part of this article proposes a conceptual framework for a sociological understanding of the uses of bills of lading. We argue that platforms that aim to facilitate an electronic format of bills of lading should be based upon the constituent components of the practices associated with paper bills of lading. In the second part of this article we suggest that Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), including blockchains, is the best technological means for facilitating the use in practice of immaterial bills of lading. The appropriate type of DLT is then evaluated in light of expected legal difficulties

Does fumigation of durum wheat and semolina with sulfuryl fluoride affect quality of the grain, semolina, and derived spaghetti and bread?

There is no information on the effect of sulfuryl fluoride (SF) on durum wheat technological properties and products made from fumigated durum wheat. Durum wheat and semolina were exposed to a range of SF applications under conditions that might be typically encountered in bulk storage facilities used in many countries. SF greatly reduced the germination percentage of fumigated durum wheat, with increasing impact under higher SF concentration, grain moisture content, and fumigation temperature. SF greatly reduced seed germination percentage, impacting more the higher the SF concentration. SF had little to no effect on grain test weight, 1,000-grain weight, hardness, protein content, semolina ash content, and mixograph properties. At the highest SF concentration (31.25 mg/L for 48 h) there was a tendency for pasta cooking loss to be increased but still acceptable, and other pasta properties were largely unaffected. Fumigation with SF did not have any impact on the baking properties of a wholemeal durum flour-commercial flour mix. Therefore, SF is not recommended if the grains are to be used as seeds for agricultural production, but for the production of semolina, pasta, and bread, SF used under typical fumigation conditions has little to no impact on technological properties of durum wheat. © 2016 AACC International, Inc

Insect Pest Management in Stored Grain

Once cereal grain is harvested and put into storage, it provides a resource for a range of insect pests of stored grain. With few exceptions, these insects rarely attack grain in the field before harvest, but once the grain is in storage there is a degree of inevitability that insect infestation will occur. This means that methods are needed to either disinfest grain or to protect it from infestation during storage. The aim of this chapter is to review recent advances in insect pest management in stored grain, ranging from methods that are well established to those that are still being evaluated. This topic has been the subject of considerable laboratory and field research as evidenced by the large and growing body of published studies. Resistance to phosphine resistance and various insecticides, as well as the phase-out of methyl bromide as an ozone-depleting substance, continue to be major drivers for research on management of insects in stored products. Other research has focussed on improving the basic understanding of various methods or ways of improving methods currently in use. Despite extensive research on a wide variety of chemical and non-chemical treatments, very few have been commercialised. Two examples are spinosad, which has been registered as a grain protectant, and sulfuryl fluoride, which is now available as a grain fumigant. The interest in non-chemical treatments, especially aeration cooling, is encouraging. In general, integrated pest management is seen as the goal of entomologists, requiring the strategic integration of multiple methods to provide maximum effect with minimal health and environmental risks. Some of the chemical and non-chemical treatments reviewed in this chapter have great potential to be used as part of an integrated approach