买方在信用证结算下的风险防范与补救买方在信用证结算下的风险防范与补救独 创 性 声 明本人郑重声明:所呈交的论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果尽我所知,除了文中特别加以标注和致谢的地方外,论文中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写的研究成果,也不包含为获得中国人民大学或其他教育机构的学位或证书所使用过的材料与我一同工作的同志对本研究所做的任何贡献均已在论文中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意签名:张智明 日期:2005.5.18 关于论文使用授权的说明本人完全了解中国人民大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定,即:学校有权保留送交论文的复印件,允许论文被查阅和借阅;学校可以公布论文的全部或部分内容,可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文签名: 张智明导师签名:曹磊 日期: 2006.5.18 摘要信用证作为国际贸易的一种主要的结算方式,它以银行信用取代了商业信用,解决了买卖双方之间的互不信任,极大地促进了国际贸易的发展 信用证是一种银行开立的有条件的保证付款的书面文件,或者说是银行在规定的日期、金额以及特定条件下愿意代出口人承购出口人汇票的保证书而跟单信用证是开证银行凭跟单汇票或仅凭信用证规定的单据付款的信用证。
信用证支付方式有以下三个特点: ⑴信用证是一种银行信用,开证银行有第一性的付款责任⑵信用证是一种自足的文件,它独立于买卖合同⑶在信用证结算方式下,银行实行的是凭单付款的原则,而不是凭货付款但由于信用证本质上是单证交易,且流程复杂,使信用证结算存在着各种风险这些风险主要在买方身上,因为卖方在装船后凭单据到银行结汇后,实质上就已经完成了这笔交易,整个航次的风险以及其他商业风险都将由买方来承担大体上可以分为信用证流程的固有风险、信用证欺诈的风险 信用证流程的固有风险是指由于信用证结算本身需要的程序使买方在货物到达卸货港时却拿不到迟到的单据,无法去提货而产生的风险和费用信用证流程的固有风险是买方在跟单信用证结算下的法律制度风险由于新科学技术在航海领域的广泛应用,船舶的航行速度有了很大提高,使海上运输时间大为缩短另一方面,结汇的速度却太慢,这就经常导致船到了卸货港,正本提单等单据还没有流转到开证银行,甚至有时仍在发货人(卖方)手中买方自然无法到开证银行付款赎单,拿不到正本提单也就无法到船方那里提货,将产生巨额的滞期费 遇到这种情况,买方一般会到一流的银行开具保函,凭保函和副本提单去提货,但这样不能完全避免损失。
因为银行会收取手续费另外,安排银行保函需要时间,因而卸货往往仍要迟延几天,仍会产生滞期费 买方必须采取一些措施去预防信用证结算下的固有风险:⑴在合同和信用证中规定买方应在卖方装船后天内收到单据,至少规定卖方应在装船后多少天 I 内到议付行交单;⑵买方控制航运,在买卖合同中约定以 FOB 买进货物,力争在租船合约中与船方约定:没有正本提单也能提货昀好能在租船合约中要求船方同意在卸货港等待正本提单的时间不计算滞期费,这样买方就可以完全避免信用证流程风险所带来的滞期费损失 在信用证结算中另一类风险就是诈骗的风险诈骗风险大概有以下几种情形:伪造全套单据的信用证欺诈;交货不符的信用证欺诈;预借提单和倒签提单 (一)对买方来说,昀大风险来自于卖方与承运人的合谋制作一套假的单据进行诈骗在信用证结算下,银行只负责审查单据,而不管单据的真实性和单据背后的买卖的真实性只要做到“单证相符,单单一致”银行就会付款信用证的这一特点为卖方用假单据诈骗提供了可乘之机买方往往信用证开出后就对整个买卖进程一无所知当意识到受骗的时候,早已经找不到卖方为了避免这种悲剧,买方应尽可能的做到:⑴清楚真正的卖方及其资信,尽量选择与国际上信誉好的大公司交易。
⑵在买卖合同中约定以 FOB 买进货物,控制航运 (二)交货不符的信用证欺诈是指卖方虽然向结汇银行提交了信用证规定的单据,却恶意的向船方交付不符合合同约定的货物卖方在付运时,船方对货物只是表面审查无误就可以签发清洁提单,船方很难发现货物质量问题和内在瑕疵而买方收到货物的时候,向卖方索赔将是一个难题 为了防止卖方在卸货港装运不符合合同约定的货物,买方应做到: ⑴在买卖合同中约定,在装货港由权威的检验机构对货物进行检验,如瑞士的 SGS,出具检验证书,并在信用证中要求卖方到银行结汇时应提交检验证书⑵要求卖方到银行开具保函,保证货物质量符合合同的约定 (三)预借提单、倒签提单是一种欺骗行为,卖方利用倒签提单日期的方法,隐瞒晚装船的事实,由此可导致买方承担更大的商业风险以及航海风险 为了防止预借提单、倒签提单情形出现,买方应尽量做到:⑴在买卖合同中以 FOB 买入货物实践中,很多倒签提单、预借提单出现在 CIF 或 CFR 条件下⑵在装货港派人监督卖方装船, 可以避免卖方隐瞒货物情况以及装船日期等情况 中国经济的崛起引起了一些不法分子的觊觎,这些人往往经验丰富,通晓 II贸易航运法律知识,能够利用信用证的漏洞进行诈骗。
加之我国对外开放时间还不长,国内企业缺乏国际贸易方面的经验,往往不能保护自己的合法利益如何防范和补救国内买家在信用证结算过程中的风险已经成为重要的问题本文详细阐述信用证的流程和特点,以及相关的法律制度,从买方的角度分析信用证结算下的固有风险、欺诈的风险,重点探讨在贸易航运实务中如何运用现行的法律和国际惯例防范这些风险并分析各种补救方法的局限性IIIAbstract Letter of credit, as one of the most important ways of international settlement, eliminates the distrust between the buyer and the seller and accelerates the development of international trade by credit of bank instead of commercial creditLetter of credit is a kind of written document issued by bank to guarantee payment conditionally. In other words, it is a guarantee that bank will pay for the draft to the seller at stipulated date、amount and under specific condition. And documentary letter of credit is a kind of credit under which the issuing bank will pay according to documentary draft or documents regulated by letter of creditLetter of credit has three characteristics: 1 Letter of credit is a credit of bank. The issuing bank has principal responsibility of payment. 2 Letter of credit is a self-sufficiency document, which is independent of sale contract. 3 Under letter of credit, bank will abide by the principle of paying against document instead of paying against goods. But there are many risks in letter of credit because it is a transaction of document in nature and has complex procedures. The risks mainly lie in the buyer, because the seller will finish the transaction after the settlement of exchange in paying bank with documents after shipment and the buyer will have to undertake the risks during the voyage and other commercial risks. The risks are generally divided into the inherent risk during the procedure and risks of fraudThe inherent risk during the procedure of letter of credit refers to the risk and charge caused by failure to receive the goods because the buyer can’t get the document when the goods arrive at the port of discharge. It is the buyer’s risk that comes out of legal regulation. Because of the widely application of new science and technology in the field of voyage, the speed of ship has been accelerated greatly and the time of voyage has been shortened a lot. On the other hand, the procedure of exchange is slow. So it will often happen that the original documents such as Bill of Lading hasn’t reached the issuing bank when the ship arrives at the port of discharge IVSometimes, the documents are still in the hand of the consignor the seller. The buyer is unable to exchange documents in the issuing bank and get the original Bill of Lading to pick up the goods from the carrier, which will lead to a large mount of demurrageIn this case, the buyer will apply for a banker’s letter of guarantee in a first-class bank and pick up the goods with letter of guarantee and ectypal Bill of Lading. But it can’t avoid losses completely. Because the bank will charge some commission charge and it needs time to arrange letter of guarantee. Delay of discharge for some da。