ISBP 745 D2: Multimodal Transport Document Title Is Not an Examination Operand

Introduction

The illusion is that the caption on the transport document is the examination operand. The credit names a “Multimodal Transport Document.” The instrument presented is titled “Combined Transport Bill of Lading,” “Bill of Lading,” or a house form. The examiner compiles a discrepancy labelled “wrong document title.” ISBP 745 D2 states the opposite architecture. The term “multimodal transport document” in ISBP 745 also includes “combined transport document.” The transport document presented need not be titled “Multimodal transport document” or “Combined transport document” or words of similar effect even when the credit so names the required document. UCP 600 Article 19(a) examines a transport document covering at least two different modes of transport, however named. The failure is binary. Either Article 19 applies to the movement the credit describes, or it does not. Mutating a title string into a refusal, or applying UCP 600 Article 20 to a routing that is multimodal, violates D2 and D1. Both errors are systemic: one truncates a complying presentation on a field the rules decouple from the title; the other isolates the document under the wrong article.

Failure Mode Analysis

Failure Mode 1: Caption-String Refusal Under a Credit That Names the Document

The credit requires a “Multimodal Transport Document.” The beneficiary presents an original titled “Combined Transport Bill of Lading,” or “Bill of Lading,” covering an inland place of receipt and a port of discharge, signed as carrier under Article 19(a) i., with places matching Article 19(a) iii. The examiner refuses: “document not titled as required.” ISBP 745 D2 states that the transport document presented need not be titled “Multimodal transport document” or “Combined transport document” or words of similar effect even when the credit so names the required document. Article 19(a) examines the instrument however named. The refusal violates D2.

Deterministic resolution: Read the movement. If at least two different modes are utilized, apply Article 19 and ISBP 745 D1(a). Truncate the title test. Apply the six lettered gates in Article 19(a). Do not compile a caption discrepancy.

Failure Mode 2: Article 20 Mutated onto a Credit Whose Routing Is Multimodal

The credit requires a “full set of clean on board ocean bills of lading.” Field data show an inland place of receipt and a seaport of discharge, or a port-of-loading box completed with an inland place that is not a port. The presented document is a carrier-signed combined-transport form. The examiner applies UCP 600 Article 20 and refuses missing on-board wording for a named vessel at a named port of loading as if the movement were port-to-port. ISBP 745 D1(c) states that when a credit requires a transport document other than a multimodal or combined transport document, and it is clear from the routing of the goods stated in the credit that more than one mode of transport is to be utilized — inland place of receipt or final destination, or a port field completed with an inland place — UCP 600 Article 19 is to be applied. Applying Article 20 violates D1(c).

Deterministic resolution: Test the credit’s places first. If the routing uses at least two modes, isolate Article 20. Apply Article 19. Apply ISBP 745 D2 to the title. Apply ISBP 745 D6 through ISBP 745 D8 only for shipment-date and first-leg-sea on-board notation. Do not mutate Article 20’s port-to-port on-board rule onto Article 19 because the credit used the words “bill of lading.”

Failure Mode 3: Silence on Modes Compiled as a Single-Mode Indication, or a Single-Mode Indication Treated as a Title Problem

The multimodal document is silent on one or all modes. The examiner refuses because the second mode is not named, or because the title reads “Bill of Lading.” Alternatively, the document expressly indicates that shipment or dispatch has been effected by only one mode of transport, and the examiner accepts it because the caption says “Multimodal Transport Document.” ISBP 745 D1(b)(i) states that a multimodal or combined transport document is not to indicate that shipment or dispatch has been effected by only one mode of transport, but it may be silent regarding some or all of the modes of transport utilized. Silence is permitted. A single-mode indication is not. Title does not cure a single-mode indication. Title does not create a discrepancy out of silence.

Deterministic resolution: Ask whether the document indicates that shipment or dispatch has been effected by only one mode. If yes, refuse under ISBP 745 D1(b)(i). If it is silent on modes, do not refuse on that ground. Do not recode either result as a D2 title miss.

Deterministic Resolution Architecture

1. Read the routing, not the caption. If the credit requires a transport document covering movement utilizing at least two different modes of transport, ISBP 745 D1(a) applies UCP 600 Article 19, however named.

2. Apply the D1(c) override. If the credit names a document other than a multimodal or combined transport document, but the places in the credit show more than one mode — inland place of receipt or final destination, or a port field completed with an inland place that is not a port — apply Article 19. Decouple the named instrument from the examination article.

3. Truncate title. ISBP 745 D2: the presented document need not be titled “Multimodal transport document” or “Combined transport document” or words of similar effect even when the credit so names the required document. “Multimodal” includes “combined.” Do not refuse on caption.

4. Run Article 19(a) i. through vi. Carrier name and signature capacity. Dispatch, taking in charge, or shipped on board at the place stated in the credit, with the issuance-date or notation-date rule in Article 19(a) ii. Places in Article 19(a) iii., including an “intended” vessel or port. Full set. Terms of carriage present or incorporated, contents not examined. No indication that the document is subject to a charter party.

5. Isolate D1(b)(i). Silence on some or all modes is not a discrepancy. An indication that shipment or dispatch has been effected by only one mode of transport is a discrepancy. Title does not mutate either state.

6. Isolate D1(b)(ii) and Article 19(a) vi. A charter-party indication is a separate binary gate. D2 does not move the document into Article 22.

7. Do not use D2 as D6. Shipment date, dated on-board notation, and port-of-loading field versus place-of-receipt field are ISBP 745 D6, ISBP 745 D7, and ISBP 745 D8. Compile those only after the Article 19 path is selected.

8. Article 14(a) and Article 14(d). Examine on the documents alone. Data need not be identical. Absence of the credit’s caption is not a conflict when D2 and Article 19(a) “however named” are the practice.

Conclusion

ISBP 745 D2 is a title truncate, not a document-selection article and not an on-board-notation article. Article 19 applies to a transport document covering at least two different modes of transport, however named. ISBP 745 D1(a) and ISBP 745 D1(c) select that article from the movement and the routing. The examiner who refuses a combined-transport form, a house form, or a bill of lading caption on a multimodal routing violates D2. The examiner who applies Article 20 because the credit said “ocean bill of lading” while the places are inland-plus-port violates D1(c). The deterministic path is: routing, article, title truncate, then the six lettered gates of Article 19(a). Caption is not a seventh gate.

FAQ

Does a credit that requires a “Multimodal Transport Document” make any other title a discrepancy?

No. ISBP 745 D2 states that the transport document presented need not be titled “Multimodal transport document” or “Combined transport document” or words of similar effect even when the credit so names the required document. UCP 600 Article 19(a) examines a multimodal or combined transport document however named. The caption is truncated. The six lettered gates in Article 19(a) remain.

The credit calls for an ocean bill of lading but shows an inland place of receipt. Which article examines the transport document?

UCP 600 Article 19. ISBP 745 D1(c) states that when a credit requires the presentation of a transport document other than a multimodal or combined transport document, and it is clear from the routing of the goods stated in the credit that more than one mode of transport is to be utilized — for example an inland place of receipt or final destination, or a port field completed with a place which is in fact an inland place and not a port — UCP 600 Article 19 is to be applied. UCP 600 Article 20 is isolated.

If the multimodal transport document is silent on the modes used, is that a discrepancy?

No. ISBP 745 D1(b)(i) states that a multimodal or combined transport document is not to indicate that shipment or dispatch has been effected by only one mode of transport, but it may be silent regarding some or all of the modes of transport utilized. Silence is permitted. An express single-mode indication is not. Do not recode silence as a D2 title miss.

Does D2 allow a document that indicates it is subject to a charter party?

No. UCP 600 Article 19(a) vi. states that the document must appear to contain no indication that it is subject to a charter party. ISBP 745 D1(b)(ii) states that a multimodal or combined transport document is not to contain any indication of a charter party as described in ISBP 745 G2(a) and G2(b). D2 truncates title. It does not truncate the charter-party prohibition. Article 22 remains the charter-party bill of lading article.

Is ISBP 745 D2 the on-board notation, date, and port rule?

No. ISBP 745 D2 is the title-and-term rule. ISBP 745 D6 states that the issuance date of a multimodal transport document will be deemed to be the date of receipt, dispatch, taking in charge or shipment on board and the date of shipment unless it bears a separate dated notation. ISBP 745 D7 states that when a credit requires shipment to commence from a port, a multimodal transport document is to indicate a dated on board notation, and in that event ISBP 745 E6(b)–(d) will also apply. ISBP 745 D8 addresses the named port of loading in the port-of-loading field versus the place-of-receipt field with a dated on board notation. Isolate D2 from D6, D7, and D8.