A heavy price paid for notice of refusal under UCP600

The Hong Kong case Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises Pte Ltd v China CITIC Bank Corporation Ltd [2013] HKCFI 1291; [2014] 1 HKC 96, issued on 14 August 2013 and reported recently, concerned a claim under a documentary credit, raising issues of notice of refusal under the UCP600, preclusion, variation and estoppel.

The documentary credit in question was issued by the defendant, the Xiamen Branch of the China CITIC Bank (“the bank”) to the plaintiff, Swiss Singapore Overseas Ltd (“the seller”) as beneficiary in connection with an underlying sale contract between the seller and XCD (“the buyer”).