When is a document an “original”? The answer would appear obvious: “when it is not a copy”. However, in the context of documentary credits it seems that the answer is not so obvious; and, as Sir Thomas Bingham, M.R., has observed, “…there is abundant room to debate what, in the context of modern technology, is an original”.1 At issue is the proper interpretation of the International Chamber of Commerce’s Uniform Customs and Practice of Documentary Credits. UCP 500, Art. 20(b), provides that:

Unless otherwise stipulated in the Credit, banks will also accept as an original document(s), a document(s) produced or appearing to have been produced:

provided that it is marked as original, and, where necessary, appears to be signed. A document may be signed by handwriting, by facsimile signature, by perforated signature, by stamp, by symbol, or by any other mechanical or electronic method of authentication.

Article 20(b) and its predecessor (UCP 400, Art. 22(c)) have been considered on two occasions by the Court of Appeal, in Glencore v. Bank of China 2 and Kredietbank Antwerp v. Midland Bank Plc .3 The two decisions left the law confused and the banking world

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