(1) Countersign Bill of Lading and Advance Bill of Lading

In international sales contracts and letters of credit, it is generally stipulated that the seller must provide the on-board bill of lading. The so-called on-board bill of lading refers to the bill of lading issued after the goods are shipped. This kind of bill of lading is marked with the name of the ship, and some also indicate the date of shipment, indicating that the goods have been shipped on that day, and its date is the only basis to measure whether the exporter can ship on time within the shipment period stipulated in the contract. Under the payment method of letter of credit, if the exporter can't ship the goods within the prescribed time limit, he can't receive the payment under the letter of credit. Therefore, in practice, there have been counter-signed bills of lading and advance bills of lading.

An advanced bill of lading means that the actual shipment date of the goods is later than the shipment date stipulated in the letter of credit. In order to make the date of bill of lading consistent with the date of shipment stipulated in the letter of credit, the shipper requires the carrier to sign the bill of lading according to the date of shipment stipulated in the letter of credit. This kind of bill of lading is called "reverse bill of lading". Advanced bill of lading is a bill of lading borrowed by the shipper before the shipment of goods. This is because the latest shipment date of the letter of credit is approaching, but the goods have not been fully shipped at this time, or the goods have been accepted by the carrier, but the shipment has not yet started. In order to obtain the bill of lading in conformity with the letter of credit, the shipper requires the carrier to issue the on-board bill of lading first, so as to handle the settlement of foreign exchange as scheduled. Countersigned bills of lading and advance bills of lading are illegal bills of lading, which constitute fraud to bona fide consignees and are not allowed by laws and maritime customs of various countries.

(2) Straight Bill of Lading

According to the nature of ocean bills of lading, most export enterprises believe that all ocean bills of lading represent the rights of goods and belong to the documents of title. As long as you have mastered the bill of lading, you have mastered the ownership of the goods. But in fact, this is extremely wrong. According to the way the consignee searches, the ocean bill of lading can be divided into three types: registered bill of lading, bearer bill of lading and registered bill of lading ... Among them, registered bill of lading, also known as registered bill of lading, is a non-negotiable ocean document. According to the practice of some countries such as the United States, the consignee of a straight bill of lading can release the goods without showing the original bill of lading, and only need to submit identification to prove that he is the consignee. Therefore, the straight bill of lading can no longer be used as a certificate of ownership, but only as a receipt of goods and proof of the contract of carriage.

In addition, the straight bill of lading limits the consignee to the designated person (usually the importer), which makes the exporter lose control of the right to the goods. If the straight bill of lading and payment methods (such as collection) are blindly adopted, the importer can get the goods at the same time without paying the redemption order, resulting in the exporter's goods and goods being empty.

(3) Short-term bill of lading

Short bill means that the surface record of bill of lading strictly conforms to the letter of credit, but it is seriously inconsistent with the actual situation of the goods, or even there is no goods at all. In the letter of credit business, as long as the documents meet the requirements of the letter of credit, the bank relies on the cash of the documents and does not examine the source and authenticity of the documents. Some unscrupulous businessmen use the characteristics of letter of credit, such as "document transaction and strict conformity", to cheat. Use a short bill of lading marked "clean", "on board" and "the date of shipment is earlier than the contract delivery date". The carrier only has the right and obligation to check the superficial condition of the goods, and has no right to open the box for inspection at will, so the carrier cannot know the real situation of the goods. In addition, the other two basic documents in a set of foreign exchange settlement documents: the seller's invoice and the insurance policy, are easily forged. The invoice is issued by the seller, and the insurance company only issues the insurance policy according to whether the premium is paid, and does not check whether the goods will be shipped later. Therefore, as long as the goods are in good surface condition, the seller can get the clean bill of lading, settle foreign exchange with the bank together with other documents, and then slip away after receiving the money every day, while the applicant for opening the L/C has paid the money but has not received or received the goods, so he can only look at the documents and sigh.

4) House bill of lading

The bill of lading refers to the bill of lading issued by the freight forwarder. In law and settlement, it is no different from the ocean bill of lading (MASTER B/L). The appearance of bill of lading, on the one hand, conforms to the present situation of the development of shipping industry; On the other hand, it has also paralyzed exporters to some extent. In international sales contracts concluded on FOB terms, importers and contract carriers (generally speaking, freight forwarders who issue their own bills of lading are often called "contract carriers" or "non-vessel operating carriers") often use the internal bills of lading issued by the contract carriers to commit joint fraud. The similarity of this kind of cases is that foreign importers have the right to book shipping space by signing FOB price clauses in trade contracts, and then they appoint overseas freight forwarders (contract carriers) to arrange transportation, and then the overseas freight forwarders entrust domestic freight forwarders to book shipping space and ship the goods to the actual carriers. The overseas freight forwarders as contract carriers issue indoor bills of lading to the shippers, that is, domestic exporters, as proof of drawing payment, while the domestic freight forwarders actually get the marine bills of lading (domestic freight forwarders). On the basis of the actual carrier's ocean bill of lading (shipowner's bill of lading), foreign importers pick up the goods abroad through overseas freight forwarders, and do not honor the payment for the exporters, but the importers can't receive the payment with the HOUSE bill of lading. After the incident, domestic exporters often can't find the contract carrier or the contract carrier doesn't come to China to respond. However, the court will not hold the actual carrier liable, because he has already recovered his own ocean bill of lading. (5) issue a clean bill of lading with a letter of guarantee.

It is an alternative to issue a clean bill of lading with a letter of guarantee. In order not to affect the settlement of foreign exchange with the bank, the shipper submits a letter of guarantee to the carrier to bear all the responsibilities arising from the issuance of the clean bill of lading, and requires the carrier to issue a bill of lading without any comments when issuing the bill of lading, so that the shipper can successfully settle foreign exchange with the bank with the clean bill of lading.

Issuing clean bills of lading by letter of guarantee is an alternative permitted by commercial practice. Commercial practice allows clean bills of lading to be issued by letter of guarantee, not only to enable the owner to settle foreign exchange smoothly by clean bills of lading, but also to enable the freight formalities to proceed smoothly.

However, issuing the bill of lading according to the letter of guarantee, after all, violates the principle that the expression of the document must not be false. It is inevitable for the shipper to issue a clean bill of lading according to the letter of guarantee, and it is not considered as fraud to the shipper. In addition, in many countries, according to the law, there is a danger that the guarantee is invalid. Therefore, it is risky for the carrier to accept the letter of guarantee and issue a clean bill of lading. Therefore, the carrier must be particularly cautious about the shipper's request for a clean bill of lading with a letter of guarantee.

(6) Delivery without bill of lading

Delivery without original bill of lading is also called delivery without original bill of lading, which means that the cargo carrier gives the goods it carries to the consignee who does not hold the original bill of lading in international trade. If the carrier delivers the goods to the consignee without the original bill of lading, it will damage the legitimate rights of the seller or the bank to the goods, which not only violates the delivery obligation due in the transportation contract, but also constitutes infringement and is illegal. The general principle of its liability is that the carrier shall take full responsibility for the delivery of goods without bill of lading, and shall be liable for damages as long as there is no exemption, regardless of subjective fault. However, in the actual operation process, there are still many fraudulent acts of delivering goods without bill of lading.

1, the importer and the shipping company (carrier) jointly cheated and delivered the goods without the bill of lading.

In an international contract for the sale of goods concluded on FOB terms, the buyer usually designates the transportation company (carrier) and instructs the seller to deliver the goods under the sales contract to the domestic agent of the designated carrier. In shipping practice, this kind of business is called "designated goods". This practice stems from the agreement between the buyer and the seller, which is understandable. However, there have been frequent cases of illegal foreign buyers taking advantage of the opportunity of the designated shipping company (carrier) to commit fraud recently, resulting in heavy losses for China exporters. The basic mode of this kind of maritime fraud is that foreign buyers use FOB clauses in trade contracts, collude with their designated shipping companies (carriers), and defraud domestic sellers of goods by delivering goods without bill of lading. Usually, the result is: domestic sellers are empty of goods and money, and foreign buyers and shipping companies (carriers) "disappear" or have no compensation ability at all after the incident. Moreover, even if it has the ability to compensate, it is not easy for domestic sellers to spend a lot of legal fees and attorney fees abroad to fight a transnational lawsuit.

2. Guaranteed delivery without bill of lading.

In practical business, especially offshore transportation, such as trade with Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, goods often arrive before transport documents. Because the consignee doesn't have the original bill of lading, it can't pick up the goods for resale or sale in time, which will lead to a series of problems such as the detention cost, quality change and market price fluctuation of the goods in Hong Kong. In this case, it is customary to solve it by ensuring delivery. That is, the consignee provides the shipping company with a written letter of guarantee countersigned by the bank, requiring that the goods should be picked up first and then the bill of lading should be paid, without the title certificate. However, if the carrier gives the goods to the holder of the non-original bill of lading, one of them may cause the wrong delivery and constitute an infringement on the holder of the bill of lading. In the process of delivering goods without bill of lading, it is not necessarily the buyer of the sales contract who picks up the goods, but it may be an impostor, the consignee is often difficult to find, and the ship may steal the goods. Second, it may happen that the importer's credit is not good, defrauding the bank to trust the goods, and then fleeing privately with the money.

Second, the corresponding preventive measures against the risks of ocean bills of lading

(1) Carefully select trading partners and conduct in-depth credit investigation.

There are countless companies engaged in trade in the world, but many companies are not in good financial and goodwill condition. Because the company laws of different countries are different, in many countries, registered companies do not need to go through strict examination and approval procedures and pay a certain registered capital. In order to prevent fraudulent companies, it is necessary to carefully select trading partners and conduct in-depth credit investigation. The so-called good credit status includes two aspects: first, good assets, considerable assets, good operating conditions and ability to perform contracts; Second, it can perform the contract in good faith and will not tear it up at will.

Credit investigation is the "first step" and the most important step to decide whether to make a realistic transaction with the tentative transaction object. In its publication No.515, the International Chamber of Commerce pointed out that "mutual understanding" may be more important than "knowing how to do it". At present, China companies often fall into a misunderstanding when choosing trading partners, that is, they are relatively cautious when choosing companies from developing countries, but they are too worried when dealing with companies from developed regions, such as the United States. In addition, China often takes it lightly when dealing with some old customers, but sometimes the trap is often in it.

Conditional large domestic companies can conduct credit investigation through local representative offices. If there is no such institution in the local area, they can entrust professional consulting and investigation institutions to carefully examine the registered capital, paid-in capital, profit and loss, business scope, company equipment, bank address, business style and past history of customers. The investigation report provided by this professional consulting and investigation institution is much more objective and comprehensive than other channels. China can take corresponding payment methods and measures according to the results of the investigation report to minimize the risk. At present, many domestic enterprises often do not do enough in credit investigation. They always think that handling fees will reduce profits, but they often lose big because of small. In addition, it is also important to pay attention to the international and domestic industry trends. For example, the International Chamber of Commerce announces some fraud cases to its member countries every year. For example, 1996, a French company defrauded a company in Liaoning, causing direct economic losses of more than 2 million US dollars. Later, it was discovered that this French company was sued by a company in Hunan two years ago and lost the case.

(2) Strictly master the reverse bill of lading and the advance bill of lading, and issue a clean bill of lading with guarantee.

In the international trade sales contract, the delivery date is an important element of the contract, and the shipment date is directly related to the delivery date. If the seller fails to deliver the goods within the specified time, which violates the terms of the shipment date of the contract, the buyer has the right to lodge a claim or refuse to receive the goods. In addition, the buyer should submit clean goods with good packaging, otherwise the buyer has the right to lodge a claim or refuse to accept the goods. Countersign bill of lading and advance bill of lading cover up the fact that the actual date of shipment is later than the date required by the contract and the letter of credit, and issuing clean bill of lading with guarantee covers up the fact that the goods are in poor surface condition, which are fraudulent acts and are not allowed by law. In addition, the reverse signing of the bill of lading, the advance borrowing of the bill of lading and the issuance of the clean bill of lading with a letter of guarantee are all carried out by the shipper and the carrier in collusion, so both parties should bear legal responsibility for the consequences of these three false acts, and relevant parties should strictly grasp and actively guard against them.

For the buyer, the time of shipment should be fully foreseen and the final time of shipment stipulated in the letter of credit should be sufficient to ensure that the goods are shipped within the specified time. At present, China's ports are crowded and the shipping schedule is not allowed. Export enterprises should fully consider these factors when signing contracts, booking shipping spaces and delivering goods. Once it is found that the delayed shipment of goods is inevitable, it is best to negotiate with the buyer to modify the terms of the letter of credit to modify the latest shipment date (in some cases, the letter of credit has been revised many times to make the documents consistent); Or change the payment method, such as changing the payment by letter of credit to the payment by bank collection. If negotiation fails, the seller had better choose to give up, that is, terminate the foreign trade contract. If litigation is involved, the buyer will hold the seller responsible, and the court will also consider the factors that the buyer does not agree to amend the letter of credit or change the payment method to reduce the loss, that is, both parties are at fault and both parties should bear the responsibility. If the seller is unwilling to give up and still delivers the goods to the ship without negotiation, the bank refuses to settle the foreign exchange on the grounds that the documents are inconsistent, and the seller will not receive the payment. The most suitable method for the surface condition of the goods is to replace the goods in time. If there is not enough time, we can negotiate with the consignee to extend the shipment time.

For the carrier, even if the seller asks to open a clean bill of lading, a bill of lading or an advance bill of lading under the condition of issuing a letter of guarantee, he should not hesitate to refuse. Because it is fraudulent to countersign a bill of lading, bill of lading or issue a clean bill of lading in the form of a letter of guarantee, the letter of guarantee issued by the guarantor for fraud will be deemed invalid, and the court often rejects the carrier's claim with an invalid letter of guarantee, which is difficult to protect the carrier's interests.

(3) Use the straight bill of lading carefully according to the situation.

With the increase of fraud cases of straight bill of lading, the inconsistency of straight bill of lading at home and abroad is well known. Therefore, it is not necessary to completely ban the use of straight bills of lading, but it should be used cautiously in the import and export trade with the United States, Dominica and China.

1, telegraphic transfer before issuance

Originally, as a way of paying first and then delivering, the former T/T is completely risk-free for the exporter's collection, whether by way of registered bill of lading or even by way of electricity. However, in practice, some exporters will ship the goods and fax a copy of the bill of lading to the other party at the request of the importer, and then send the original bill of lading after receiving the T/T payment. In this case, if a straight bill of lading is used, the exporter may still pick up the goods with a copy of the bill of lading without paying. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid issuing a straight bill of lading before making sure that the other party has paid. If the importer requests, the alternative method can be to arrange shipment by bearer bill of lading first, and then ask the carrier to issue a registered bill of lading after receiving the payment. Otherwise, the former TIT may exist in name only and lose the payment guarantee.

2. When the foreign exchange is collected by D/P, the other party requires a registered bill of lading for collection.

This situation should be resolutely rejected. Because first of all, the bank that collects money through D/P only collects and keeps the bill of lading, and does not assume the responsibility of payment. Since both parties have chosen D/P, collection by bearer bill of lading is an inevitable choice. When doing D/P, the initiative lies with the exporter, and the collection should only be based on the instruction bill of lading (blank bill of lading is rarely used at present, because it is for any bill of lading holder and is not safe for both importers and exporters). Otherwise, you may lose the opportunity to control property rights.

3. A letter of credit requires documents to be presented by a registered bill of lading.

Because the payment method of letter of credit is characterized by replacing commercial credit with bank credit, and taking "single conformity, single conformity" as the absolute condition of payment, many exporters often cannot guard against the risks of straight bill of lading under letter of credit. In practice, exporters often refuse to pay because the documents do not match, and only after the bank returns the documents do they find that the goods have been taken away. In order to prevent this, the best choice is, of course, to avoid accepting letters of credit requiring a straight bill of lading as much as possible, and to ask the issuer to change the straight bill of lading into a bill of lading to order. Because the latter can not only ensure that exporters and banks control property rights through bills of lading, but also have no influence on importers' delivery. If the importer insists on a straight bill of lading, his motives are questionable. If exporters have to accept documentary bills of lading in order to expand their business, they should first check the credit status of the issuing bank through relevant channels (such as domestic banks and domestic and foreign business relations), because it is equally important for the issuing bank to control the property rights through bills of lading. When a reputable issuing bank accepts the conditions for issuing a straight bill of lading, it will certainly make a more careful inspection of the applicant, that is, the importer, and it will not unreasonably refuse to pay at any time. Secondly, the exporter should prepare the documents very carefully, so as to avoid the possibility of refusing payment because of "discrepancies" as much as possible. Finally, we should have a certain understanding of the laws of the other country. For example, American law stipulates that the carrier of straight bill of lading can deliver the goods without the original bill of lading on the premise that the shipper has no contrary requirements, and the shipper should emphasize in writing that the carrier should deliver the goods with the original bill of lading and leave evidence. Once the goods are delivered without bill of lading, the carrier can be held accountable. Of course, this is a last resort. 4) Seriously conclude the terms of the letter of credit. Avoid empty orders

The fraud cases of short bills of lading are mostly cheated by developing countries in the third world. The reasons are as follows: (1) They blindly pursue the lowest price when buying goods, often ignoring the seller's understanding, signing sales contracts at random, and ignoring the seller's credit investigation, and rashly opening letters of credit to people without "credit". In this way, it is easy to be used by scammers. Of course, swindlers can easily pay low prices to attract them, because it costs almost nothing. (2) Most third world countries are unfamiliar with international trade, and only three basic documents stipulated by the International Chamber of Commerce (namely, seller's invoice, shipper's invoice, bill of lading, and insurance policy) are used as negotiation conditions, which also gives fraudsters an opportunity. (3) The "pure document" nature of the letter of credit itself provides opportunities for short bills of lading.

In view of the above three points, cheating can be completely avoided, and the loopholes formed by the nature of the letter of credit can be overcome by the contents of the letter of credit. As the applicant for opening an L/C, the importer should draw up clauses in the L/C to strictly restrict the exporter's behavior, especially to strictly stipulate the signatory of the document and the contents of the document, so as to prevent the seller from cheating. In the terms of negotiation stipulated in the letter of credit, in addition to the three basic documents such as invoice, bill of lading and insurance policy, there are also some manufacturers' quality certificates, official commodity inspection certificates and export origin certificates that are not easy to be forged. , must be attached. For example, in the letter of credit, it can be stipulated that the seller must provide the shipping certificate issued by a notary public to confirm that the ship has been loaded according to the date on the bill of lading; The seller may also be required to provide an inspection certificate issued by an internationally renowned inspection agency or local chamber of commerce to confirm that the shipped goods meet the requirements of the letter of credit, such as SGS certificate (that is, the commodity inspection report provided by Swiss general evaluation company); The carrier or shipping agent who requests to sign the bill of lading is a large-scale transportation enterprise with outstanding reputation and good management, which can greatly increase the protection of the buyer's rights and interests.

(e) Use FOB trade terms carefully to prevent shipping companies from delivering goods without a bill of lading.

In the process of concluding an international trade contract, as an exporter, we should be vigilant and pay full attention to the risks of "designated goods". In order to control risks, it is suggested that exporters adopt CIF clause and reject FOB clause, so that they can control the transportation links of goods themselves and choose a reputable shipping company, which can effectively prevent the fraudulent behavior of the shipowner of the shipping company, such as delivering goods at the destination port without bill of lading.

However, if foreign businessmen insist on FOB terms and designate shipping companies and freight forwarders to arrange transportation, in order to conclude the transaction, exporters can accept the use of FOB terms and designated shipping companies, but they cannot accept freight forwarders operating in China without the approval of MOFTEC or overseas freight forwarders' representative offices to arrange transportation, and explain to foreign businessmen that it is illegal to operate freight forwarders in China without approval and issue bills of lading.

If foreign businessmen still insist on designating overseas freight forwarders, in order not to affect the export, they must strictly follow the procedures, that is, the bill of lading for designating overseas freight forwarders must entrust a freight forwarding enterprise recognized by our department to issue and control the goods, and at the same time, the freight forwarding enterprise that issued the bill of lading will issue a letter of guarantee, promising to release the goods with the original bill of lading circulated by the bank under the letter of credit after the goods arrive at the destination port, otherwise they will bear the compensation responsibility for releasing the goods without the bill of lading.

At present, China has not promulgated the Measures for the Administration of International Freight Forwarders' Bills of Lading. Therefore, when trading on FOB terms, foreign trade companies should not easily accept freight forwarders' bills of lading, especially overseas freight forwarders' bills of lading designated by foreign investors. If you accept the bill of lading of the designated forwarder, the control of the goods will always be in the hands of the overseas forwarder, and the actual carrier can't control the cargo rights, so he can only obey the instructions of the forwarder. To take a step back, the seller has to accept the bill of lading of the contract carrier for business reasons, so domestic exporters should ask for the bill of lading of the contract carrier that has been filed with the Ministry of Communications of China, so that in case of disputes, they can get compensation, otherwise blindly accommodating foreign importers is tantamount to self-destruction.

(6) Banks should carefully provide guarantees to prevent shipping companies from delivering goods without bill of lading.

The main reason why this kind of fraud cases surrounding the delivery of goods without bill of lading are successful is: (1) When issuing a letter of guarantee for delivery without bill of lading, it is impossible for a bank to know the details of the goods after receiving the documents, such as the quantity of goods, shipping marks, bill of lading number, etc., as when issuing a letter of guarantee, and the bank is often not very clear, but only knows the approximate price and approximate name of the goods. (2) The fraudulent importer has a certain amount of compensation guarantee or trust receipt, which is easy to give the issuing bank an illusion that the borrowing amount does not exceed the compensation guarantee amount. (3) Fraudsmen often cheat ships with the same name, thus stealing other people's goods.

The effective measures to prevent this kind of fraud are as follows: (1) When opening a letter of credit, the issuing bank clearly stipulates the shipping mark in the letter of credit, indicates the goods on the delivery guarantee, and adds the letter of credit number. In this way, the applicant can only pick up the goods stipulated in the letter of credit, and the issuing bank that issued the letter of guarantee will not have great risks. (2) The issuing bank can also obtain the detailed information of the goods through the negotiating bank to know whether the documents have been negotiated and whether the goods really exist, so as to avoid being cheated. (3) The issuing bank may also require the importer to state in its compensation guarantee or trust receipt that it bears unlimited liability, and may require it to provide a guarantee, or a reputable third party may provide an unlimited liability guarantee.