Abstract:Letters of credit (L/C) is the most important means of international trade payment, which is with bank credit instead of commercial credit, and ensuring a smooth procedure of international settlements, that promote the development of international trade. As China's reform and opening up further into inland regions, the economic exchanges between China and the externals are becoming increasingly close, and foreign trade is enlarged in scale as well, which brings along a booming L/C transaction. However, the problems which are caused by the soft clauses under L/Cs have been increasingly rigorous. According to the statistics from China customs, since the implementation of UCP500 in 1994, each year, nearly 70% documents under L/Cs have been dishonored by banks in their first presentation, because of discrepancies. That not only results in huge losses in the relevant parties of L/C, but also seriously damages the function that an L/C serves as a banker’s credit. UCP600 which was put into practice in 2007 didn’t clearly define soft clauses under L/C yet, therefore, it is necessary for us to analyze the soft clauses, have an insight into the forms of it, and put forward the corresponding preventive measures in the hope of helping staffs who examine documents to ensure a smooth L/C transaction, and avoid unnecessary losses.

Key words: Letter of credit; UCP600; soft clause; preventive measures

中文摘要:信用证是当今国际贸易中最主要的支付方式,它以银行信用代替了商业信用,保证了国际结算的顺利进行,促进了国际贸易的发展。随着我国改革开放的进一步深入和对外经济往来的日益密切，对外贸易规模也日益扩大，信用证业务迅猛发展。然而，随之而来的软条款问题日益突出。据海关统计，自UCP500实施以来，每年将近70%的信用证项下的单据向银行首次交单时存在不符而遭拒付，不仅给信用证相关当事人造成了巨大损失，也严重损害了信用证作为银行信用的支付功能。最新实施的跟单信用证统一惯例UCP600也没有对软条款问题作出明确的界定。因此，需要对信用证业务中容易出现的软条款及其形式进行分析论述，并提出相应的防范措施，以便于单证人员审核信用证的顺利进行，确保信用证业务的流畅，避免不必要的损失。

关键词：信用证; UCP600; 软条款; 防范措施