Researching Of Crime Of Fraud On L/C

As a method of financial settlement, letter of credit (L/C) is well used in international trade. Statistics indicates that 90% of world trade, as well as 80% of import & export transactions in China, are settled by L/C. According to UCP500, L/C has the functions of transactions secure and financial accommodation owing to it's special principals. L/C has regular form and content. Different kind of L/C has different use.Crime of fraud on L/C is committing fraud by means of using a forged or altered L/C or any of its attached bills or documents, using an invalidated L/C, fraudulently obtaining a L/C, or any other ways. It is an independent crime in Criminal Law of The People's Republic of China. The parties of credit operations, including the applicant, the beneficiary, the issuing bank, and the trustee of the applicant, could be the subjects of this crime. Because of the characteristic of L/C, this crime is often committed by units. In subjective elements, the offender of this crime always seek illegal possession of properties. As a consequential offense, this crime could be an attempted crime.While determining this crime, people often confuse it with other acts, such as fraud on L/C, crime of swindling a loan, crime of contractual fraud and crime of forging or altering financial bills. It is generally accepted that the L/C of soft clause is one of the ways in crime of fraud on L/C. In my opinion, however, that is mistaken and should be rectified. Criminal Law Of The People's Republic Of China has enacted the punishments for this crime. As a general phenomenon in the field of international financial, however, the punishments and the preventive measures for this crimes are not perfect in a global scale. Countries should cooperate well to prevent this crime.