*[NOTE]

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This note has been prepared by the secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) for informational purposes only; it is not an official commentary on the Convention. Commentaries prepared by the secretariat on earlier drafts of the Convention appear in A/CN.9/213 (reproduced in UNCITRAL Yearbook, vol. XIII-1982) and A/CN.9/67 (reproduced in UNCITRAL Yearbook, vol. III-1972). 6. From the outset the work undertaken by UNCITRAL in this area consisted of finding ways to overcome the great many disparities between the various negotiable instruments laws of the world. Previous attempts at unifying the law of negotiable instruments had brought results only in a limited region or among countries of the same legal tradition. For instance, the efforts undertaken at the Hague in 1910 and 1912 and under the League of Nations in 1930 and 1931 culminating in the adoption of the Geneva Uniform Laws for Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes and Cheques had resulted in the harmonization of the negotiable instruments laws of only part of the civil law world and, on the common law side, a similar harmonization had flowed from the issuance of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882 of the United Kingdom, on which the United States Negotiable Instruments Law (superseded by article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code) and the various Bills of Exchange Acts of the Commonwealth countries had been modelled. But notwithstanding these influences, considerable variation exists in the case law and commercial practice even among countries of the same legal tradition.

UNCITRAL Convention on International Bills of Exchange and International Promissory Notes, 1988

CHAPTER I. - Sphere Of Application And Form Of The Instrument

CHAPTER II. - Interpretation

Section 1. - General provisions

Section 2. - Interpretation of formal requirements

Section 3. - Completion of an incomplete instrument

CHAPTER III. - Transfer

CHAPTER IV. - Rights And Liabilities

Section 1. - The rights of a holder and of a protected holder

Section `2. - Liabilities of the parties

A. - General provisions

B. - The drawer

C. - The maker

D. - The drawee and the acceptor

E. - The endorser

F. - The transferor by endorsement or by mere delivery

G. - The guarantor

CHAPTER `V. - Presentment, Dishonour By Non-Acceptance Or Non-Payment, And Recourse

Section `1. - Presentment for acceptance and dishonour by non-acceptance

Section `2. - Presentment for payment and dishonour by non-payment

Section `3. - Recourse

A. - Protest

B. - Notice of dishonour

Section 4. - Amount payable

CHAPTER VI. - Discharge

Section 1. - Discharge by payment

Section 2. - Discharge of other parties

CHAPTER VII. - Lost Instruments

CHAPTER VIII. - Limitation (Prescription)

CHAPTER IX. - Final Provisions

[Post Provisions]

Annex - Explanatory Note by the UNCITRAL Secretariat on the United Nations Convention on International Bills of Exchange and International Promissory Notes *[NOTE]

B. - Salient Features Of The Convention

Notes

Endnotes

Metadata

Manifest

CHAPTER IX. - Final Provisions

Notes

*[NOTE]