Banking in UK Law

As to the effect of the ruling in the present case, in my judgment, it is clear that the Court of Justice concluded that the words "debt collection" in the carve out have a meaning capable of being applied to "transactions concerning payments" within the exemption in article 13B(d)(3) (judgment, paragraph 28, last sentence). It then has to be decided whether the actual transaction in question falls within the exemption or the carve out, and this will depend on its precise facts.

To this general statement of principle as to the contractual obligations of the confirming bank to the seller, there is one established exception: that is, where the seller, for the purpose of drawing on the credit, fraudulently presents to the confirming bank documents that contain, expressly or by implication, material representations of fact that to his knowledge are untrue. The courts will not allow their process to be used by a dishonest person to carry out a fraud.

The answer must be that, where an innocent defendant's position is so changed that he will suffer an injustice if called upon to repay or to repay in full, the injustice of requiring him so to repay outweighs the injustice of denying the plaintiff restitution.

I would not go so far as to say that the Schedule 7 direction in this case had no rational connection with the objective of frustrating as far as possible Iran's weapons programmes.

While the courts will not usually require decision-makers to consult substantial categories of people liable to be affected by a proposed measure, the number of people to be consulted in this case was just one, Bank Mellat, and possibly also IRISL depending on the circumstances of their case. But the principle which required it is more than a principle of fairness.