Link issue12 Final One - SCLG

44 Banking & Finance
Benefits to sellers
• Speed and security of the
transaction processing chain, from
verification and authorisation to clearing
and settlement.
• Freedom from more costly labour,
materials, and accounting services that
are required in paper-based processing.
• Better management of cash flow,
inventory, and financial planning due to
swift bank payment.
• Incremental purchasing power on
the part of the consumer.
• Cost and risk savings by eliminating
the need to run an in-house credit
facility.
A dramatic example of the
efficiencies created by electronic
payments can be seen in the public
sector, where governments have used
innovations such as purchasing cards to
reduce paperwork, enhance financial
controls and create more robust
accounting and financial data.
Convenience
Anyone who has searched through
pockets for exact change for parking,
fumbled with foreign currency, paid
exorbitant foreign exchange
commissions, tried to cash a cheque in
another country, or been concerned
about carrying a large roll of banknotes
can appreciate the convenience of
payment cards.
Fundamental to this convenience is
virtually ubiquitous acceptance and
utility – whether it’s an apparel store in
Paris or a crafts shop in Nepal. Payment
cards work in brick-and-mortar
environments, over the phone, on the
Internet and through the post.
Applications are underway that support
new uses such as recurring payments,
insurance and payroll disbursements,
rent and utility bills, and small-ticket
transactions such as vending machines
and car parks.
Consumers place an enormous value
on convenience – the sheer convenience
of being able to access cash at an ATM or
conduct a transaction directly at the
point of sale with a credit or debit card
clearly has had an impact on economic
growth.
Security
A lost or stolen card is replaceable –
lost or stolen cash isn’t. The guarantee
that associations provide against misuse
or theft of cards is something that
consumers value. The electronic
payment system provides additional
insurance by facilitating dispute
resolution in the case of unsatisfactory
receipt of goods and services. This takes
on increasing importance with the
expansion of e-commerce.
Sellers also gain from the security of
electronic payments. A secure
electronic system reduces risks of theft
and loss to payments and receipts, and
curbs the potential for pilferage and
misplaced funds throughout the cash
chain.
Contd.from page: 42
concerned. For instance, is time limit a
question of procedural law (as in
England) or of material law (as in
Germany)? How are contractual time
limits to be incorporated into a contract
in order to make them binding? Is it
possible to interrupt the running of time
(prescription) and, if so, how? Can the
period of prescription be extended? Is it
automatically extended by negotiation?
Is it the duty of the court to dismiss a
prescribed (time-barred) claim even if
the defendant did not invoke the
argument of prescription? The list goes on.
In the light of the foregoing, the first
conclusion to be drawn is that
prescription is not uniform at all,
varying even from country to country.
Things would be far less complicated if
there was only one time limit, such as
one year, which may be applied in all
jurisdictions throughout the shipping
world. But, while unifying the period
of prescription would answer the first
question of how long the time limit is,
it would not address the many other
and in some cases more difficult
questions as mentioned above. There
is also the danger that harmonising the
period of prescription in the shipping
industry would lead to disharmony in
national legislation, so in fact, very
little would be gained by creating one
uniform time limit. Instead, it is
believed, that there needs to be
harmonization of different legal
systems which would entail hard work.
Supply Chain & Logistics Group | www.sclgme.org