A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(economics) A term used to describe minimal governmental involvement in an economy, allowing market forces and individuals to make their own decisions, with little or no regulation. landbridge (shipping) The movement of containers from a foreign country by vessel, transiting a country by rail or truck, and then being loaded aboard another vessel for delivery to a second foreign country. An example would be a container from Shanghai which arrives in the U.S. at Tacoma, Washington and is carried by rail to New Jersey where it is shipped by ocean to London (water-rail-water operation). landed price (named location) See Incoterms 1990. Lanham Act of 1947 (U.S. law) Federal legislation governing trademarks and other symbols for identifying goods sold in interstate commerce. As amended, it allows a manufacturer to protect his brand or trademark in the United States by having it recorded on a government register in the U.S. Patent Office. Also provides for the legal right to register any distinctive mark. lash See lighter aboard ship. lat The currency of Latvia. 1LvL=100 sintim. Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) See Latin American Integration Association. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
landbridge
(shipping) The movement of containers from a foreign country by vessel, transiting a country by rail or truck, and then being loaded aboard another vessel for delivery to a second foreign country. An example would be a container from Shanghai which arrives in the U.S. at Tacoma, Washington and is carried by rail to New Jersey where it is shipped by ocean to London (water-rail-water operation). landed price (named location) See Incoterms 1990. Lanham Act of 1947 (U.S. law) Federal legislation governing trademarks and other symbols for identifying goods sold in interstate commerce. As amended, it allows a manufacturer to protect his brand or trademark in the United States by having it recorded on a government register in the U.S. Patent Office. Also provides for the legal right to register any distinctive mark. lash See lighter aboard ship. lat The currency of Latvia. 1LvL=100 sintim. Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) See Latin American Integration Association. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
landed price (named location)
See Incoterms 1990. Lanham Act of 1947 (U.S. law) Federal legislation governing trademarks and other symbols for identifying goods sold in interstate commerce. As amended, it allows a manufacturer to protect his brand or trademark in the United States by having it recorded on a government register in the U.S. Patent Office. Also provides for the legal right to register any distinctive mark. lash See lighter aboard ship. lat The currency of Latvia. 1LvL=100 sintim. Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) See Latin American Integration Association. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Lanham Act of 1947
(U.S. law) Federal legislation governing trademarks and other symbols for identifying goods sold in interstate commerce. As amended, it allows a manufacturer to protect his brand or trademark in the United States by having it recorded on a government register in the U.S. Patent Office. Also provides for the legal right to register any distinctive mark. lash See lighter aboard ship. lat The currency of Latvia. 1LvL=100 sintim. Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) See Latin American Integration Association. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lash
See lighter aboard ship. lat The currency of Latvia. 1LvL=100 sintim. Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) See Latin American Integration Association. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lat
The currency of Latvia. 1LvL=100 sintim. Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) See Latin American Integration Association. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA)
See Latin American Integration Association. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) (regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latin American Integration Association (LAIA)
(LAIA)
(regional trade alliance) LAIA was created by the 1980 Montevideo Treaty as a replacement to the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA). LAFTA was rejected because members felt its rules governing integration trends were too rigid. LAIA, an association involving Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, since has declined as a major Latin American integration effort in favor of regional efforts, such as Mercosur. See Mercosur. lay order (customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lay order
(customs) The period during which imported merchandise may remain at the place of unlading without some action being taken for its disposition, i.e., beyond the 5-day General Order period. See general order. League of Arab States See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
League of Arab States
See Arab League. least developed countries (LDC's) (economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
least developed countries (LDC's)
(economics) Some 36 of the world's poorest countries. considered by the United Nations to be the least developed of the less developed countries. Most of them are small in terms of area and population, and some are land-locked or small island countries. They are generally characterized by low: per capita incomes, literacy levels, and medical standards; subsistence agriculture; and a lack of exploitable minerals and competitive industries. Many suffer from aridity, floods, hurricanes, and excessive animal and plant pests, and most are situated in the zone 10 to 30 degrees north latitude. These countries have little prospect of rapid economic development in the foreseeable future and are likely to remain heavily dependent upon official development assistance for many years. Most are in Africa, but a few, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Laos, and Nepal, are in Asia. Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere classified by the United Nations as "least developed." See developing countries; less developed country. legal entity (law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
legal entity
(law) Any individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization that has, in the eyes of the law, the capacity to make a contract or an agreement, and the abilities to assume an obligation and to discharge an indebtedness. A legal entity is a responsible being in the eyes of the law and can be sued for damages if the performance of a contract or agreement is not met. See also person. legal person See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
legal person
See person; legal entity. legal tender (banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
legal tender
(banking/currency/law) Any money that is recognized as being lawful for use by a debtor to pay a creditor, who must accept same in the discharge of a debt unless the contract between the parties specifically states that another type of money is to be used. lek The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lek
The currency of Albania. 1L=100 qintars. lempira The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lempira
The currency of Honduras. 1L=100 centavos. lender of last resort (banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lender of last resort
(banking) One of the functions and a major raison d'être of a modern central bank; whereby the bank has to provide liquid assets to the banking system when the existing liquid assets of the banking system threaten to deplete. leone The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
leone
The currency of Sierra Leone. 1Le=100 cents. less developed country (LDC) (economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
less developed country (LDC)
(economics) A country showing: (1) a poverty level of income, (2) a high rate of population increase, (3) a substantial portion of its workers employed in agriculture, (4) a low proportion of adult literacy, (5) high unemployment, and (6) a significant reliance on a few items for export. Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Terms such as third world, poor, developing nations, and underdeveloped have also been used to describe less developed countries. lesser developed country (LLDC) (economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lesser developed country (LLDC)
(economics) The classification LLDC was developed by the United Nations to give some guidance to donor agencies and countries about an equitable allocation of foreign assistance. The criteria for designating a country an LLDC, originally adopted by the UN Committee for Development Planning in 1971, have been modified several times. Criteria have included low: per capita income, literacy, and manufacturing share of the country's total gross domestic product. There is continuing concern that the criteria should be more robust and less subject to the possibility of easy fluctuation of a country between less developed and least developed status. less than container load (LCL) (shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
less than container load (LCL)
(shipping) A shipment of cargo that does not fill a container and is merged with cargo for more than one consignee or from more than one shipper. A container may be packed with LCL cargo at a container freight station for LCL delivery. less than truckload (LTL) (shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
less than truckload (LTL)
(shipping) A shipment weighing less than the weight required for the application of the truckload rate. letter of assignment A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
letter of assignment
A document with which the assignor assigns rights to a third party. See assignment. letter of credit (L/C) (banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
letter of credit (L/C)
(banking) Formal term: Documentary credit or documentary letter of credit. A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A letter of credit is a document issued by a bank stating its commitment to pay someone (supplier/exporter/seller) a stated amount of money on behalf of a buyer (importer) so long as the seller meets very specific terms and conditions. Letters of credit are more formally called documentary letters of credit because the banks handling the transaction deal in documents as opposed to goods. The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The terms and conditions listed in the credit all involve presentation of specific documents within a stated period of time, hence the formal name--documentary credits. The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The documents the buyer requires in the credit may vary, but at a minimum include an invoice and a bill of lading. Other documents the buyer may specify are certificate of origin, consular invoice, insurance certificate, inspection certificate and others. Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Letters of credit are the most common method of making international payments, because the risks of the transaction are shared by both the buyer and the supplier. Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Documentary letters of credit are subject to the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCPDC), Brochure No. 500, of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. See Uniform Customs and Practice. Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Basic Letters of Credit There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
There are two basic forms of a letter of credit: the Revocable Credit and the Irrevocable Credit. There are also two types of irrevocable credit: the Irrevocable Credit not Confirmed, and the Irrevocable Confirmed Credit. Each type of credit has advantages and disadvantages for the buyer and for the seller. Also note that the more the banks assume risk by guaranteeing payment, the more they will charge for providing the service. (a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(a) Revocable credit--This credit can be changed or canceled by the buyer without prior notice to the supplier. Because it offers little security to the seller, revocable credits are generally unacceptable and are rarely used. (b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(b) Irrevocable credit--The irrevocable credit is one which the issuing bank commits itself irrevocably to honor, provided the beneficiary complies with all stipulated conditions. This credit cannot be changed or canceled without the consent of both the buyer and the seller. As a result, this type of credit is the most widely used in international trade. Irrevocable credits are more expensive because of the issuing bank's added liability in guaranteeing the credit. There are two types of irrevocable credits: (1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(1) The Irrevocable credit not confirmed (Unconfirmed credit). This means that the buyer's bank which issues the credit is the only party responsible for payment to the supplier, and the supplier's bank is obliged to pay the supplier only after receiving payment from the buyer's bank. The supplier's bank merely acts on behalf of the issuing bank and therefore incurs no risk. (2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(2) The Irrevocable, confirmed credit. In a confirmed credit, the advising bank adds its guarantee to pay the supplier to that of the issuing bank. If the issuing bank fails to make payment, the advising bank will pay. If a supplier is unfamiliar with the buyer's bank which issues the letter of credit, he may insist on an irrevocable confirmed credit. These credits may be used when trade is conducted in a high risk area where there are fears of outbreak of war or social, political, or financial instability. Confirmed credits may also be used by the supplier to enlist the aid of a local bank to extend financing to enable him to fill the order. A confirmed credit costs more because the bank has added liability. Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Special Letters of Credit There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
There are numerous special letters of credit designed to meet specific needs of buyers, suppliers, and intermediaries. Special letters of credit usually involve increased participation by banks, so financing and service charges are higher than those for basic letters of credit. The following is a brief description of some special letters of credit. (a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(a) Standby letter of credit--This credit is primarily a payment or performance guarantee. It is used primarily in the United States because U.S. banks are prevented by law from giving certain guarantees. Standby credits are often called non-performing letters of credit because they are only used as a backup payment method if the collection on a primary payment method is past due. Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Standby letters of credit can be used, for example, to guarantee the following types of payment and performance: · repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
· repayment of loans, · fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
· fulfillment by subcontractors, · securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
· securing the payment for goods delivered by third parties. The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The beneficiary to a standby letter of credit can draw from it on demand, so the buyer assumes added risk. (b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(b) Revolving letter of credit--This credit is a commitment on the part of the issuing bank to restore the credit to the original amount after it has been used or drawn down. The number of times it can be utilized and the period of validity is stated in the credit. The credit can be cumulative or noncumulative. Cumulative means that unutilized sums can be added to the next installment, whereas noncumulative means that partial amounts not utilized in time expire. (c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(c) Deferred payment letter of credit--In this credit the buyer takes delivery of the shipped goods by accepting the documents and agreeing to pay the bank after a fixed period of time. This credit gives the buyer a grace period for payment. (d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(d) Red clause letter of credit--This is used to provide the supplier with some funds prior to shipment to finance production of the goods. The credit may be advanced in part or in full, and the buyer's bank finances the advance payment. The buyer, in essence, extends financing to the seller and incurs ultimate risk for all advanced credits. (e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(e) Transferable Letter of Credit--This credit allows the supplier to transfer all or part of the proceeds of the letter of credit to a second beneficiary, usually the ultimate supplier of the goods. This is a common financing tactic for middlemen and is used extensively in the Far East. (f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(f) Back-to-Back Letter of Credit--This is a new credit opened on the basis of an already existing, nontransferable credit. It is used by traders to make payment to the ultimate supplier. A trader receives a letter of credit from the buyer and then opens another letter of credit in favor of the supplier. The first letter of credit is used as collateral for the second credit. The second credit makes price adjustments from which come the trader's profit. letter of intent (law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
letter of intent
(law) A document, such as a written memorandum, that describes the preliminary understanding between parties who intend to make a contract or join together in another action, such as a joint venture or a corporate merger. letter of indemnity (LOI) (shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
letter of indemnity (LOI)
(shipping) A document which serves to protect the carrier/owner financially against possible repercussions in connection with the release of goods without presentation of an original bill of lading. A letter of indemnity (usually as an indemnity for missing bill of lading) is used in cases in which the goods arrive at the port of destination before the original bills of lading. The issuance of the letter of indemnity allows the purchaser to take immediate delivery of the goods, thus saving himself time, additional demurrage, storage expenses, insurance costs, etc. leu The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
leu
The currency of Romania. 1L=100 bani. lev The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lev
The currency of Bulgaria. 1Lv=100 stotinki. leverage (finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
leverage
(finance/foreign exchange) In options terminology, this expresses the disproportionately large change in the premium in terms of the relative price movement of the underlying instrument. lex loci actus (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lex loci actus
(law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where a wrongful act occurred. A court may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the rule of lex loci actus the court will apply the law of the buyer's country in interpreting the contract. This rule is usually applied when the wrongful act has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it occurred than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci solutionis. lex loci solutionis (law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lex loci solutionis
(law) A legal rule to apply the law of the place where payment is to be made or a contract is to be performed. A country may apply this law in a legal action if the parties have not expressly agreed to the law that will govern their contract and if the laws of more than one jurisdiction could apply. If a buyer and seller, for example, are located in different countries and the buyer breaches the contract, under the law of lex loci solutionis the court will apply the law of the seller's country, which is where payment is to be made. This rule is usually applied when performance of the contract has a greater effect in the jurisdiction where it is to occur than in any other jurisdiction. See conflict of laws; nexus; lex loci actus. liberal (economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
liberal
(economics) When referring to trade policy, "liberal" usually means relatively free of import controls or restraints and/or a preference for reducing existing barriers to trade, often contrasted with the protectionist preference for retaining or raising selected barriers to imports. LIBID See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
LIBID
See London Interbank Bid Rate. LIBOR See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
LIBOR
See London Interbank Offered Rate. licensing agreement (law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
licensing agreement
(law) A contract whereby the holder of a trademark, patent, or copyright transfers a limited right to use a process, sell or manufacture an article, or furnish specialized services covered by the trademark, patent or copyright to another firm. life-cycle processing (economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
life-cycle processing
(economics/accounting) An accounting approach in which a company sets product prices based on recovering costs over the life cycle of the product. (U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(U.S.) In antidumping cases, U.S. authorities dispute the validity of this approach because projections of future yield improvements cannot be verified at the time of dumping calculations. See dumping. lift van (shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lift van
(shipping) A wooden or metal container used for packing household goods and personal effects. A lift van must be at least 100 cubic feet and be suitable for lifting by mechanical device. lighter (shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lighter
(shipping) An open or covered barge towed by a tugboat and used mainly in harbors and inland waterways for the transport of cargo. Lighters are used in situations where shallow water prevents the ocean going vessel from coming close to shore. lighter aboard ship (LASH) (shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lighter aboard ship (LASH)
(shipping) A floatable large container (lighter) used in the combined ocean and inland waterway transport of goods. Lighters are transported on specially constructed ships. lighterage (shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lighterage
(shipping) (a) The loading or unloading of a ship by means of a lighter. (b) Charges assessed for lighter service. lilangeni The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lilangeni
The currency of Swaziland. 1L=100 cents. The plural of lilangeni is emalangeni (E). LIMEAN (banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
LIMEAN
(banking/finance) The calculated average of the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) and the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
See London Interbank Bid Rate; London Interbank Offered Rate. Limitada (Ltda.) (Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Limitada (Ltda.)
(Brazil, Portugal) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. See Sociedad por Quota. limitation period (law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
limitation period
(law) A maximum period set by statute within which a legal action can be brought or a right enforced. A statute may prohibit, for example, any individual or legal entity from bringing an action for breach of contract more than one year after the breach occurred. Limited (Ltd.) (United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Limited (Ltd.)
(United Kingdom) Designation for a private limited liability corporation with limited liability to shareholders. (South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(South Africa, United States) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. limited appointment (diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
limited appointment
(diplomacy) Limited appointees to the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (or to other foreign services) are persons from the private sector or from the federal government who are non-career officers assigned overseas for a limited time. limited liability (law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
limited liability
(law) Restricted liability for the obligations of a business. Liability may be limited, for example, to the amount of a partner's or shareholder's contribution to the capital of partnership or corporation. limited partnership (law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
limited partnership
(law) A partnership in which at least one partner has general liability and at least one of the other partners has limited liability. Limitée (Ltée.) (Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Limitée (Ltée.)
(Canada) Designation for a public corporation with limited liability to shareholders. liner (shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
liner
(shipping) A vessel carrying passengers and cargo that operates on a route with a fixed schedule. liner terms (shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
liner terms
(shipping) Conditions under which a shipping company will transport goods, including the amount payable for carriage of the goods (freight) and the cost both for loading and discharge of the vessel. line haul (shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
line haul
(shipping) The direct movement of freight between two major ports by a single ship. line haul vessel (shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
line haul vessel
(shipping) A vessel which is on a regularly defined schedule. line release system (U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
line release system
(U.S. Customs) A part of the U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, is designed for the release and tracking of shipments through the use of personal computers and bar code technology. To qualify for line release, a commodity must have a history of invoice accuracy, and be selected by local Customs districts on the basis of high volume. To release the merchandise, Customs reads the bar code into a personal computer, verifies that the bar code matches the invoice data, and enters the quantity. The cargo release is transmitted to the Automated Commercial System, which establishes an entry and the requirement for an entry summary, and provides the Automated Broker Interface system participants with release information. See Automated Commercial System. liquidation (U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
liquidation
(U.S. Customs) The final review of a U.S. Customs entry, and determination of the rate of duty and amount of duty by Customs. Liquidation is accomplished by Customs posting a notice on a public bulletin board at the customshouse. An importer may receive an advance notice on Customs Form 4333A "Courtesy Notice" stating when and in what amount duty will be liquidated. This form is not the liquidation, and protest rights do not accrue until the notice is posted. Time limits for protesting do not start to run until the date of posting, and a protest cannot be filed before liquidation is posted. The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The Customs Service may determine that an entry cannot be liquidated as entered for one reason or another. For example, the tariff classification may not be correct or may not be acceptable because it is not consistent with an established and uniform classification practice. If the change required by this determination results in a rate of duty more favorable to an importer, the entry is liquidated accordingly and a refund of the applicable amount of the deposited duties is authorized. On the other hand, a change may be necessary which imposes a higher rate of duty. For example, a claim for an exemption from duty under a duty-free provision or under a conditional exemption may be found to be insufficient for lack of the required supporting documentation. In this situation, the importer will be given an advance notice of the proposed duty rate advancement and an opportunity to validate the claim for a free rate or more favorable rate of duty. If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
If the importer does not respond to the notice or if the response is found to be without merit, duty is liquidated in accordance with the entry as corrected and the importer is billed for the additional duty. The port or district may find that the importer's response raises issues of such complexity that resolution by a Customs Headquarters decision through the internal advise procedure is warranted. Internal advice from Customs Headquarters may be requested by the local Customs officers on their own initiative or in response to a request by the importer. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
See protest; entry; classification; valuation. liquidated damages (law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
liquidated damages
(law) A sum of money that a contracting party agrees to pay to the other party for breaching an agreement, particularly important in a contract in which damages for breach may be difficult to assess. A manufacturer, for example, that agrees to develop, produce, and sell unique products to a buyer may insist on a contract clause for liquidated damages in the event that the buyer rejects the goods without justifiable reason because the market for resale of the unique goods will be so limited that damages will be difficult to assess. liquidation system (U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
liquidation system
(U.S. Customs) A part of U.S. Customs' Automated Commercial System, closes the file on each entry and establishes a batch filing number which is essential for recovering an entry for review or enforcement purposes. An entry liquidation is a final review of the entry. Public Law 95-410 (Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978) requires that all liquidations be performed within one year from the date of consumption entry or final withdrawal on a warehouse entry. Three one-year extensions are permitted. See liquidation; Automated Commercial System. liquidity (economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
liquidity
(economics) (a) A company's ability to meet its obligations at all times. (b) The availability of liquid funds in an economy. (c) The possibility of being able to carry out financial transactions without influencing the market. lira The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lira
The currency of: Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Italy, 1L=100 centesimi; Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Malta, 1£M (or 1 LM)=100 cents; San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
San Marino (uses Italian lira); Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Turkey, 1T£=100 kurus; Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Vatican, 1VLit=100 centesimi. litas The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
litas
The currency of Lithuania. 1Lit=100 centai. Lloyds (of London) (insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Lloyds (of London)
(insurance) An association of English insurance underwriters, the oldest of its kind in the world. Not in itself an insurance company. The Corporation of Lloyds also provides a daily newspaper. Lloyd's Registry (shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Lloyd's Registry
(shipping) An organization maintained for the surveying and classifying of ships so that insurance underwriters and other interested parties may know the quality and condition of the vessels offered by insurance or employment. loading (shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
loading
(shipping) The physical placing of cargo into carrier's container, or onto a vessel. locus (law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
locus
(law) A place. The locus of arbitration, for example, is the place where arbitration proceedings are held. logistics The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
logistics
The process of planning, implementing and controlling the flow of personnel, materials and information from the point of origin to the point of destination at the required time and in the desired condition. (shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
(shipping) The process of planning and controlling the flow of raw materials, work in progress or finished products from the point of origin to the point of destination (either to a factory for further processing, to a warehouse for storage or to the marketplace for sale) at the required time and in the desired condition. Lombard rate (banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Lombard rate
(banking/finance-Germany) The interest rate applied to loans backed by collateral in the form of movable, easily-sold assets (goods or securities). Particularly used with reference to the German Bundesbank, which normally maintains its Lombard rate at about 1/2 percent above its discount rate. Lomé Convention A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Lomé Convention
A 1975 agreement between the European Community (EC) and 62 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states (mostly former colonies of the EC members). The agreement covers some aid provisions as well as trade and tariff preferences for the ACP countries when shipping to the EC. The Lome Convention grew out of the 1958 Treaty of Rome's "association" with the 18 African colonies/countries that had ties with Belgium and France. The ACP members are: Angola, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID) (banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID)
(banking/finance) The bid in a quotation representing the interest rate at which U.S. dollar deposits are retraded in London. See London Interbank Offered Rate; LIMEAN. London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) (banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR)
(banking/finance) The interest rate at which banks in London are prepared to lend funds to first-class banks. It is used to determine the interest rate payable on most Eurocredits. See London Interbank Bid Rate; LIMEAN. London Metal Exchange (banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
London Metal Exchange
(banking/finance) A commodity exchange whose members, approximately 110 in number, deal in copper, lead, zinc, and tin. Address: London Metal Exchange, Plantation House, Fenchurch St., London EC3M 3AP, UK. long of exchange (banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
long of exchange
(banking/foreign exchange) When a trader in foreign currency holds foreign bills in an amount exceeding the bills of his or her own that have been sold and remain outstanding, the trader is long of exchange. longshoreman (shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
longshoreman
(shipping) A laborer who loads and unloads ships at a seaport. See also stevedore; gang. long ton (measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
long ton
(measure) A unit of mass or weight measurement equal to 2,240 pounds. A short ton is 2,000 pounds. loss of specie (insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
loss of specie
(insurance) A loss when goods arrive so damaged as to cease to be a thing of the kind insured. Examples of "loss of specie" are cement arriving as rock, or textiles as rags. See also total loss. loti The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
loti
The currency of Lesotho. 1L=100 lisente. Plural of loti is maloti (M). lot labels (shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lot labels
(shipping) Labels attached to each piece of multiple lot shipment for identification purposes. lower deck containers (shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
lower deck containers
(shipping) Carrier owned containers specially designed as an integral part of the aircraft to fit in the cargo compartments (lower deck) of a wide body aircraft. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z