The purpose of bill acceptance is to determine the rights and obligations of the parties to a bill, but not all bills need to be accepted. Therefore, after obtaining a bill, the holder should understand the scope of acceptance, that is, understand which types of bills need to be accepted and which types of bills do not need to be accepted. According to international practice and the provisions of the bill laws of various countries, the scope of acceptance of bills is as follows.
(1) Bills that should be accepted. The Geneva Uniform Bills of Exchange Law and the bill laws of various countries, including my country, stipulate that bills payable at a fixed time after sight should be accepted, otherwise the maturity date of the bill cannot be determined, and the bill rights cannot be exercised. However, Articles 39 and 40 of my country’s Bills of Exchange Law stipulate that bills payable on a fixed date and bills payable at a fixed time after issue should also be presented for acceptance, otherwise the holder will lose the right to pursue his predecessor, which is different from the provisions of the bill laws of most countries.
(2) Bills that can be accepted. This type of bill is one that is allowed to be accepted by law, but even if the holder does not present it for acceptance, it will not affect the exercise of the bill rights. The Geneva Uniform Bills of Exchange Law and the bills of exchange laws of most countries stipulate that presenting for acceptance is the right of the holder but not the obligation. If the bill is not presented for acceptance, the rights of the holder will not be affected. The bills of exchange that can be accepted are mainly bills of exchange payable on a specified date and bills of exchange payable at a fixed period after issuance. According to the above explanation, these two types of bills must also be accepted according to the provisions of my country’s Bills of Exchange Law, otherwise the holder’s right of recourse will be affected.
(3) Bills of exchange that do not require acceptance. This type of bill is a bill of exchange payable on demand. Since the payee must pay or refuse to pay when a bill of exchange is presented to the payee for the first time, acceptance has no meaning. In my country, bank drafts are all payable on demand and therefore do not require acceptance.
(4) Bills of exchange that are prohibited from acceptance. The Geneva Uniform Bills of Exchange Law and the bills of exchange laws of some countries allow the drawee to record “no request for acceptance” at the end of the bill of exchange, which in essence exempts the drawee from the responsibility of guaranteeing acceptance and is effective for endorsers. However, such a record cannot be made for bills payable at a fixed time after sight. For bills that are prohibited from acceptance, the holder still has the right to request the payee to accept. If the payee accepts such a bill, the acceptance will take effect. If the payee refuses to accept such a bill, the holder cannot make pre-dated claims. my country’s “Bills of Exchange Law” stipulates that it is not allowed to make records prohibiting acceptance.