Libro III · Título Primero Capítulo VII. Del cheque

A check may only be drawn against a bank, on printed forms supplied or approved by the same. The instrument drawn in the form of checks in contravention of this article shall not produce the effects of a negotiable instrument.

In addition to the provisions of article 388 of this Code, the check shall contain:

1º.The unconditional order to pay a determined sum of money.

2º.The name of the drawee bank.

When so agreed with the drawee bank, the handwritten signature of the drawer may be omitted on the check and shall be replaced by their printing or reproduction. The legitimacy of the issuance may be controlled by any system approved by the bank.

The drawer must have available funds in the drawee bank and have received from the latter express or tacit authorization to dispose of those funds by means of checks.

Notwithstanding the failure to observe these prescriptions, the instrument is valid as a check.

Whoever defrauds another by drawing a check without having funds or by disposing of them before the time limit for its collection expires, or by altering any part of the check or making undue use of it, shall be liable for the crime of fraud, in accordance with the Penal Code.

The check may be to order or to bearer. If the name of the beneficiary is not expressed, it shall be reputed to be to bearer.

In checks, any holder may limit their negotiability by stamping on the document the clause: non-negotiable.

Checks that are non-negotiable by the corresponding clause or by provision of law may only be endorsed, for their collection, to a bank.

The check created or endorsed in favor of the drawee bank shall not be negotiable.

The check shall always be payable at sight. Any annotation to the contrary shall be deemed not made. The check presented for payment before the day indicated as the date of its creation, or without a date, is payable on the day of the presentation. In these cases, the day of the presentation shall legally be deemed the date of its creation.

Checks shall be presented for their payment within the fifteen calendar days of their creation.

The presentation of a check at a clearing house shall have the same effects as the one made directly to the drawee.

The bank that authorizes someone to draw checks against it shall be bound to the drawer to cover them up to the amount of the available balance, save for legal provision or judicial order that releases it from such obligation.

If the available funds are not sufficient to cover the total amount of the check, the drawee shall offer the holder partial payment up to the available balance.

When, without just cause, the drawee refuses to pay a check, or does not make the offer of partial payment provided in the preceding article, they shall compensate the drawer for the damages caused to them.

If the holder accepts the partial payment, the drawee shall deliver to them a photocopy or other record in which the fundamental elements of the check and the amount of the payment made appear. This record shall substitute the instrument for the purposes of the exercise of the corresponding actions against the obligors.

The revocation of the order contained in the check only has effect after the legal time limit for its presentation has elapsed. The revocation in such case does not need to state a cause. Before the expiry of the legal time limit for the presentation of the check, the drawer or the holder may revoke the payment order alleging as cause only the loss, the theft of the check or the acquisition of the check by a third party as a consequence of an unlawful act.

If the drawee receives an order from the drawer or from the holder not to pay a check for any of these causes, they shall refrain from doing so, without any liability, and shall communicate that circumstance to whoever presents it for collection. The drawer or holder who gives an order of revocation without justified cause, before the expiry of the time limit, shall be liable to the legitimate holder for the damages that this causes them, without prejudice to the criminal liabilities.

Even when the check has not been presented in time, the drawee must pay it if they have sufficient funds of the drawer and the check is presented within the six months following its date and has not been revoked.

The death or incapacity of the drawer does not authorize the drawee to stop paying the check.

The holder may reject the partial payment.

The protest for lack of payment must take place before the expiry of the time limit set for the presentation.

The annotation that the drawee or the clearing house places on the check, stating that it was presented in time and not paid totally or partially, shall produce the effects of the protest.

In the case of checks issued in favor of natural or legal persons resident or domiciled in the Republic of Guatemala, to be collected in banks of other countries, that are not paid, and in accordance with the legislation that governs them, the drawee banks retain the original and only return to the beneficiaries or to their correspondent banks copies of the aforementioned checks, these copies shall have the same validity as the original checks. The annotation that the drawee bank places on the copy of the check, stating that it was presented in time and was not paid totally or partially, shall produce the effects of the protest.

The drawee or correspondent banks that have issued them shall be responsible for the concordance between the copies and the original checks.

The negotiable instrument action against the drawer, their guarantors and other signatories lapses for not having protested the check in time.

The negotiable instrument actions derived from the check prescribe in six months, counted from the presentation for those of the last holder, and from the day following that on which they pay the check for those of the endorsers and those of the guarantors.

The drawer of a check presented in time and not paid shall compensate the holder for the damages that this occasions to them.

The alteration of the amount for which the check was issued, or the forgery of the drawer's signature, cannot be invoked by the drawer to object to the payment made by the drawee, if the drawer gave rise to them through their own negligence, or through that of their factors, representatives or employees.

When the check appears drawn on forms that the drawee had given or approved to the drawer, the latter may only object to the payment if the alteration or forgery were evident, or if they had given timely notice to the drawee. Any agreement contrary to the provisions of this article is null.

The check that the drawer or the holder crosses with two parallel lines drawn on the front may only be collected by a bank.

If between the lines of the crossing the name of the bank that must collect it appears, the crossing shall be special; and it shall be general if between the lines the name of a determined bank does not appear. In the latter case, the check may be collected by any bank, and in the former, only by the one whose name appears between the lines, or by the bank to which they endorse it for its collection.

The crossing may not be erased, nor the name of the institution, if it is special. The changes or deletions that are made contrary to the provisions of this article shall be deemed not made.

The drawee who pays a check on terms different from those indicated in the preceding articles shall be responsible for the irregular payment.

The drawer or the holder may prohibit the check from being paid in cash, by means of the insertion of the expression: for credit to account.

In this case, the drawee may only credit the amount of the check to the account that the holder keeps or opens.

The erasure or alteration of the expression or of any addition to it shall be deemed not made.

If the holder does not have an account and the bank refuses to open one, it shall deny the payment of the check, without liability.

The drawee who pays in a form different from the one prescribed in the preceding articles shall be liable for the irregular payment.

The drawer may request, before the issuance of a check, that the drawee certify that there are available funds for the check to be paid.

The certification cannot be partial nor issued on bearer checks.

The certified check is not negotiable.

The certification shall make the drawee liable to the holder for the fact that, during the presentation period, they will have sufficient funds to pay the check.

The certification is manifested by a note placed by the drawee bank on the check itself, in which the certified sum and the signature of the drawee appear.

The drawer may not revoke the certified check, but may leave it without effect by returning it to the drawee.

Banks may deliver to their account holders check forms with guaranteed provision, in which the date of delivery and of expiry of the guarantee and the maximum amount for which each check may be drawn appear.

Checks with guaranteed provision cannot be to bearer.

The delivery of the forms of checks with guaranteed provision obliges the bank to pay the amount ordered in the check, if it is within the guaranteed limit.

The guarantee of the provision shall be extinguished:

1º.If the checks are issued after three months from the date of delivery of the forms.

2º.If the instrument is not presented for collection during the presentation time limit.

Banks may issue cashier's or manager's checks against their own branches.

Cashier's or manager's checks shall not be negotiable and may not be issued to bearer.

Traveler's checks shall be issued by the drawer against itself, and shall be payable by its main establishment or by the branches or correspondents that it has in the country of the drawer or abroad.

Traveler's checks may be put into circulation by the drawer-drawee, or by its branches, agencies or correspondents that it authorizes.

For identification purposes, upon delivering the traveler's check to the beneficiary, the drawer shall cause the beneficiary to stamp their signature in an adequate place of the instrument. Whoever pays or receives the check must verify the authenticity of the second signature of the holder, comparing it with the signature placed before the drawer.

The drawer shall deliver, at the request of the beneficiary, a list of the branches, agencies or correspondent offices where the check may be collected.

The unjustified lack of payment of the traveler's check shall give the holder action to demand, in addition to the return of its amount, the payment of damages without the need for protest.

The correspondent that puts the traveler's checks into circulation shall be bound as guarantor of the drawer.

The negotiable instrument actions against the one who issues or puts into circulation traveler's checks shall prescribe in two years from the date on which the checks have been issued.

Checks with stub for receipt shall carry attached a detachable stub that must be signed by the holder upon receiving the check and that shall serve as proof of the payment made.

Causal checks shall state the reason for the check and shall serve as proof of the payment made, when they carry the endorsement of the original holder.