Lease: A contract in which one party conveys the use of an asset to another party for a specific period of time at a predetermined rate.

Lease Rate: (Rental Payment) The periodic rental payment to a lessor for the use of assets. Others may define lease rate as the implicit interest rate in minimum lease payments.

Lessee: The person gaining use of the property or equipment being leased.

Lessor: The party to a lease agreement who has legal or tax title to the equipment, grants the lessee the right to use the equipment for the lease term, and is entitled to the rentals.

Latest shipment date: Date on a letter of credit by which the goods must have been shipped. When the Letter of Credit is presented, this date will be checked against the date on the transport document.

Letter of Credit: A document issued by a bank per instructions from a buyer of goods, authorizing the seller to draw a specified amount of money under specified terms, usually the receipt by the bank of certain documents with a given time.

Leveraged Lease: In this type of lease, the lessor provides an equity portion (usually 20 to 40 percent) of the equipment cost and lenders provide the balance on a nonrecourse debt basis. The lessor receives the tax benefits of ownership.

Licensing: A business arrangement in which the manufacturer of a product (or a firm controlling a technology or product) grants permission to some other group, individual or corporation to manufacture that product in return for specified royalties or payments.

Local Content: The percentage of a good that is made locally.