Determination of annual production: capacity or factor-based measurement by senior excise officers, with pro rata adjustments and altered administrative authority.

Amendment empowers rulemaking to determine the annual capacity of production by an officer not below Assistant Commissioner either by prescribing a manner of determination or by specifying a production-relevant factor and deemed output per unit; part-year operations and intra-year factor changes require pro rata redetermination. It also permits duty to be specified on a unit of production or on the identified factor, increases the minimum continuous interruption period to fifteen days or more, and substitutes references to Commissioner with a Central Excise Officer not below the rank of Joint Commissioner.

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