Custodianship of perishable cargo facility granted to Air India SATS Cool Port, subject to existing customs notification and regulations.
Custodianship of the AISATS Cool Port is granted to M/s Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd. as an additional annex to the notified Air Cargo Complex, subject to the conditions of Notification No. 23/2008 and the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009; custodianship is co-terminus with the earlier notification (valid to 31.03.2021) and the custodian must not alter plans, boundaries or buildings without the Commissioner of Customs' concurrence.

Indirect tax dispute resolution: declaration to designated authority suspends appeals while declarant deposits specified sums and obtains discharge.
Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme permits a party in appeal to file a declaration with a designated authority appointed by the Commissioner; prescribed forms govern declaration, acknowledgement, deposit reporting and issuance of a discharge order. An acknowledgement by the designated authority suspends appeal proceedings for the prescribed period, and upon issuance and verification of the discharge order the Commissioner removes the appeal from pendency as disposed, without precedential effect. Commissioners must publicize the scheme and communicate designated authority details to the Directorate of Legal Affairs.

Interest on warehoused goods: payment deferred until ex-bonding; bank guarantees replace pre-extension payment requirement for extensions.
Following the requirement to furnish a bank guarantee as security for deferred duty and interest, the Board withdraws the need to collect interest or issue a demand before permitting extensions of the warehousing period; any interest payable shall be paid at the time of ex-bonding of the goods, while previously granted industry-specific exemptions remain operative and implementation difficulties may be reported to the Board.

Warehouse code requirement mandates use of individual registered warehouse codes for electronic filings, enabling record-based controls.
Amendments to Chapter IX and related notifications create a regime replacing physical escorting with record-based controls, requiring transitional compliance to remove customs locks, use of serially numbered one-time-locks for movements, distinct licensing for special warehouses storing notified goods, mandated sample-drawing and recordkeeping by warehouse keepers, computerization of inventory records, and removal of the ICES default warehouse code in favor of individual registered warehouse codes for electronic filings.

Standard unit quantity code compliance required; waivers and procedural adjustments permitted to address trade incompatibilities.
A single Unit Quantity Code (UQC) per tariff item must be declared in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills, with comprehensive descriptions to improve EDI data quality and prevent mis-declaration and undervaluation. Where UQC implementation creates genuine difficulties such as in MRP assessments or conflicts with trade practice, delegated waiver powers are provided to Group AC/DCs or ACS/DCs (Shed) with Additional Commissioner concurrence; RMS cases requiring UQC change must be returned to the assessment group and trade must declare correctly at the first instance.

Designated authority under Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme assigns jurisdictional commissioners to act as authority for taxpayer declarations.
The Scheme allows a declarant to resolve appeals pending before Commissioners of Income Tax (Appeals) concerning disputed tax and specified tax. Principal Chief Commissioners must notify the designated authority, namely the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Income Tax exercising statutory jurisdiction over the declarant; notifications must include all Principal Commissioners and Commissioners for TDS and Exemptions in the region and compliance reported to the Board.

Restriction on redemption: temporary limits during systemic market illiquidity with exemptions for small redemptions and board approval.
Restriction on redemption may be imposed only for market-wide illiquidity, market failures, exchange disruptions, or exceptional operational force majeure despite adequate disaster recovery. Such restriction requires specific approval of AMC Boards and Trustees, immediate intimation to SEBI, prominent disclosure in scheme documents, and is limited to a period not exceeding 10 working days in any 90 day period. Small redemption requests are exempted from restriction and larger redemptions must be partially processed up to the exempted amount. AMCs must maintain internal liquidity management and cannot use restriction for issuer-specific illiquidity or poor investment decisions.

Clearance restriction for precious stones and metals: mandated transshipment to Bharat Diamond Bourse under specified procedures.
Import consignments of diamonds, precious stones, precious metals, semi-precious stones, pearls, jewellery and industrial diamonds shall not be cleared at Air Cargo Complex, Sahar and must be cleared at the Precious Cargo Customs Clearance Centre (PCCCC) at the Bharat Diamond Bourse after prescribed procedures. Exceptions allow voluminous precious metal alloys exceeding 24 x 24 x 24 inches or 30 kg to be cleared at ACC with valuation assistance. Gold and dore bars remain eligible for clearance at ACC. Consignments must be declared as transshipment cargo to BDB, escorted to MMTC strong room, transferred under preventive escort to PCCCC, and improper filings at ACC will be transferred for adjudication.

Enactment of Finance Act makes Budget 2016-17 amendments effective from assent, including specified service tax notifications.
Enactment of the Finance Act (28 of 2016) occurred on presidential assent dated 14 May 2016 and the Act has been published in the Gazette. Certain Union Budget 2016-17 amendments are effective from that assent date and include notification Nos. 13/2016 ST and 14/2016 ST and specified entries in notification Nos. 9/2016 ST and 10/2016 ST dated 1 March 2016.

Extension of filing deadlines for corporate e forms and LLP annual returns with waiver of additional fees allowed.
The Ministry authorised a one time administrative concession extending the period during which a waiver of additional fees applies to company e forms due in the specified filing window and moved the final filing date so companies may file electronically without additional fees. Separately, the filing deadline for LLP annual return (Form 11) for the stated financial year was extended to a later final date, allowing LLPs to submit Form 11 without payment of additional fees.

Custodian Delivery Order endorsement removed, allowing custodians to issue gate passes and effect delivery without officer stamping.
Endorsement and stamping on the Custodian's Delivery Order at Container Freight Stations is dispensed with; officers at CFSs are directed not to require or place signatures/stamps on delivery orders issued by custodians once an Out of Charge order has been given, permitting custodians to issue gate passes and effect delivery without further endorsement by Customs staff.

Ex-bond bill of entry must be filed on ICES and verified via ICEGATE before warehouse removal.
Ex-bond bills of entry for clearance of warehoused goods must be filed on ICES and will be assessed by the customs station of import. The importer or owner must present the assessed bill and the proper officer's clearance order to the jurisdictional bond officer, who shall verify particulars on ICEGATE and, if matched, permit removal by affixing a dated signature; on mismatch the bond officer shall withhold removal and escalate to the Deputy or Assistant Commissioner for resolution with the customs station of import.

Customs warehousing security: exemptions and staged bank guarantee requirements govern transit and storage obligations.
Security for warehoused goods is subject to exemptions for specified governmental, project, energy, maritime and diplomatic consignments, while other imports must furnish transit insurance in favour of the President and bank guarantees on extensions. Non-sensitive goods require no security for the first year, 25% bank guarantee after one year, 50% after two years and full duty plus interest after three years; sensitive goods attract higher staged guarantees in public warehouses and require upfront bank guarantees when moved to private bonded warehouses. Warehousing extensions and security are administered by the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner at the port of import.

Pre-shipment inspection recognition: additional agencies authorised to issue PSICs subject to bank guarantee and membership conditions.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade includes additional entities as Pre-Shipment Inspection Agencies in Appendix 2G, authorising them to issue Pre Shipment Inspection Certificates subject to a fixed recognition period and compliance conditions. Recognised agencies must submit a prescribed bank guarantee within the specified deadline or face denotification, and must maintain updated membership certificates and office contact details. An annexure lists approved spectrometers and survey meters authorised for PSIC issuance for each agency.

Composition tax change for restaurant/halwai dealers requires opting into new scheme or withdrawal; non compliance triggers tax and penalty.
Dealers in restaurant and halwai businesses eligible for the new composition regime must withdraw the earlier composition option or file to opt into the new composition scheme within the prescribed period; those continuing under the obsolete composition rate are liable to assessment as non composition taxpayers at standard tax rates and to penalties, and tax officials are directed to detect non compliance and initiate recovery and penalty proceedings.

CST reimbursement procedure updated, clarifying supplier registration, payment evidence and claim documentation for EOUs and technology park units.
Amendments revise procedural and documentary requirements for reimbursement of Central Sales Tax (CST) on supplies to EOUs and technology park units and modify ANF 7A claim form entries. Appendix 6H now requires supplier registration numbers with date of issue, refines supplier particulars under the CST Act, corrects an undertaking to individual liability, expands payer/payee descriptions to include DTA/EOU/SEZ/EHTP/STP suppliers and removes cheque/DD wording. ANF 7A realigns advance authorization column references and clarifies required contract, ARO or invalidation letter copies for supplies made to project authorities or under authorization schemes.

Bad debt deduction writing off in books suffices for tax deductibility; withdraw appeals contesting irrecoverability.
A claim for deduction of a bad debt is admissible if the debt or part thereof is written off as irrecoverable in the assessee's books of account for the relevant year and it fulfils the conditions stipulated in the governing statutory provision; accordingly, no appeals should be filed on the ground that irrecoverability was not independently established, and pending appeals on that issue may be withdrawn.

FATCA and CRS implementation clarified: further guidance issued and posted for financial institutions by government on official website
Clarification issued concerning implementation of FATCA and CRS for Indian financial institutions: India signed an Inter Governmental Agreement with the United States for FATCA and joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for Automatic Exchange of Information under the CRS. A Guidance Note (31 Aug 2015, updated 31 Dec 2015) and prior clarifications (19 Feb 2016) were supplemented by a further clarification dated 26 May 2016, published on the Income tax Department website to guide identification, reporting and due diligence obligations of reporting financial institutions.

Impact of Audit Qualifications disclosure: listed entities must file quantified effects alongside annual results and management commentary.
Listed entities must disclose the impact of audit qualifications when submitting annual audited financial results: a declaration for unmodified opinions and a prescribed Annexure I statement for modified opinions. Management may explain qualifications, must estimate impacts if auditors do not quantify (or state reasons), and auditors must review and comment. These statements are monitored by stock exchanges and non-compliance will be subject to exchange action and reporting to the regulator.

Quota allocation under Indo Sri Lanka FTA: pepper import licences issued with utilization, surrender and three year debarment rules.
Allocation of Black Pepper import quotas under the Indo Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement for 2016 17 assigns listed firms specified quantities; no allocations were made for Vanaspati Bakery, Shortening & Margarine and Desiccated Coconut due to absence of applications. Quota holders must obtain licences from Regional Authorities, submit utilization certificates to DGFT by the prescribed deadline, may surrender unutilized quota for re allocation, and face a three year debarment for failure to utilize or timely surrender quota.