Call Book inclusion for show cause notices: transfer by revenue intelligence and preventive customs officers pending final Supreme Court disposal.
The Board directs that the Supreme Court's interim stay on the Delhi High Court judgment does not change administrative practice: all show cause notices covered by that judgment must remain in the Call Book until final disposal of the Department's SLP. Further, all SCNs issued by revenue intelligence, customs investigation and preventive formations seeking duty for prior-period claims and pending adjudication must be transferred to the Call Book irrespective of the SCN issuance date, pending final disposal of the SLP.

Export warehousing extension: Ahmedabad district added as an authorised location for storage of excisable goods for export.
The Board amended paragraph 2(2) of Circular No. 581/18/2001-CX to include the district of Ahmedabad in Gujarat among places where warehouses may be established and registered for storage of excisable goods for the purpose of export. Field formations are directed to inform stakeholders and acknowledge receipt so that Ahmedabad is treated as an authorised location for export warehousing under the Central Excise Rules, 2002.

Annual Return requirement suspended for the 2015-16 excise and service tax period owing to GST implementation.
Amendments replaced Central Excise Forms ER 4 to ER 7 with an Annual Return and amended Rule 7 of the Service Tax Rules to prescribe an annual return. Due to GST implementation, the Board directed that the prescribed Annual Return need not be filed for the year 2015-16; relevant circulars and notifications are available on the department website and trade may report difficulties to the department.

Annual return requirement suspended for combined central excise and service tax filings pending GST implementation.
In view of the impending implementation of GST, the Board has decided that the Combined Annual Return for the year 2015-16 need not be filed; after GST implementation an annual return may be required only for non-GST goods and a final decision will follow consultation with trade, with trade asked to report implementation difficulties to the Board.

Quality administrative orders: Commissioners (Appeals) must issue judicious, legally defensible orders to reduce unnecessary appeals.
Commissioners (Appeals) exercising quasi judicial functions must prioritise legally sound, judicious orders over routine volume based disposal; avoiding frivolous or pro revenue findings where legal points are settled will reduce reversals on appeal and support the National Litigation Policy objective of curbing unnecessary litigation.

Digital signature authentication on invoices: manual signatures are addressed and guidance issued, traders to follow prescribed procedures.
Authentication of invoices by digital signatures is governed by notified conditions, safeguards and procedures, and the Board's circular clarifies the interaction between digital authentication and manual signatures. Stakeholders are to follow the prescribed procedures; trade bodies must circulate the guidance and report any implementation difficulties to the jurisdictional Range or Divisional Office.

Registration category requirement prompts jewellery manufacturers to amend registration so they can file the modified ER-8 return.
The modified ER-8 return is being implemented on the ACES portal with a ticker prompting jewellery manufacturers to amend registration to the Business Category Jewellery; divisional offices must prioritise processing of such amendment requests and physical verification is not required at original registration or amendment.

Adjudication monetary limits revised to allocate show cause notices among officers by value based jurisdiction and transfer rules.
Revised adjudication monetary limits allocate Central Excise and Service Tax show-cause notices to specific officer ranks based on duty/tax/credit bands, exclude Superintendents from deciding issues of taxability, classification, valuation and extended limitation, and permit Deputy/Assistant Commissioners to adjudicate refunds without monetary limit. Cases raising the same issue must be decided by the authority competent for the highest amount. Service Tax pendency at Commissioner level may be addressed by earmarking or transferring cases across Central Excise and Audit Commissionerates, and Commissioners (Audit) have been vested with adjudication powers.

Authorized Economic Operator programme expands facilitation: direct port clearance, deferred duty payment, paperless trade benefits.
The Accredited Client Programme is merged into a three tier Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programme expanding eligibility to small and medium entities and adding operational facilitation: Direct Port Delivery and Direct Port Entry, request based on site inspections, acceptance of self certified origin documents, paperless declarations, deferred payment of duties, faster drawback and refund processing, and pursuit of Mutual Recognition Agreements with other customs administrations.

Immunity withdrawal for non compliance with settlement payment triggers enforcement and requirement to notify the settlement commission.
Non payment of sums under a Settlement Commission order withdraws immunity from prosecution, penalty and fine granted under Section 32K(2) (as applied to service tax and customs). Field formations must monitor compliance with settlement conditions and the jurisdictional Commissioner should notify the Commission and initiate appropriate action under the relevant law in case of violations.

Service Tax Certificate for transportation of goods by rail enables claim of CENVAT credit without enclosing railway receipts.
The circular removes the requirement to enclose photocopies of railway receipts with the STTG Certificate for availing CENVAT credit and prescribes that Railways issue the STTG Certificate to the rail customer recording customer details, number of RRs, total service tax/cess paid, Service Tax code, registration number and certifying authority; a certified annexure shall list RR level details. Consignor paid tax may be claimed by consignor on an STTG Certificate or transferred to consignee via consignee wise STTG Certificates; consolidated and consignee wise certificates are mutually exclusive.

Drawback entitlement clarified: Customs portion admissible where excise input rebate (except diesel) is taken, subject to specified caps.
Customs component of AIR drawback is available even if rebate of Central Excise duty on raw materials is taken under Rule 18 or inputs are procured duty-free under Rule 19(2); in such cases Customs portion is admissible as per specified rates and caps, except where input-stage rebate or duty-free procurement applies to diesel, in which event no drawback is admissible. ARE-2 declaration (d) and related instructions have been amended to reflect this position, and officers must deny or recover excise on diesel where declarations are breached.

Exemption for EOU supplies to Advance Licence holders: such DTA clearances remain duty-free without input-duty reversal or recovery.
Supplies of goods manufactured by EOUs to Advance Licence/Authorisation holders in DTA are exempt from Central Excise duty and the second proviso to para 6 of notification no. 22/2003-CE and the proviso to para 3 of notification no. 52/2003-Cus do not apply; such clearances are treated as import substitution and the export obligation and recovery for default lie on the Advance Licence/Authorisation holder.

Registration category for jewellery manufacturers must be amended to enable ER-8 return filing under ACES.
Jewellery manufacturers must amend their business registration category to Jewellery-7113 in the ACES portal to enable filing of the modified ER-8 return; a ticker on ACES notifies assessees to submit the amendment.

Reduction of government litigation: departments must report withdrawal status and justify any non-withdrawals by the deadline.
The Board directs zones to implement identified appeal withdrawal in matters before the CESTAT and High Courts, reiterates prior timelines, notes persistent non-withdrawal across many zones, and mandates that each zone submit the latest withdrawn-case figures and detailed reasons for any non-withdrawal for review at the Revenue Secretary's meeting.

Excise enforcement guidelines restrict visits, searches and prosecutions and require high level approval and procedural safeguards.
Guidelines limit excise enforcement against manufacturers or principal manufacturers of articles of jewellery: transit checks are prohibited; visits, searches, summons, seizures, arrests and prosecutions require Commissioner level belief of evasion and are not to be used for procedural, documentary or pure legal interpretation matters. Actions are permitted where duty is collected but not deposited or where information indicates substantial evasion. Seized goods must be returned promptly and provisionally released within three working days on security equal to duty payable. Commissioner approval and specific intelligence are required for visits and summons; other central excise instructions apply mutatis mutandis.

Monetary limits for government appeals restrict departmental filings; classification and refund exceptions remain appealable.
The Board prescribes monetary limits below which the Department shall not file appeals before the tribunal, High Courts and the Supreme Court, exercising statutory powers and partially modifying the 2011 instruction. An added exception permits appeals on classification and refunds issues that are legal and/or recurring in nature; all other terms of the 2011 instruction remain in force.

Return filing validation: business-category determines permissible return types; assessees must align ACES registration immediately.
ACES now validates return types against the taxpayer's registered business category: ER2 restricted to export/special-scheme units, dealer returns restricted to dealers/importers, and manufacturers limited to ER1/ER3/ER8 with a requirement to maintain the same selected return type for the remainder of the financial year; affected taxpayers must amend ACES registration and obtain jurisdictional approval.

Revised excise return allowed: filers may submit corrected returns by month-end of original filing under new notification.
Revision of excise returns is permitted with effect from 17.8.2016 under Notification No. 42/2016: an assessee who filed an excise return (ER1/2/3) on or before the due date may submit a revised return by the end of the calendar month in which the original return was filed.

Common registration for first stage dealers and importers enables optional single registration and combined quarterly return.
An assessee registered as a First Stage Dealer or as an importer is exempted from obtaining the other registration and may opt for a single registration; alternatively, separate registrations remain permissible. Where a single registration is used, the assessee may file one quarterly return combining transaction details: first all First Stage Dealer transactions for the period, followed by all importer transactions in the same return table, pursuant to Notification No. 30/2016-CE (NT).