Business income treatment for lease rent in industrial parks/SEZs affirmed where park development and scheme compliance exist.
Income from lease rent for letting out buildings or developed space with amenities in an Industrial Park/SEZ established under notified government schemes is to be treated as business income where the undertaking develops, operates or maintains the park/SEZ and complies with the scheme conditions; the Board accepts judicial rulings to this effect and directs that the Department cease filing appeals and may withdraw those already filed.

MEIS claim accuracy: exporters must disclose commission, insurance and freight and refund excess claims to avoid enforcement.
MEIS applications must state Commission, Insurance and Freight in the relevant columns rather than indicating zeros; exporters who earlier claimed MEIS including on CIF values must refund excess claims and provide file number, MEIS licence number and value details to the office to avoid action under the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act 1992.

Rate of exchange conversion updated; importers and clearing agents must follow the customs notification guidance online.
Rate of exchange conversion for foreign currency effective 7th July 2017 is prescribed by Notification No. 70/2017 Customs (N.T.) dated 29.06.2017; Public Notice No. 216/2017 circulates that notification and directs importers, clearing agents and the trading public to follow the enclosed rates and consult the CBEC website for guidance to ensure uniform application in customs valuation and duty assessment.

Export controls on dual use and non SCOMET items strengthened: licensing, recordkeeping and end use certificates now mandated.
Amendments treat certain non-SCOMET items with potential WMD/missile/military risk as subject to denial or licence analogous to SCOMET controls; exporters must apply in prescribed form and, where notified or aware of risk, export may be refused or allowed only under SCOMET-style licence. SCOMET authorisation holders must retain all application materials, correspondence, contracts, financial records, government communications and shipping documents for five years. The rules clarify multilateral regimen adherence, assign licensing jurisdiction for specified SCOMET categories, shorten IMWG consultation to thirty days, and prescribe revised End Use cum End User Certificates with non-proliferation declarations and post-shipment verification.

BIS licence requirement for gold dore imports: only applications from refineries with valid BIS licences considered.
From 1 June 2017 applications for licences or authorisations to import gold dore will be considered only where the applicant refinery holds a valid licence issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), making possession of a current BIS licence a precondition to eligibility for grant of import authorisations.

Free Trade Agreement negotiations with EAEU seek stakeholder inputs to shape India's negotiation strategy and sectoral priorities.
Negotiations to enter into a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union are likely to commence; the Department of Commerce will hold a stakeholder consultation in Mumbai to identify negotiating interests and to solicit firm-level views distinguishing offensive (market access) and defensive (import protection) concerns, with preliminary sectoral impacts identified for agriculture, pharmaceuticals, plastics, textiles, engineering, machinery and automobiles.

Indian Customs EDI at ACC Lohegaon requires electronic filing, registrations, centralised bond/license ledgers and automated duty processing.
ICES 1.5 at ACC Lohegaon mandates electronic filing and processing of Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills with required registrations (IEC, brokers, carriers, DGFT licences, bank accounts, digital signatures), codified data entry, centralised bond and licence ledgers, automated assessment workflows (appraising groups, queries, first/second checks, concurrent audit and RMS facilitation), and designated bank e payment and TR 6 challan procedures for duty payment and drawback disbursement.

Change of Custodianship: port custodianship transferred to Marine Infrastructure Developer Pvt. Ltd., prior public notice provisions otherwise unchanged.
The demerger transfers port business including the CFS and substitutes the Custodian of the customs area: M/S. L & T Shipbuilding Ltd. is replaced by M/S. Marine Infrastructure Development P. Ltd.; all prior public notice provisions remain unchanged except for the custodian name. A corrigendum further corrects the custodian's name to M/S. Marine Infrastructure Developer Pvt. Ltd., and the change takes immediate effect for trade and related parties.

Change of custodianship of a CFS substitutes the custodian name while prior Public Notices remain in effect.
Substitution of the CFS custodian from M/S. L & T Shipbuilding Ltd. to M/S. Marine Infrastructure Developer Pvt. Ltd. is effected; the premises retain their status as a Customs Area and all prior public notices and conditions remain in force except for the change of custodian name, which shall be used in all documents and takes immediate effect.

Jurisdictional Customs authority responsible for refunds, demands and adjudication under Rule 47(5) following prescribed SOPs.
Amendment by insertion of Rule 47(5) assigns refund, demand, adjudication, review and appeal functions to jurisdictional Customs, Central Excise, Service Tax or GST authorities, to be applied prospectively. SOPs require SEZ units/developers to file refund claims with jurisdictional DC/AC (Policy/Technical), permit the jurisdictional office to seek Development Commissioner comments within two weeks, and mandate speaking orders on refunds. Draft demands are prepared by Development Commissioner's officers and transferred to jurisdictional DC/AC at least eight weeks before time bar; adjudication, review and appeal follow respective enactments, with Development Commissioner assisting recovery where BLUT exists.

Export of carpets: customs to use expert panels, complete market enquiries within 15 days and avoid damaging goods.
Export consignments of carpets must be examined for composition and value via expert panels or the Textiles Committee, with market enquiries completed within fifteen days; withholding export benefits beyond fifteen days requires written Commissioner approval and exports should not be stopped. Customs officers must avoid damaging, destroying or cutting carpets during inspection or sampling, and the public notice operates as a standing order with contact details provided for escalation.

Customs Act amendments clarified by CBEC circular and notification; trade associations asked to circulate guidance to stakeholders.
Clarification concerning amendments to the Customs Act, 1962 effected through measures processed in the Finance Bill, 2017, highlights CBEC Circular No. 12/2017-Customs and Notification No. 26/2017-CUS(NT) dated 31 March 2017 as the administrative instruments explaining the legislative changes and directs Trade Associations and Chambers of Commerce to circulate these instruments to their members for compliance and operational guidance.

Exemption for non domestically manufactured tyres permits OEMs to import specified sizes for replacement market sale through authorised dealers.
Notification designates specified tyre sizes and types as exempt from domestic-manufacture requirements under the Pneumatic Tyres and Tubes for Automotive Vehicles (Quality Control) Order, 2009, permitting Original Equipment Manufacturers to import those tyres for sale in the replacement market through authorised dealers, based on a Committee-reviewed and department-notified list available with the Department.

Deadline extension for appeal pendency upload compels CIT(A)s to finalize disposals and remove duplicate appeals on ITBA.
Extension of the deadline to upload correct appeal pendency and disposals on the ITBA platform is granted to stabilize the CIT(A) module; CIT(A) offices must upload disposals for the relevant year and remove duplicate appeals immediately and by the extended deadline to ensure accurate case records.

Removal of notified jurisdictional area: Cyprus removed retrospectively under section 94A of the Income Tax Act.
The rescission of Notification No.86/2013 removing Cyprus as a notified jurisdictional area was carried out by subsequent notifications in December 2016, and the Board clarifies that the rescission has retrospective effect from 01.11.2013, resolving divergent administrative views and treating Cyprus as not a notified jurisdictional area from that date.

Extension of filing deadline under PMGKY permits declarations where tax paid by deadline and deposit made by extended date.
Where due tax, surcharge and penalty under PMGKY were received on or before 31 March 2017 and the deposit in the Bond Ledger Account under the Deposit Scheme was received on or before 30 April 2017, the declaration in Form No.1 under PMGKY may be filed by 10 May 2017.

Services Exports from India Scheme extension of reward eligibility period to 31 March 2017 under amended Appendix 3D.
The Director General of Foreign Trade amends Note 1 of Appendix 3D to extend the period for which notified services and reward rates under the Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) apply, changing the operative window from ending 31-03-2016 to ending 31-03-2017, while retaining that the list of services and rates remains subject to review from 01-04-2017; all other contents of Public Notice No. 3/2015-20 remain the same.

GST enrollment requirement: complete portal registration to preserve carryforward of tax credits and enable return filing.
Enrollment on the GST portal is required to carry forward existing duty and tax credits and to file returns; provisional IDs from ACES must be used to enroll, and enrolled taxpayers must record their GST portal user name in ACES. Taxpayers not enrolling must confirm non migration in ACES, otherwise provisional IDs may be cancelled and credit entitlement during migration may be jeopardized.

Levy of Fees amendment revises the customs document fee schedule, updating charges for amendments, cancellations and certified copies.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs issues the Levy of Fees (Customs Documents) Amendment Regulations, 2017 under Sections 157 and 158 of the Customs Act, 1962, effective on Gazette publication, substituting regulation 3 with a new table that prescribes fees for amendment of import/export manifests, shipping bills (vessel name and other particulars), port clearance and outward entry applications, supplementation of short shipment notices, cancellations, and supply of certified copies; and provides a nil fee for amendment of a prior bill of entry filed under the proviso to subsection (3) of section 46.

Risk Management System enables self assessed import bills to be cleared without routine examination, subject to targeted assessment and PCA.
The Risk Management System (RMS) will process electronically filed Bills of Entry and IGMs in ICES to decide whether a B/E is cleared out of charge after duty payment without officer assessment/examination, or selected for assessment and/or physical examination based on risk parameters, random selection or intelligence. AEO importers meeting compliance criteria will receive facilitation with predominant waiver of assessment/examination, subject to Compulsory Compliance Requirements and occasional selection for assessment, while concurrent audit is replaced by Post Clearance Audit.