Waiver of interest: claims based on press notes are not sustainable; waivers must follow Board orders' parameters.
Waiver of interest based on the Press Note of 21-5-1996 is not sustainable because the Press Note merely gave broad advance publicity and does not override the Board's final order; claims for waiver must be considered only within the parameters of the Board's order dated 23-5-1996 read with the subsequent order, and waivers are to be granted by the Chief Commissioner of Income-tax and the Director General of Income-tax in accordance with those criteria.

Extension of export time limit for onions permits NOC-based shipments under the amended deadline.
The policy circular amends the final paragraph of Policy Circular No.40 (RE-99) to extend the 15 day export window for onion shipments under NOCs issued by canalising agencies on or before 31.5.99, changing the permissive deadline from 18 November 1999 to 19 November 1999; this amendment is issued with DGFT approval.

Modvat credit treatment clarified: utilised credit on capital goods need not be reversed on conversion; unutilised credit lapses.
If a DTA unit converted to an EOU/EHTP/STP has already availed Modvat credit on plant, machinery and equipment and utilised that credit for payment of duty on goods manufactured and cleared before conversion, the utilised credit need not be reversed on conversion. Any Modvat credit balance unutilised at the date of conversion lapses and cannot be used after conversion.

B-17 bond: security reduced to a fraction of projected duty, simplifying clearance and establishing a single all-purpose bond.
A single B-17 Bond, executed before the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner, shall be the sole bond for EOU/EPZ/EHTP/STP units for duty-free imports and local procurement covered by the exemption notification; the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner's certificate alone is sufficient for port clearance and no additional bonds or port-level securities should be demanded. The bond amount is to be calculated on projected sanctioned requirements (covering capital goods and three months' raw-material stock), is a running bond debited on fresh procurement and adjusted if actual procurement exceeds projections, with monitoring by the Assistant Commissioner on a broad basis.

Extension of export time permits shipments against previously issued NOCs for Bangalore Rose Onion to proceed under existing quota.
Extension permits shipments against 56 NOCs for Bangalore Rose Onion issued by KAPPEC during 4.11.1999-9.11.1999 for 3,039 MT until 7.12.1999 as a partial modification of the earlier policy, and prohibits issuance of further NOCs by KAPPEC, limiting the arrangement to facilitate exports under the earlier 10,000 MT quota.

Electronic IEC updation required; PAN must be recorded and a hard copy filed or customs clearance may be refused.
The DGFT mandates online updation of IEC entries via its website with subsequent submission of a printed hard copy to the issuing licensing authority for post verification. All IE Code holders must enter their Income Tax PAN; assistance from service providers is permitted. Updated online information will be used for Customs clearance and DEEC logging, and corrections made before the stated waiver deadline will not attract penalty. If online entries are not followed by a hard copy, the licensing authority will not verify the update, and Customs may refuse clearance where submitted information mismatches website records.

Revised telex proforma required for search and seizure reports; telex submissions must use the newly updated form.
Telex reports on search and seizure must be sent using the newly revised proforma, which incorporates a new column no. 4 after column no. 3; all future telex submissions are to adopt this updated layout without exception.

Section 80G deduction allowed when employer/DDO issues certificate for employee donations to national or relief funds.
Employees donating to the Prime Minister's, Chief Minister's or Lieutenant Governor's Relief Funds are eligible for deduction under section 80G; where contributions are made as consolidated payments via employers, a certificate issued by the employer or DDO will be accepted as proof for claiming the deduction.

Materiality for manufacture: duty exemption eligibility for process chemicals affirmed by tribunal despite Supreme Court dismissal of appeal.
The tribunal held Dowtherm and Tri Ethylene Glycol to be materials required for manufacture and eligible for duty exemption; the Supreme Court dismissed the civil appeal by a one line order. The Law Ministry and Attorney General advised that the non speaking dismissal does not merge or approve the tribunal's order and provides no basis for review, leaving the issue open for contestation in other cases.

New Excise Control Code based on PAN introduced; mandatory PAN and phased transition to exclusive use of the new code.
Introduction of a new alphanumeric Excise Control Code (New ECC Number) based on the Permanent Account Number (PAN) is mandated for all Central Excise assessees and registered dealers; the New ECC comprises PAN + a two-character category code + a three-digit instance code. Applicants must apply to the jurisdictional Range Office with an attested PAN copy, receive immediate acknowledgement, and processing will follow a centralised path through Range, Division, Commissionerate or Director General levels depending on the geographic spread of premises. NIC automation is planned but manual processing must begin immediately, PAN is compulsory for assessees, and a phased transition requires concurrent use of old and new ECCs before exclusive use of the New ECC.

EPCG licence cancellation: cancelled unutilised licences with bonded goods permit ex-bonding under the replacement scheme's conditions.
Where an EPCG licence is cancelled as unutilised while the imported capital goods remain in Customs bond and have not been cleared under EPCG terms, the EPCG obligations are not operative; ex-bonding and clearance may proceed as normal goods, subject to the conditions of the scheme under which they will be cleared, and no contravention of EPCG conditions is to be construed.

Export authorization: shipments allowed only against pre-existing NOCs, with fixed allocation and no fresh NOCs issued.
Export of Bangalore rose onion is permitted only against No Objection Certificates (NOCs) issued on or before 7.9.99; shipments under those NOCs may proceed until 7.12.99. No fresh NOC will be issued after 7.9.99. An allocation of 2000 MT is allowed for the State cooperative marketing federation against existing NOCs within the overall 10000 MT ceiling previously allocated to the issuing authority.

Tax deduction at source from salaries: prescribed computation, declarations and compliance obligations for employers and payors.
Employers must deduct tax at source on estimated annual salary income for 1999-2000 by including taxable perquisites, excluding prescribed exemptions, allowing statutory deductions and Chapter VIA investments/payments within limits, applying prescribed slab-based rates and adding a ten per cent surcharge where applicable. Employers may rely on employee declarations and prescribed forms to compute reliefs; they must issue Form 16, quote TAN, file annual TDS returns, use correct challans, and remit deductions within prescribed timeframes. Penalties, interest and prosecution provisions apply for failures to deduct, remit or comply.

Deemed export benefits: return obligations triggered if external funding fails, with specific project exceptions and conditional relief.
The Public Notice substitutes project names to include Talcher Super Thermal Power Project Stage II and related HVDC works, and replaces paragraph three to address deemed export benefits where World Bank funding fails: suppliers are to be treated as if covered by Paragraph 10.2(d) of the EXIM Policy, Power Grid Corporation must return cash equivalents of deemed export benefits except for Talcher Stage II, and for Talcher Stage II NTPC must return only the cash equivalent of the additional benefits specified in Paragraphs 10.3(a) and (b) subject to Paragraph 10.11 of the Handbook of Procedures.

Permission for job work by EOU/EPZ units requires direct export and excludes drawback or DEPB benefits.
EOU/EPZ/EHTP units in aquaculture, animal husbandry, electronics hardware and software may undertake job work for DTA units provided the finished products are exported directly from the EOU/EPZ/EHTP and not returned to the DTA; Shipping Bills are filed in the DTA unit's name with the job worker named, assessed by specified Assistant Commissioners depending on EPZ/EOU gateway, invoice and AR-4 must list and be signed by both parties, and no drawback/DEPB benefits are admissible.

Extension of shipment deadline allows onion exports against specified NOCs for a further limited 15 day period.
Exports of onions against canalising agency NOCs issued on or before 31.5.99 are permitted for an additional 15 days from the circular's date, extending the shipment window to 19th November, 1999; this temporal extension, approved by the DGFT, addresses exporters' difficulties and certain High Court directions without altering the underlying quantitative ceiling framework.

Tax audit compliance: linking audit reports to returns enables targeted assessments and initiation of penalties for non filing or late filing.
Assessing Officers must identify returns defective for non compliance with the tax audit obligation under section 44AB, mark returns lacking timely audit reports, link separately filed audit reports to returns, examine reports for credible information to select cases for assessment under section 143(3), and maintain a Control Register to track audit mandated cases, late or non filings, and penalty proceedings under section 271B, with quarterly reporting in Annexure B and supervisory monitoring of compliance.

MRP declaration for multi-piece packages requires retail price marking and permits excise assessment under notified valuation rules.
The small-quantity exemption for packages does not apply to multi-piece packages; the Packaged Commodities Rules require declaration of the retail sale price of multi-piece packages and of individual pieces capable of separate sale, and where commodities are notified for valuation by reference to MRP they shall be assessed to excise duty on the basis of the declared retail sale price in accordance with the applicable excise valuation provisions.

Standard Input Output Norms amended: Handbook of Procedures Vol.2 updated with substitutions, deletions and new SION entries.
Amendments to the Standard Input Output Norms in the Handbook of Procedures, Vol.2 substitute, correct, delete and add SION entries across sectors. The Public Notice prescribes revised export item descriptions, amended import item descriptions and quantities, restored norms for certain entries, and new SION additions (chemicals A-2291-A-2319, engineering C-1475-C-1479, plastics H-414). Annexure A contains specific corrigenda; Annexures B-D set out full new norms and allowed input lists with conditional notes and alternative inputs.

Terminal Excise Duty refund requires authenticated invoices or a Range Superintendent debit certificate to prove excise paid.
Claimants must submit supply invoices certified by Project Authority or, for 100% EOU/EPS/STP/EHTP units, AR-3A or Bond Officer certified invoices, together with original input-output stage invoices and corresponding RT-12 or self-certified invoices showing Terminal Excise Duty paid. Suppliers must obtain a debit certificate from the Range Superintendent of Central Excise certifying duty paid against the Gate Pass or Invoice cum Gate Pass, or have the Invoice cum Gate Pass authenticated by Central Excise to establish the exact excise duty paid for refund purposes.