Delegation of power: commissioners may convert shipping bills to drawback S/Bs subject to guidelines and brand-rate application compliance.
Commissioners of Customs are empowered to convert Shipping Bills into Drawback Shipping Bills on written representations from exporters, applying the Ministry's prescribed guidelines and ensuring drawback admissibility on merits; conversion tied to timely filing of any required brand-rate application with the Directorate of Drawback. Pending cases lacking Ministry-furnished factual reports are to be disposed of by Commissioners on merits following the factual report recommendations, and the change must be publicised via Public Notices or Standing Orders.

Clearance from Committee on Disputes required before inter departmental litigation; submit prescribed documents promptly to avoid dismissal.
Clearance from the Committee on Disputes must be obtained before pursuing inter departmental litigation; Commissionerates should send a self contained proposal to the Board with twenty copies of the brief in the prescribed format, four copies of the order in appeal, four copies of the order in original, a copy of the memorandum of appeal filed or to be filed, and other relevant documents. These instructions are mandatory and related assessee requests should be processed in a time bound manner to achieve disposal within one month.

Change in jurisdiction under Section 116 suspended to facilitate computerization and prevent file movement during the fiscal period.
A temporary moratorium is placed on changes of jurisdiction under Section 116 to prevent movement of files and to facilitate departmental computerization; departures for sensitive matters, prioritized centralization or decentralization, or compliance with court directions require prior approval by the Board.

Prospective effect of section 37B orders: assessment practice may change and pending cases must follow the order promptly.
Orders under section 37B have only prospective effect from their date of issue and pending assessments on that date must be finalised on the basis of the order. Assessment practice may be changed prospectively without seeking separate permission from the Commissioner. Fresh demands can be raised for the last six months under section 11A, and Trade Notices and section 11A notices should be issued promptly to avoid time bar.

DEPB rate amendments update export product classifications and require Export Promotion Council verification before rate fixation.
Amendments revise Appendix 28A entries to update DEPB rates and value-cap methodology for listed chemical products and amend textile and engineering product descriptions; units granted customs/excise duty exemptions remain subject to notification conditions with recovery of duties/interest under Customs and Central Excise law and possible government directions for failure to meet Net Foreign Exchange or export obligations; Appendix 32B heading is amended for certification agencies, and DEPB-rate fixation applications must be routed through Export Promotion Councils with verification of FOB values and input prices and meet the prescribed export-value threshold.

Third-party export counting under EPCG: entitlement depends on which party claims DEPB and contractual arrangement.
Counting of third-party exports under the EPCG scheme is limited to exports where the EPCG licence holder is the manufacturer; if exports are routed through a third party, DEPB benefit may be claimed by either party per their agreement, subject to a No Objection Certificate from the other party. When further processing is required, the EPCG licence holder must perform processing up to the intermediate stage using EPCG capital goods; the final conversion may be done by another manufacturer upon licence amendment and an enhanced export obligation of 50%.

DEPB eligibility for PVC leather cloth extended to exports with varied coating weights, restoring entitlement without coating reference.
Exporters of PVC leather cloth and foam leather cloth who shipped products with coating weights differing from 1000 gms/sq.m 5% during the stated period are eligible for the DEPB rate previously applicable to the item; the Handbook description has been simplified to remove coating-weight specification and entitlement applies without reference to coating weight.

DEPB rate application: reductions or value caps do not affect exports already handed to customs before notification.
Reductions in DEPB rates or imposition of value caps shall not apply to export consignments already handed over to Customs for examination and clearance prior to the date of the notification implementing such changes; this preserves entitlement calculations for shipments under Customs control at notification effective date.

Licence issuance continuity: DGFT Headquarters to issue licences during Regional Office disruption and ensure exports proceed.
Where Regional Licensing Authorities are unable to function, licences approved by DGFT committees will be issued by the concerned DGFT Headquarters section until normalcy is restored. Heads of Regional Licensing Authorities must accept applications on submission so exports are not held up; exports from the date of receipt of an Advance Licence application may be accepted towards discharge of export obligation. Regional offices must ensure scheduled committee meetings proceed and arrange staff to prevent turning applicants away.

Declarant's Code Number waived for exempt small scale exporters not required to file declaration under notified exemption.
Mentioning of the Declarant's Code Number is not required where a small manufacturer is exempted from filing declaration under Notification No. 22/98-CE(NT) dated 4th June, 1998; accordingly, eligible exempted units may follow the Simplified Export Procedure without quoting a Declarant's Code Number, and the term 'exemption limit' refers to the full exemption limit defined in that notification.

HACCP certification update: addition of a recognised certification agency to the official export import policy list.
The Director General of Foreign Trade amends the Handbook of Procedures (Vol. I) by adding an entry to Appendix 32B under the sub heading List of HACCP certification agencies, thereby recognising a specified agency and its address for HACCP certification; the change is effected under powers conferred by the Export and Import Policy, 1997-2002 and issued by public notice.

Control on vitamin imports: clearance halted, licences frozen and referred for scrutiny; limited quantities permitted pending review.
The DGFT reports alleged importation of vitamins under pre-revision norms and complaints about Regional Licensing Authorities issuing enhancements or revalidations. Authorities must stop clearance of affected consignments, freeze operation of the implicated licences and forward those licences to DGFT (Hqrs) for examination and scrutiny. Field formations must notify the Board of all such cases. Pending further orders, permitting authorities are to restrict quantities of premixed vitamins allowed against these licences to a limited proportion of export mix norms.

Security obligations for Inland Container Depots require bonds, specified physical safeguards and duty liability on pilferage, with antecedent checks time bound.
Establishment of the ICD is conditional on custodian security measures-floodlighting, high mast towers, high boundary walls-and execution of a bond accepting duty liability for pilfered goods under the Customs Act; these measures must satisfy the Commissioner of Customs. Antecedent verification of private applicants is permitted with specified enforcement agencies but must be completed within two months and must not delay proposals.

Preferential sugar export certification: EU and US shipments must meet specified GSP and endorsement requirements.
Exports to the United States must follow existing preferential procedures, including GSP certification. Only ISGIEIC is authorised to effect exports of white cane and raw cane sugar to the EU and USA, and required certifications must be made on ISGIEIC documents. White sugar exported under EEC Regulation No. 2782/76 requires a specific endorsement referencing the preferential sugar regulation and common code. Raw sugar under Regulation (EC) No. 1916/95 must have origin certification stating the special preferential application of the Regulation, the date of loading, the marketing year, and the CN code. Endorsements do not apply to jaggery or consignments exported by parties other than ISGIEIC.

Revalidation of Special Imprest Licence permits limited-term extensions and enables prorata reduction of export obligation under quantity licences.
Revalidation of Special Imprest Licence is allowable under paragraph 7.23 of the Handbook of Procedures (Vol.1) (RE-98) 1997-2002, with licences issued prior to 12.11.97 subject to a maximum aggregate validity of thirty months and licences issued on or after 12.11.97 revalidable by licensing authorities but in no case exceeding thirty months from issuance. For quantity-based Advance licences the export obligation in value terms shall be fixed by reference to the aggregate CIF value of actual imports and reduced prorata where actual imports are lower than the licence CIF value, regardless of input-specific import proportions.

Main function criterion governs customs classification and exemption for combination machines, with Rule 3(c) if function is unclear.
The Board directs that for tariff classification and eligibility for notification exemptions a combination machine is to be treated according to its main function, disregarding additional functions; if the main function is not ascertainable, Rule 3(c) of the interpretative rules is to be applied.

Validity extension for licences registered at Kandla deemed effective until specified date to accommodate export disruption from coastal calamity.
Licences registered at Kandla that would expire between the notice date and the prescribed later date are deemed extended: Advance Licences and post export DEPBs with Kandla as port of registration are deemed valid through the specified extended validity date under powers in paragraph 4.11 of the Export and Import Policy to address disruption from the coastal natural calamity.

Export ceiling for dairy products: centralised allocation by APEDA with mandatory reporting and monthly disclosure.
The circular places fixed export ceilings for specified dairy products for the licensing year and vests APEDA with authority to issue Registration cum Allocation Certificates (RCACs) under procedures it will set, with APEDA required to prevent allocations exceeding the ceiling and to report exhaustion of the ceiling to the Ministry of Commerce and DGFT; APEDA must also provide monthly statements detailing exporter, quantity, FOB value and destination, and a trade notice must be published with copies to DGFT.

Joint Bill of Entry filing allows importer and lessor to clear leased capital goods subject to contractual and signature conditions
Bills of Entry may be filed jointly in the names of the lessee (importer) and the lessor for capital goods imported under leasing arrangements, using the prescribed format and signed by both parties. Joint filing does not create eligibility for concessional Project Imports or other notifications unless the goods and project meet the specified conditions; imports in the lessor's sole name are not eligible. Diversion or resale triggers liability for differential duty and penalty. Similar joint filing is permitted for EOU, EPZ, STP and EHTP units, subject to a contractual agreement, joint naming on the Bill of Entry, and signatures by both lessee and lessor.

Depreciation cap for capital goods in EOUs/EPZ raised, revised quarterly rates and conditions apply under circular.
Revision raises the depreciation ceiling for capital goods other than computers and computer peripherals in EOUs/EPZ/EHTP/STP units to an overall maximum of 90%, while retaining quarterly rates of 4% in the first year, 3% in the second and third years, 2.5% in the fourth year, and thereafter subject to the 90% cap. The Circular modifies the earlier Circular No. 27/98, requires a Public Notice for wide publicity, excludes computers and peripherals from the revised norm, and directs that cases already decided need not be reopened.