Duty drawback amendment for guar products updates AIR requirements and directs importers and agents to follow revised compliance.
Amendment to the customs duty drawback framework modifies the AIR of duty drawback for guar and its derivative products by incorporating Notification No. 41/2017 Customs (N.T.), altering procedural and documentary requirements for entitlement and processing of drawback claims; the revised notification is circulated for guidance to importers, clearing agents and the trading public and published on the CBEC website.

Tariff value fixation for edible oils, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nut, gold and silver notified to guide import valuation
Fixation of tariff values is notified for edible oils, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nut, gold and silver, establishing tariff valuation benchmarks for assessment and valuation of these imports; Government Notification No. 39/2017 Customs (N.T) is circulated for guidance and is available on the customs website for importers, clearing agents and the trading public.

Amendment to customs notification updates procedures and issues guidance to importers and clearing agents, available online.
Amendment to earlier customs notification has been issued by the Department of Revenue and is provided for guidance. The public notice informs importers, clearing agents and the trading public that the amending notification is enclosed and the full text is available on the central customs (CBEC) website for compliance and reference.

Customs settlement rules updated; importers and clearing agents must consult amended procedures and follow compliance guidance promptly.
Amendments to the Customs (Settlement of Cases) Rules revise procedural requirements for settlement of customs cases and update administrative mechanisms; importers, clearing agents and the trading public are instructed to consult the amended rules and apply the revised procedures in dealings with Customs Houses, with the notification made available on the department website as formal guidance.

Indian Customs EDI (ICES 1.5) requires electronic Bills of Entry, pre registration and automated duty assessment.
ICES 1.5 is launched for Alang, Bhavnagar to require electronic filing and automated processing of Bills of Entry, IGM/Consol manifests and related declarations. Pre filing registrations (IE Code, Customs Broker, Shipping Agents, DGFT licenses) and use of standardized currency, unit, country and port codes are mandatory. Remote filing via ICEGATE with digital signatures is enabled. ICES validates data, computes assessable value and duty, assigns Bills to Appraising Groups, enforces bond/license registration and debiting, supports RMS facilitation, and prevents goods registration/out of charge until statutory bond/license/payment conditions are met.

Customs duty exemption for military and paramilitary unit imports upon return from overseas service, subject to specified conditions.
Exempts goods under the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, imported by or along with units of the Army, Navy, Air Force or Central Paramilitary Forces on return to India after service abroad from basic customs duty, countervailing duty and special additional duty, subject to specified conditions and compliance with procedural and documentary requirements as set out in Notification No. 17/2017 Customs.

Customs exemption for chapter thirty pharmaceutical goods under Patient Assistance Programme, guidance issued to importers.
Exempts certain pharmaceutical goods falling under chapter 30 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 when supplied under specified Patient Assistance Programmes run by named pharmaceutical companies; Notification No. 16/2017-Customs dated 20.04.2017 is enclosed and issued as guidance to importers, clearing agents and the trading public, with the full text available on the departmental website.

Acceptance of e-BRC as proof of realization permits electronic documentation with a prescribed exporter declaration for exports.
Acceptance of e-BRC as evidence for proof of realization of export sale proceeds is authorized for shipments with LEO/LCO dates between 12.8.2012 and 31.3.2014, supplementing the Bank Realization Certificate requirement. Customs acceptance is conditional on an appropriate exporter declaration on the reverse of the e-BRC in the prescribed annexed format; alternatives such as a negative statement from a statutory auditor or AD bank remain available. Implementation difficulties may be reported to the Customs Commissioner.

Form reference correction: service tax return requirement amended to include Form ST 3C alongside Form ST 3.
Corrigendum substitutes the phrase "Form ST-3" with "Form ST-3 and Form ST-3C" in Order No. 1/2017 Service Tax dated 25 April 2017, thereby adding the additional form to the prescribed service tax return documents and clarifying the filing obligation under that order.

Line of Credit for Project Trident conditions Indian content, compliance with export declaration and FEMA requirements.
Exim Bank's Government-supported Line of Credit for Project Trident finances eligible exports from India with a requirement that at least 75 percent of contract value be supplied from India and up to 25 percent may be procured abroad; effective April 3, 2017, the LoC allows a terminal utilization period of 60 months after project completion, mandates Export Declaration Form filing, prohibits agency commission payable under the LoC while permitting exporter-funded or EEFC-funded commission payments after realization, and instructs AD Category I banks to inform exporters and obtain full LoC details from Exim Bank, issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Port registration: Inclusion of Hazira seaport permits exporters to access Handbook of Procedures export promotion benefits.
The Seaport at Hazira (Surat) is added to the list of sea ports as a Port of Registration in the Handbook of Procedures 2015-2020, enabling exporters using Hazira to avail export promotion benefits under Chapter Four of the Foreign Trade Policy; the port names will be alphabetised in the revised handbook.

Change of Regional Office Addresses: Appendix 1A updated to amend DGFT regional office locations and contact details.
Administrative amendment to Appendix - 1A of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 revising the office address for the Regional Office at Puducherry (S. No. 33) and amending head-of-office entries for Regional Offices at Ludhiana (S. No. 8), Ahmedabad (S. No. 17), Bangalore (S. No. 34) and Hyderabad (S. No. 37), including updated street addresses, contact numbers, email addresses and territorial jurisdiction descriptions, to be read in place of the previously recorded particulars.

Transfer of shares to IEPF Authority required by rule, via demat corporate action with prescribed formats and procedures.
Companies must transfer shares falling within the seven year dormancy completion window to the IEPF special demat account opened with NSDL by way of corporate action, providing shareholder information to NSDL in prescribed formats. NSDL will publish file formats and operational procedures to facilitate transfers and recordkeeping. NSDL will charge companies a per record transaction fee at transfer and annual custody/maintenance fees on a slab basis, which are additional to depository corporate action fees.

Signatures not required on final Bill of Entry printouts; computer-generated EDI documents suffice for customs processing.
Final printouts of Bills of Entry generated by the Customs EDI system after out-of-charge are computer generated and do not require manual endorsement by Customs officers; stakeholders are notified that signatures will not be appended and any implementation difficulties should be reported to the customs office.

Import manifest amendments require set timelines, specified documents, a revised flat fee, and shipping lines bear amendment liability.
IGM amendments are split into major and minor categories: minor amendments to be approved same day by Superintendent or Appraiser, major amendments generally within 24 hours by Deputy/Assistant Commissioner with escalation for delays; a prescribed combined application and annexed document list must be used; minor amendments are administrative without routine adjudication where no fraudulent intent exists; a flat amendment fee applies with specified exemption; only the person in charge of the conveyance or authorised delivery order issuer may request amendments and the shipping line bears liability for penalties arising from IGM amendments.

Acceptance of government securities for settlement guarantee fund contributions permits clearing members to use securities as eligible SGF collateral.
Permits clearing members to contribute Central Government Securities towards Core Settlement Guarantee Fund obligations in addition to cash and bank fixed deposits; requires clearing corporations to amend bye laws and systems, notify members, disclose on websites, and report implementation status to the regulator.

Non-resident seafarer tax liability clarified to apply to seafarers on foreign-going ships regardless of ship flag.
Corrigendum replaces the phrase "foreign ship" with "foreign going ship (with Indian flag or foreign flag)" in Circular No.13/2017 clarifying liability to income tax in India for a non-resident seafarer receiving salary in an NRE account with an Indian bank.

Import manifest amendments now processed with specified timelines, fees, documentation requirements and liability placed on the shipping line.
The notice prescribes a structured amendment regime for Import General Manifests distinguishing minor amendments (same day administrative approval by Superintendent/Appraiser, no adjudication or penalty) and major amendments (generally approved within 24 hours by Deputy/Assistant Commissioners), prescribes a combined application form with specific documentary requirements, mandates electronic requests for EDI sites, requires same day deficiency memos for incomplete filings, revises the amendment fee to a flat Rs.1000 for IGMs while exempting certain Bills of Entry, and places responsibility for filing and any adjudicated fines solely on the Shipping Line/Agent.

Extension of filing deadline for Form ST-3 due to ACES website access issues, submission date moved accordingly.
Extension of the filing deadline for the ST 3 return is ordered under sub rule (4) of rule 7 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, postponing the due date for the October 1, 2016-March 31, 2017 period to a later date in April 2017 because assessees faced intermittent difficulties accessing the ACES portal on the original due date.

Aadhaar data protection: immediate ban on publishing Aadhaar identifiers with sensitive personal information and removal of existing disclosures.
Prohibits publication or public display of Aadhaar number and associated demographic or other personal sensitive information in contravention of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and the Information Technology Act, 2000, directs immediate removal of any such publicly accessible content, requires dissemination of instructions to concerned personnel, and mandates submission of a compliance report to the issuing division for onward transmission to the e Governance Group.