Social welfare surcharge must be levied on imports and cannot be paid through export duty credit scrips going forward.
Social Welfare Surcharge is an additional customs duty calculated on the aggregate of duties, taxes and cesses and is not exempt under the Foreign Trade Policy or related exemption notifications. Duty credit scrips operate only as a mode of payment for specified customs and excise duties and do not permit debiting of SWS; therefore SWS must be paid in cash going forward, while past debits through scrips up to the transitional cut-off will be accepted administratively.

Paperless processing of PGA licenses via SWIFT requires stakeholder compliance; report implementation difficulties promptly to Customs.
Implementation of PGA e-SANCHIT mandates paperless processing of Licenses, Permits, Certificates and Other Authorizations (LPCOs) via SWIFT uploads by PGAs, pursuant to Board Circular No. 03/2020 dated 15.01.2020; importers, exporters and customs brokers are directed to comply and to report any implementation difficulties to the Customs office.

Bill of Entry filing suspension in ICES during budget directory updation; Shipping Bill processing continues, Section 48 approvals paused.
ICES directory updation after the Union Budget will require temporary changes: Bill of Entry filing in ICES will be suspended from 2000 hrs on 1 February 2020 and Section 48 approvals stopped at that time; the system will remain available for other functions with ticker notifications on CITRIX, CBIC and ICEGATE. Shipping Bill filing and processing will continue, and export duty/cess announced during the budget should be tracked for Shipping Bills filed on or after 1 February, with manual collection until directories are updated online. Bills of Entry filed before the suspension time will continue to be processed.

Import and export access through Ghasuapara LCS expands under amended customs notification, subject to specific prohibitions and restrictions.
Amendment to the customs notification governing Ghasuapara Land Customs Station removes the earlier export-only restriction and extends the station's scope to import and export purposes. Accordingly, all goods may be exported and imported through Ghasuapara LCS, subject to any specific prohibition or restriction applicable to particular goods.

Correct jurisdiction transfer for GST registration applications requires same-day forwarding of wrongly selected ARNs to the proper office.
Online registration applications wrongly selected under the Joint Commissioner Corporate Circle must be transferred to the correct registration office through the BO Web Module's Correct Jurisdiction function. The application need not be rejected. The ARN is forwarded to the proper jurisdiction, removed from the original dashboard, and assigned for processing by the correct officer. The transfer must be made on the same day of receipt until the GSTN module is updated.

Revision of All Industry Rates updates duty drawback rates and caps, prescribing suffix rules to claim revised drawback.
Revision of All Industry Rates (AIRs) of Duty Drawback establishes revised AIRs and appropriate caps for tariff items effective 04.02.2020, requires use of suffix 'B' to claim AIRs and suffix 'D' for alternate AIRs under Special Advance Authorization Scheme, introduces and revises tariff items, increases or rationalizes rates across multiple sectors due to changes in duties, CIF/FOB values and import intensity, and directs field formations to exercise due diligence, monitor valuation and drawback outgo, prevent misuse, and report trends or cap review proposals to the Board.

Extension of filing deadline for AoC 4 NBFC (Ind AS) and AoC 4 CFS NBFC waives additional fees until new cutoff.
The Ministry extended the final filing date for AoC-4 NBFC (Ind AS) and AoC-4 CFS NBFC (Ind AS) for eligible companies without payment of additional fee until 31st March, 2020 to accommodate the scheduled deployment of those e forms and directed registrars and regional directors to implement the relaxation approved by the competent authority.

Misclassification of goods: submit HS code suggestions for items recorded under 'Others' and file them online.
Stakeholders are directed to propose appropriate HS codes for goods currently classified under 'Others' at import and to submit these proposals and supporting data through the designated online form, including any prior submissions, to enable rapid analysis and improvement of import classification accuracy.

Grievance Redressal Committee established to address GST taxpayer grievances, with zonal/state composition and referral powers.
Constitution of a Grievance Redressal Committee for Hyderabad Zone/Telangana State comprising Central and State Tax co-chairs, secretaries, nodal officers and stakeholder members for a two-year term. The Committee shall examine and resolve GST taxpayer grievances, including procedural and IT-related issues, and refer matters requiring legislative or instructional change to the GST Council Secretariat and the Policy Wing of the CBIC. It will convene at least quarterly or as decided by co-chairs, and stakeholders may send grievances to the two named Secretaries at the specified contact addresses and emails.

Grievance redressal committee for GST grievances, with quarterly meetings to resolve taxpayer issues and refer policy reforms.
Constitution of a Grievance Redressal Committee for Hyderabad Zone/Telangana with Central and State co-chairs, nominated members from tax administration and stakeholders, and two-year member terms. The Committee will examine and resolve GST taxpayer grievances (including procedural and IT issues) and refer matters requiring changes in laws, rules, notifications, forms or circulars to the GST Council Secretariat and the CBIC policy wing. It will meet quarterly or as determined by co-chairs; stakeholders may send grievances to the designated secretaries using the provided contact details.

Paperless processing under SWIFT: mandatory PGA upload of LPCOs; beneficiary uploads deactivated after cut-off, ensure email registration.
PGAs must upload digitally signed Licenses/Permits/Certificates/Other Authorizations (LPCOs) onto the e-SANCHIT platform; beneficiary self-uploading of previously issued LPCOs is deactivated after the cut-off, while PGAs are required to upload LPCOs issued during the prior fifteen-day window and may upload earlier LPCOs. PGAs will communicate IRNs and LPCO information via ICEGATE-registered email addresses using the Board's simplified auto-registration for limited e-SANCHIT functions.

Social Welfare Surcharge not payable via duty credit scrips; importers must pay surcharge in cash going forward.
SWS is a surcharge on customs duties and must be levied and collected on imported goods; duty credit scrips under export incentive schemes are a mode of payment for Basic and Additional Customs Duties but do not authorize debit of SWS as no exemption for SWS exists in the FTP or exemption notifications. Applying the judicial principle that exemptions for additional duties require specific notifications, SWS must be paid in cash going forward; past debits of SWS via scrips will be accepted and not recovered.

Sea Cargo Manifest registration requires ICEGATE enrolment and phased testing before mandatory use of new message formats.
Registration under the Sea Cargo Manifest Regulations must be completed via ICEGATE and stakeholders must apply from within their ICEGATE login. A phased testing period mandates submission of messages in both existing and new formats until full switchover; a matrix lists entity-specific messages and registration prerequisites, including a National Surety Bond for certain carriers and auto-approval for certain operators. Separate applications are required for multiple roles, queries from officers must be answered online without electronic document upload, and a dashboard and checklists are provided for monitoring readiness.

Electronic commerce operator information requests under Section 52 authorized for Deputy Commissioner in tax research unit.
Authorization is conferred on the Deputy Commissioner, Commercial Tax, posted in the Tax Research Unit at Headquarters, to exercise the powers under Section 52 of the SGST/CGST framework for obtaining information from an electronic commerce operator. The authorization covers details relating to supplies made through the operator and stock of goods held in operator-managed premises declared as additional places of business by suppliers, and also the related notice-compliance and penalty provisions.

Withdrawal of export incentive: MEIS benefits removed for apparel and made ups, RoSCTL procedure and recovery rules introduced.
Withdrawal of MEIS for apparel and made ups (chapters 61-63) for exports from 07.03.2019 is effected and replaced by the RoSCTL scheme. Revised HBP paras 4.95 and 4.96 set out electronic application procedures via ANF 4R, auto calculation and adjustment of entitlements (including reduction of MEIS already granted), issuance of duty credit scrips, port and registration rules, 24 month scrip validity, timelines for filing claims, and a recovery mechanism requiring three year record retention and refund with interest for excess or undue disbursals.

Town of Export Excellence designation for Pollachi recognizes coir and coir products for export facilitation under trade policy.
Pollachi in Tamil Nadu is designated as a Town of Export Excellence for Coir and Coir products by addition of entry No. 38 to Appendix 1B of the Handbook of Procedures 2015-20, effected by the Director General of Foreign Trade under powers conferred by the Foreign Trade Policy.

IPF Trust composition norms apply uniformly across MIIs; functions limited to exchanges, with committee names updated accordingly.
Composition standards for the IPF Trust from the February 2017 circular apply uniformly to Exchanges and Depositories, while the functions prescribed for the IPF Trust in that provision apply only to Exchanges; Depositories must comply with composition norms within three months. The circular also directs that "Investor grievance redressal committee" be read as "Grievance redressal committee" and "Member selection committee" be read as "Member committee."

Paperless Processing under e SANCHIT: beneficiary uploads disabled; PGAs must promptly upload recent LPCOs for use.
e-SANCHIT requires PGAs to upload digitally signed LPCOs on the customs platform for paperless processing; beneficiary uploading of previously issued LPCOs is barred from 31/01/2020, while PGAs must upload LPCOs issued in the 15 days before the cut off and may upload earlier unutilized LPCOs to enable beneficiary use. Communication will proceed via ICEGATE registered email addresses and beneficiaries must ensure correct registration.

Automated clearance allows electronic Bill of Entry clearance after CCV and confirmation of duty payment.
Automated clearance under the first proviso to Section 47(1) enables electronic clearance of Bills of Entry by the Customs Automated System after risk-based Customs Compliance Verification (CCV) by designated officers and confirmation of duty payment; the facility applies only where RMS is enabled in ICES and will be initially piloted at two EDI locations, with DG Systems effecting required ICES changes and operational issues to be reported to designated Appraising Main (Import) NS-I officers.

Terminal handling charge transparency enables AEO-status exporters to pay port terminals directly rather than through shipping lines.
Exporters holding AEO status may pay Terminal Handling Charges directly to terminal operators instead of through shipping lines. Eligible exporters with existing P.D. Accounts may use those accounts for direct payment, while those without such accounts may open them with the relevant ports or terminals. Ports and terminals are requested to issue Terminal Handling Charge invoices directly to eligible and willing exporters.