Revised guidelines for conduct of personal hearings in virtual mode under CGST Act 2017. IGST Act 2017 Customs Aet 1962 Central Excise Act 1944 and Chapter V of Finance Act, 1994

Virtual personal hearings required by video conferencing for tax and customs adjudications, with emailed record and document safeguards.

Personal hearings in proceedings under the Customs, Central Excise, Finance Act Chapter V and the CGST/IGST Acts are made mandatory via video conferencing for appellate and adjudicating authorities. Authorities must notify parties by official email of the hearing schedule, provide a secure link and officer-in-charge details, and require scanned authorization and photo ID. Submissions during hearings will be reduced to a written record of personal hearing sent as a PDF within one day; parties may sign and return modifications within three days. Electronically transmitted records are treated as documents under relevant statutes read with Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.