Customs Tariff correlation guidance issued: stakeholders must update classifications, publicise changes, and consult CBIC resources for transition.
CBIC issued guidance implementing alignment of the Customs Tariff with the seventh edition of the Harmonized System, noting significant six digit amendments and incorporation into the First Schedule through the Finance Act. Stakeholders are to be informed and outreach conducted to facilitate transition. A correlation guidance document is published on the CBIC website to assist with reclassification and procedural transition, and the Tariff Unit is available as a contact point for difficulties and queries.

IGM seal-number amendments require responsible parties to provide satisfactory justification, with unresolved requests escalated for supervisory review.
IGM seal-number amendment applications must include a proper explanatory letter and justification from the party responsible for the seal-number change. Proper officers must scrutinise the explanation before processing the amendment. If the officer is not satisfied with the justification, the application must be referred to the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner of the Import Noting Section for further consideration.

Coumarin testing requirement for imported cinnamon: consignments must be tested to ensure coumarin limits are met before clearance.
Imported consignments of cinnamon must be tested for coumarin content on a dry-weight basis, with the coumarin content not exceeding 0.3 percent by weight; testing is to follow the manual of methods of analysis for spices, herbs and condiments, and Authorized Officers are directed to ensure all consignments are tested and to report implementation difficulties to the Board.

Container seal discrepancies require prompt re-sealing, customs intimation, manifest correction, recordkeeping, and full examination before clearance.
Import containers with broken, missing, tampered, or mismatched seals must be re-sealed by terminal operators and promptly reported to Boarding section and relevant destination officers. DPD, CFS, ICD, and transshipment movements require specified intimation procedures. Shipping lines must amend the bill of lading and Import General Manifest with competent approval. Boarding section officers must maintain daily records and submit weekly reports. Except for transshipment containers, all affected containers, including DPD containers, require 100 percent examination under docks supervision.

Seized gold (excluding jewellery) will be sold only to RBI; SPMCIL to collect, refine and deliver standard bars under documented procedures.
Seized/confiscated gold (other than jewellery) shall be sold only to the RBI under a tripartite MoU with SPMCIL. SPMCIL will collect gold from Customs Commissionerates, transport it to designated India Government Mints for XRF pre assay, pre melting, assaying and conversion into LBMA specification standard bars; handovers must use witnessed HOGS Notes and CCTV records. Focal Commissionerates issue Preliminary and Final Weight Notes based on SPMCIL assay outputs; SPMCIL delivers bars to RBI at Mumbai and charges for melting/refining and logistics are reimbursed by CBIC. RBI values gold using the 30 day average LBMA rate converted via FBIL and shares final weight and price with DoL prior to payment; DoL maintains ledgers and effects payments to SPMCIL.

Food not specified classification allows import of Sajji Khar/Papad Khar without product approval, subject to contaminant testing.
Imported consignments of Sajji Khar/Papad Khar shall be considered food not specified until standards are notified and therefore do not require product approval under the Approval of Non-specified Food Regulations; such consignments must be tested and comply with contaminant and residue standards, including heavy metal limits, and officers must be sensitized to apply these testing and clearance measures.

Import certification requirement: tea from neighbouring country must have food-safety, sanitary and tea-council clearances before entry.
Imports of tea from Nepal marketed as "Darjeeling Tea" require statutory import clearance under the food safety import regime and mandatory sanitary and phytosanitary documentation; importers must hold licenses under the Tea Distribution and Export Control Order and obtain a Tea Council clearance certificate, all of which Customs must insist on before permitting entry.

Extension of NOC validity for certain imported alcoholic beverages permits revalidation after prolonged port storage upon inspection.
For imported alcoholic beverages bottled in origin and in bulk without an expiry date and containing more than ten percent alcohol, the Food Authority has directed that the NOC under the FSS (Import) Regulations, 2017 shall be valid for 300 days; consignments beyond that period may be re validated by conducting visual inspection at ports/customs upon payment of the visual inspection fee, the direction being issued under Section 16(5) of the FSS Act and valid until further orders.

Import of wireless equipment by TSPs permitted on self-declaration via Saralsanchar; Customs accept QR-verified certificates, cancellation for violations.
TSPs may import wireless equipment on the basis of self declaration via the Saralsanchar portal: submissions 30 days before port entry yield an immediate system generated certificate on payment of Rs. 500; submissions within 30 days require Rs. 5,000 and departmental authentication with issuance after 48 hours. Customs will accept and may QR verify these certificates; the facility is effective 15 November 2021. The certificate provides technical clearance only, is cancellable for violations or false declarations, and imports remain subject to DoT agreements, frequency assignments and WPC/WMO inspections.

MEIS scrip utilisation requires certified transfer records, payment evidence and indemnity when online ownership recording remains unavailable.
Where online recording of MEIS scrip transfer and ownership details is unavailable, importers seeking to use a scrip for customs-duty payment must establish the complete ownership chain through bank-certified transfer instruments. They must also provide certified purchase-payment details, upload all materials through E-Sanchit, and furnish an indemnity bond covering misuse, fraudulent transfer or procurement, and third-party claims. Customs officers verify ownership from these materials, while responsibility for valid and genuine transactions and resulting ownership disputes remains with the importer and seller or sellers.

RoDTEP rates for AA/EoU/SEZ exports: industry must submit certified product wise data on unrefunded tax incidence within three weeks.
The Drawback Division requests product wise data from Export Promotion Councils, Commodity Boards, trade associations and chambers to determine RoDTEP ceiling rates for AA/EoU/SEZ exports for 01.10.2019-31.03.2020. Submissions must list all inputs, quantify input use and indigenous ratios, and detail currently unrefunded central, state and local duties/taxes/levies (including embedded CGST/SGST, electricity duty, fuel and stamp duty) per unit. Data must be certified by the manufacturer and its Chartered Accountant/Cost Accountant, supported by invoices, shipping bills and notifications, limited to units consenting to inspection, and sent to the Drawback Division within three weeks.

Import relaxation for genetically modified soya cake permits controlled imports through specified ports with mandatory GM status declaration and monitoring.
The Central Government relaxed Condition 6(b) of the General Notes on Import Policy to permit controlled import of crushed and de oiled GM soya cake (non living organism) under ITC(HS) codes 23040020 and 23040030 through specified ports only, subject to a time bound last shipment/document date, strict aggregate quantity monitoring, and mandatory Bill of Entry declarations of GM status and product grade; Customs must monitor and report clearances daily and publish permitted daily quantum to aid trade planning.

Authorised courier registration now has lifetime validity with provisions for deemed invalidity on prolonged inactivity and renewal.
Amendments grant lifetime validity to Authorised Courier registrations, allow voluntary surrender, and specify deemed invalidity for continuous one-year inactivity while enabling Principal Commissioners/Commissioners to renew such registrations; duplicate registrations across Customs Stations are to be rationalised by treating the first registration as the single registration with other locations regularised through the prescribed intimation and bond/security procedures, aided by DG Systems, and revocation communications must be coordinated to other stations and designated nodal officers.

Electronic sea cargo manifest compliance requires custodians and terminal operators to file prescribed stuffing, movement and voyage messages.
Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations, 2018 require electronic advance information for sea cargo and allocate filing responsibilities among carriers, transhippers, custodians and terminal operators. Custodians must file container-specific stuffing and stripping reports and conveyance arrival and departure information, while terminal operators must provide voyage call and container movement details. Transitional filing under the earlier regime remains available until 31 December 2021. From 1 January 2022, stuffing messages, ASR, DP and AR filings by custodians, and voyage call messages by terminal operators become mandatory.

RoDTEP duty credits remit unrebated export levies through transferable e-scrips, subject to export-proceeds realization and customs-duty use.
RoDTEP remits unrebated duties, taxes and levies on specified exports through transferable electronic duty credits. Exporters must claim through an electronic shipping-bill declaration, avoid duplicate remission, and retain audit records. Customs processing generates scrolls from which e-scrips may be created in the electronic duty credit ledger. E-scrips are valid for one year, transferable only in full, and usable solely for payment of Basic Customs Duty on automated imports. Credits depend on timely realisation of export proceeds and may be suspended, cancelled or recovered for excess allowance or non-realisation.

Import container controls require scanning, secure storage, full examination of suspicious cargo, periodic verification and disposal procedures.
Handling of un-claimed, un-cleared, suspicious and detained import containers requires mandatory scanning, weighment, secure designated storage, reporting and verification. Containers without a Bill of Entry beyond 24 hours, or uncleared beyond 15 days subject to specified exclusions, fall within the controls. CFSs must maintain continuously monitored CCTV-secured storage areas and transfer covered containers there under supervision. Suspicious containers require immediate 100 percent examination, while designated-area containers require fortnightly physical verification. Containers pending clearance beyond 30 days are to be taken up for disposal under applicable customs procedures.

Latest container freight station request governs when Direct Port Delivery importers submit multiple change requests for one consignment.
For Direct Port Delivery import consignments, multiple online requests to change the container freight station for the same bill of lading or consignment are resolved by treating the latest request as final. The approach covers duplicate or revised requests caused by changed preferences, error correction, or repeated submissions and avoids uncertainty in consignment stacking.

Container Freight Station custodianship extended with bond, insurance and indemnity conditions until 31 January 2022.
The Principal Commissioner has extended the Custodianship and approval as Customs Cargo Service Provider for M/s. LCL Logistix (India) Private Limited, CFS, Haldia up to 31.01.2022 under Regulation 10(2) and Regulation 13 of Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2019 (HCCAR, 2009) and Section 45 of the Customs Act, 1962, subject to bond of Rs. 8,64,00,000, insurance of Rs. 15 Crore, indemnity obligations under Regulation 5(6), and ongoing compliance with the Customs Act and HCCAR, 2009.

Ship-call monitoring strengthens timely SCMTR manifest filing through vessel-wise compliance checks, error resolution, escalation, and weekly reporting.
Ship-call-based monitoring at Mangalore Customs Commissionerate requires vessel-wise oversight of timely and error-free filing of SCMTR import and export messages and manifests. An Assistant Commissioner is allocated to each vessel to verify filing acknowledgements, coordinate with relevant stakeholders, support resolution of user-level errors and escalate unresolved system issues through the SCMTR cell. Daily ship-call registers and weekly vessel-wise monitoring logs must record filing status, acknowledgements, errors, rectification status and system responses for the Voyage Call Number, Sea Arrival Manifest, entry-inward application, Sea Departure Manifest and Sea Departure Notification-Acknowledgement.

Faceless customs assessment reforms accelerate import clearance through higher facilitation, specialised assessment groups, automated examination orders and anonymised escalation.
Faceless customs assessment is expedited through a higher Risk Management System facilitation level, uniform FAG working hours, a first-decision timeline for Bills of Entry, limited and clearly framed assessment queries, and commodity-based FAG specialisation. Direct Port Delivery is extended to fully facilitated advance Bills of Entry, subject to port, terminal and custodian delivery requirements. Uniform Risk Management System-generated examination orders and First Check routing are introduced. An anonymised ICEGATE escalation mechanism permits importers and Customs Brokers to seek expeditious clearance of Bills of Entry delayed in assessment or examination.