Land Customs Stations Jaigaon, Panitanki, Fulbari and TT Shed added for EPCG and Advance Authorization.
The Public Notice directs that Jaigaon, Panitanki, Fulbari and TT Shed be treated as notified Land Customs Stations for import and export of notified goods under the EPCG and Advance Authorization schemes, extending the list of permitted LCS locations in the Notifications dated 01.04.2023 to facilitate trade; stakeholders must implement the change and escalate implementation problems to the issuing office.

Reverse Charge Mechanism: director's personal rentals excluded; only director-capacity services attract reverse charge.
Services supplied by a director to the company attract tax under Reverse Charge Mechanism only when rendered in the capacity of director; personal-capacity supplies such as renting immovable property are excluded. Supply of food or beverages at cinema premises is taxable as restaurant service where supplied as a service and independently of the exhibition service; bundled supplies passing the composite supply test are taxed according to the principal supply.

GST rate reclassification for specified goods alters applicable tax treatment and regularises past interpretational doubts on an as is basis.
The circular implements GST Council recommendations by reclassifying certain goods and adjusting applicable GST rates, while regularising interpretational doubts for past periods on an "as is" basis. It specifies re rating and classification changes for uncooked extruded snack pellets, fish soluble paste, desiccated coconut, biomass briquettes, imitation zari thread or yarn, raw cotton supplies from agriculturists to cooperatives (subject to reverse charge), areca leaf tableware, and trauma/arthroplasty implants, and states that no refunds will be granted where higher GST has already been paid.

Online dispute resolution via a common ODR portal enables time bound conciliation and arbitration for securities market disputes.
Establishes a common Online Dispute Resolution Portal operated by Market Infrastructure Institutions with empaneled ODR Institutions to provide time bound online conciliation and arbitration for investor and market participant disputes, prescribing enrollment, allocation by round robin, conciliator/arbitrator appointment and timelines, standardized fees and deposit rules, monitoring and enforcement by MIIs, empanelment and training norms, confidentiality and code of conduct, MIS reporting, and phased implementation with supersession of earlier circulars.

Online Dispute Resolution: standardized ODR Portal for securities market disputes enabling time bound conciliation and arbitration.
SEBI mandates a common ODR Portal operated by Market Infrastructure Institutions and empaneled independent ODR Institutions to deliver time bound online conciliation and online arbitration for investor disputes with listed companies and specified intermediaries. The scheme prescribes initiation rules requiring prior internal redressal/SCORES escalation, a market wide round robin allocation subject to transitional linkages, defined conciliator/arbitrator appointment timelines, conciliation and arbitration procedural timelines and extensions, monitoring and enforcement by MIIs of settlements and awards, uniform fee schedules and empanelment, training and conduct norms for ODR Institutions and panels, and phased implementation with Board oversight, audit and data security obligations.

Alternative Investment Funds master circular consolidates regulatory rules on PPMs, leverage limits, overseas investment and reporting.
Master Circular consolidates operative AIF circulars into a single framework, rescinds listed circulars with savings, mandates online filings and PPM templates with merchant-banker due diligence, prescribes investor eligibility and accreditation, sets Category III leverage and liquidity norms with breach and reporting procedures, governs overseas investment allocation and reporting, details CDS and RFQ trading conditions, and consolidates governance, disclosure, reporting, benchmarking, investor charter and change-of-sponsor/manager approval and fee requirements.

AD Code and bank account (IFSC) registrations now require bank authorization and endorsed cheque/statement; NOC for IFSC changes.
For AD Code and Bank Account with IFSC registration or modification related to exports, only two scanned documents are required for fresh registration: a Bank Authorization Letter in the prescribed format and a cancelled cheque or latest bank statement endorsed by the bank. For IFSC modification linked to IGST-refund/drawback, those documents plus a bank-issued NOC from the previously registered bank are required. Banks should e-mail authorization/NOC from branch e-mail IDs to the customs EDI section; non-branch submissions will be verified with the bank. Requests received before 2 PM will be approved the same day, otherwise by 2 PM next working day.

Custodian appointment confirms All Cargo Terminals Limited as custodian and customs cargo services provider under Customs Act regulations.
M/s All Cargo Terminals Limited is appointed custodian and approved as a Customs Cargo Services Provider for the Container Freight Station and the entire notified customs area of 1,02,168.66 SQM under Section 45(1) and 141(2) of the Customs Act, 1962 and Regulation 10 of the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009, responsible for custody of imported goods until clearance/warehousing/transshipment and for export examination and stuffing, subject to statutory compliance and a five year term subject to review, suspension or cancellation for non compliance.

Change of name for Customs custodian: CFS renamed but existing legal responsibilities and liabilities continue with the successor entity.
Change of name of the Container Freight Station from M/s K.S.P.S. Natarajan CFS Park to M/s K.S.P.S. CFS Park Private Limited is notified for customs records; the CFS remains declared as a Customs Area and appointed as Custodian under the Handling of Cargo in Customs Area Regulations. The name change does not relieve the custodian of liabilities, including pending litigation, statutory obligations, tax disputes, show cause notices and arrears incurred under the earlier name.

Empanelment of Chartered Engineers for second hand machinery valuation: invitation, eligibility, three year panel, reporting requirements and penalties.
Applications are invited for empanelment of chartered engineers to value second hand imported/exported machinery; applicants must submit prescribed proforma and supporting certificates, demonstrate minimum industrial experience (2 years), valuation experience (3 years) and total experience (5 years), and provide five years of income tax return details. A committee will scrutinize applications and refer eligible candidates to the Institute of Engineers for assessment; empanelment (valid for three years) requires submission of half yearly Self Appraisal Reports, and false information attracts penal provisions under the Customs Act.

Inclusion of AYUSH Export Promotion Council expands RCMC authority for specified AYUSH products while revising other councils' jurisdictions.
The DGFT amends Appendix 2T of FTP 2023 to insert AYUSH Export Promotion Council (AYUSHEXCIL) to issue RCMCs for specified AYUSH medicants/medicaments and related cosmetics/toiletries. CHEMEXCIL's and PHARMEXCIL's jurisdictions are revised to exclude items allocated to AYUSHEXCIL, while RCMCs already issued by CHEMEXCIL and PHARMEXCIL for those items remain valid until expiry.

Electronic Cash Ledger integration requires payment with interest and application for interest refund after Out of Charge regularisation.
Users whose duty payments failed to integrate due to ECL glitches must select unpaid challans, pay duty including interest within the prescribed window from the date of removal of system inability, and, after integration and marking of the Bill(s) of Entry as Out of Charge by Customs, may apply to the relevant formation for refund of paid interest under the Waiver of Interest order; reporting of absent unpaid challans or implementation difficulties must be made to DG Systems or ICEGATE HelpDesk with screenshots.

Mandatory import declaration qualifiers receive deferred implementation, allowing additional compliance time before the revised effective date.
Mandatory additional qualifiers for specified import declarations are deferred until 1 October 2023. These qualifiers remain additional to existing importer declarations and apply in the prescribed manner for the relevant product chapters. The deferment follows requests for additional compliance time, and implementation difficulties may be reported to the Customs Commissioner.

Export quota allocation for broken rice: deadline for government-requested humanitarian exports extended under amended trade notice.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade partially amends earlier Trade Notices to extend the last date for submission of application for obtaining licence for export of broken rice to Senegal, Gambia and Indonesia up to 11th August, 2023, referencing a judicial order and directing Regional Authorities, Customs Commissionerates and trade members to process applications under the revised timeline and existing licensing procedures.

Allocation of broken rice export quota on humanitarian grounds via pro rata online allocation and compliance requirements.
Export of broken rice is permitted only by Government permission for specified countries and will be allocated online by DGFT using minimum shipment thresholds and an initial pro rata allocation based on each exporter's three year average exports to the requesting country (or the quantity applied for, whichever is less), with reallocation of unutilized quantities on a pro rata basis. Applicants must file online within the prescribed window with required export data; authorisations are time limited and require submission of a landing certificate. Misdeclaration or failure to export the allocated quota may lead to blacklisting and enforcement under applicable foreign trade laws.

Export quota allocation for humanitarian wheat exports to Bhutan via pro rata historical exports, with authorisation and penalties.
Allocation of export quota for Wheat, Wheat Flour (Atta) and Maida/Semolina to Bhutan is authorised on humanitarian grounds and will be allotted online by a pro rata mechanism based on each exporter's three year average exports to Bhutan, subject to a minimum threshold and the lesser of historical average or applied quantity; unutilised quantities will be reallocated pro rata, authorisations are valid until 31 March 2024, applicants must submit past export data and successful exporters must furnish a landing certificate within ninety days, with mis declaration or failure to export causing two year blacklisting and enforcement action.

Customs sealing of suspicious containers after scanning to prevent pilferage, with seal replacement and recordkeeping requirements.
Containers marked as suspicious after scanning must be sealed with a Customs seal before leaving the scanning point to prevent pilferage or replacement of goods. Standard containers are to receive a customs bottle seal, while ISO tanks are to be sealed with strip seals or punch seals. If no space is available because all points are already sealed, one private or commercial seal may be cut and replaced after informing the concerned parties. The scanning officer must note the time and seal number on the EIR copy, and the CFS must maintain daily entry records.

AD Code Registration requirements standardized: limited documentary set accepted and same-day processing timelines enforced for exports.
Field formations shall accept only two digitally uploaded documents on e-Sanchit for AD Code and bank account registration: (a) a Bank Authorization Letter specifying exporter name and address, IEC number, PAN linked to the IEC, bank account number and holder, confirmation that the PAN linked to the account matches the PAN linked to the IEC, bank AD Code/IFSC, and branch contact details including official e mail; and (b) a cancelled cheque or latest bank statement endorsed by the bank; IFSC accounts will be validated by PFMS before disbursal.

Inter-state service taxation between distinct persons: choice of invoice or ISD determines input tax credit distribution and valuation.
Where a head office procures common input services from a third party attributable to both head and branch offices, the head office may either distribute ITC via the ISD mechanism (subject to mandatory ISD registration and attribution to the recipient) or issue tax invoices to branch offices so they may claim ITC. For internally generated services, if the recipient is eligible for full ITC the invoice value declared by the supplier is deemed to be the open market value regardless of whether specific cost components like employee salary are included; omission of salary cost is not fatal, and where full ITC exists a nil invoice may be deemed open market value. If full ITC is not available to the recipient, inclusion of HO employee salary cost in taxable value is not mandatory.

E-invoicing requirement applies to supplies to government entities registered for tax deduction when supplier exceeds threshold.
Government entities required to deduct tax at source and registered solely for that purpose are treated as registered persons; suppliers whose turnover exceeds the prescribed e-invoicing threshold must issue e-invoices for supplies to such government entities under the RGST Rules.