Designation of RTI officers in Bengaluru Customs Zone: CAPIO, CPIO and First Appellate Authority appointed for RTI matters.
Designation under Section 5(1) and 5(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005: specific officers are nominated as CAPIO, CPIO and First Appellate Authority for the Office of the Chief Commissioner of Customs, Bengaluru, with contact details and jurisdiction covering the Bengaluru Customs Zone (including O/o Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Bengaluru); this supersedes Public Notice No. 01/2025 and is issued with the Chief Commissioner's approval.

Exemption from Quality Control Order: aerospace grade hydrogen peroxide imports for non commercial R&D exempted from mandatory BIS QCO compliance.
Exemption from the Quality Control Order on imports of aerospace grade hydrogen peroxide is authorized for non commercial R&D use after BIS confirmed no specification exists for that grade; Customs formations are directed to sensitize officers and issue necessary instructions to implement the exemption, with difficulties to be reported to the Board.

Provisional assessment time limits set with mandatory deadlines for document submission, speaking orders, and security adjustment.
The Customs (Provisional Assessment) Regulations, 2025 impose a structured timetable and procedures for finalising provisional assessments under Section 18: a statutory outer limit with authority for extension on sufficient cause; a fourteen month requirement to obtain missing documents or complete enquiries and a target three month window to conclude assessment after receipt; option for importers/exporters to pre pay duty with interest; speaking orders and natural justice safeguards on finalisation; cancellation or re credit of bonds upon no dues; recovery from security for amounts that attain finality; and application to pending and project import cases.

Trade facilitation tightened: expanded PTFC/CCFC membership, mandatory digital grievance monitoring and tri layer redressal under Faceless Assessment.
The Master Circular mandates strengthened, institutionalised consultation by expanding PTFC and CCFC membership, increasing PTFC meetings to fortnightly and CCFC meetings to bi monthly, and revising ToR to require active monitoring and time bound resolution of grievances using digital tools (AEM, TSKs, ICEGATE helpdesk) with escalation to NACs. AEM, TSKs and NACs form a tri layer grievance architecture under Faceless Assessment; DG Systems will revamp AEM with MIS, NACs will maintain dedicated cells and fortnightly sectoral consultations, and zones must acknowledge and resolve grievances including those from social media.

Electronic customs processing at Vizhinjam Seaport enables ICES-based import and export clearances, custodianship, duty collection, and refund payments.
ICES 1.5 commenced computerized customs-document processing at Vizhinjam International Seaport from 2 September 2025. The seaport is approved for import unloading and export loading within its specified customs area. Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited is custodian of imported goods pending clearance, warehousing, or transhipment, and of export cargo pending exportation. The EDI framework also authorises customs-duty collection and duty drawback or refund payments through the designated bank branch. Clearance-related redressal and ICEGATE support channels are available to importers, exporters, and customs brokers.

Transshipment permission for bonded road movement requires bonds, manifests, CCTV supervision and destination acknowledgement for bond discharge.
Transshipment permission to M/s. UPS Express Pvt. Ltd. permits bonded road movement of import goods via M/s. Shreeji Trans Logistics Ltd. to specified airports, subject to a one year validity and customs supervision. Both parties must execute Transshipment Bonds (and the applicant a bank guarantee), manifest goods specifically for transshipment, segregate and process cargo in a CCTV monitored TP area, affix Master Airway Bill details to shipments, and obtain destination customs acknowledgement within prescribed periods for bond discharge. Noncompliance may attract financial liability and withdrawal of permission.

Customs cargo custodianship requires secure handling, duty liability for pilferage, financial security, approved subcontracting, and operational support obligations.
Custodianship of imported, export and transhipment goods at Vizhinjam International Seaport is assigned to M/s Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited. The custodian must securely receive, handle, store and record cargo; remains accountable for loss or pilferage and applicable duty; and may not sell uncleared or relinquished goods without customs permission. It must furnish prescribed bond and security, provide cargo infrastructure and customs staff facilities, bear applicable charges, avoid demurrage on detained goods, and obtain approval for subcontracting or alterations within the customs area.

Duties on gifts and personal imports: zones must publish FAQs clarifying duty, KYC, fees and grievance process.
Customs Zones must prepare and publish an FAQ-format document on their websites explaining the duty structure on gifts and personal imports with demo duty calculations, applicable KYC norms for courier and postal imports/exports, fees and charges, and the grievance redressal mechanism; zones must maintain records and monitor grievances, widely publicise the FAQs to public and trade bodies, and report implementation difficulties to the Board.

BIS registration validation required before customs clearance; only valid registrations permitted, deferred or cancelled rejected.
Field formations must verify BIS registration details on the BIS-CRS portal before allowing clearance and permit release only for registrations shown as valid; deferred or cancelled registrations must not be accepted. The verification must include confirming the manufacturer name, model number and manufacturing location against the registration record, and the procedure applies to all items requiring BIS registration under the CRO.

Automation of Refund Processing requires import refunds only; export refund claims must be filed manually until operational.
Automation of refund application and processing is presently applicable only to import refunds and not to export-related refunds; accordingly the prior public notice is withdrawn and export refund claims must be filed manually until the electronic module for Refunds Other Than IGST is made operational by DG Systems. A fresh public notice will announce implementation, and difficulties should be notified to the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Refunds Other than IGST section.

Sea Departure Manifest and Notification mandatory nationwide; filing compliance and support channels required for trade participants.
Pan-India implementation makes Sea Departure Manifest (SDM) and Sea Departure Notification (SDN) mandatory filings for all sea ports under the SCMTR framework. Stakeholders must comply with required message formats and data structures and consult the Message Implementation Guidelines and SCMTR advisories on the designated portal. Onsite and online training sessions are being provided and technical issues should be raised with the prescribed electronic support teams for resolution.

RTI officer designation in Bengaluru Customs Zone sets out the appointed information officers and appellate authority for public access matters.
Designation of Central Assistant Public Information Officer, Central Public Information Officer and First Appellate Authority for the Bengaluru Customs Zone under sections 5(1) and 5(2) of the Right to Information Act, 2005. The notice names the officers appointed for the Office of the Chief Commissioner of Customs, Bengaluru, sets out their addresses and contact particulars, and states that the arrangement covers RTI matters within the Bengaluru Customs Zone, including the Office of the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Bengaluru.

SCOMET classification guidance requires referral to CBIC Customs-III for technical determination and use of DGFT clarification repository.
Procedures for resolving uncertainty on whether exports fall under SCOMET: consult DGFT's consolidated clarifications repository; if unresolved and exporter or internal resources are insufficient, obtain prior written Commissioner approval and refer the case with full technical documentation to CBIC's Customs-III Single Nodal Point, which will seek DGFT clarification and communicate it to the field. Do not refer SCOMET issues directly to DGFT. A Chartered Engineer certificate is not required for SCOMET classification under the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023.

Warehouse licenses must be onboarded and monthly returns uploaded via the digital Warehousing Module; manual filing discontinued.
All warehouse licences must be on-boarded into the digital Warehousing Module and monthly returns uploaded through that module; manual filing of monthly returns is discontinued. Technical issues while using the module must be reported to the designated helpdesk email and notified to the issuing officer for resolution.

Write-off of irrecoverable customs arrears is governed through designated committees, defined authority limits, reporting, and prescribed recovery procedures.
Write-off of irrecoverable customs arrears is assigned to designated committees for the respective commissionerates. The committees have full authority to abandon irrecoverable fines and penalties and may write off irrecoverable customs duty up to Rs. 10 lakhs per case, subject to reporting to the next higher authority. Once duty or tax is written off, the associated interest is automatically written off. Proposals must follow the applicable Master Circular on Recovery and Write-Off of Arrears of Revenue and use the prescribed proforma.

Sea cargo manifest compliance requires departure notifications and manifests for exports, replacing export general manifests and linking incentives to filing.
Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations, 2018 require mandatory filing of Sea Departure Manifest and Sea Departure Notification for export cargo at JNPA Port from 18 August 2025. The existing Export General Manifest filing is discontinued from that date, and export incentives are directly linked to successful filing of these revised export messages. Implementation support is available through the SCMTR Cell for operational difficulties.

Customs refund automation requires online ICEGATE filing, with manual applications permitted only through recorded written approval.
Customs duty refund applications and disbursals are to be processed electronically through the Customs Automated System. Importers, exporters, customs brokers and other concerned persons must file future refund claims through the ICEGATE portal. Manual refund applications will not be accepted unless the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs permits manual filing for reasons recorded in writing.

Central Public Information Officer appointment for Customs RTI administration under a public notice, with fallback appellate roles designated.
Appointment of Central Public Information Officer under the Right to Information Act, 2005 for Customs information relating to the Commissioner (Export), New Customs House, Mumbai. Shri Alok Kumar, Assistant Commissioner, Customs (Export), is appointed as the CPIO, with office address and contact details specified for the relevant jurisdiction. In his absence, designated officers are assigned the connected roles of Public Information Officer, First Appellate Authority, and Second Appellate Authority.

Authorised Officers under FSS Act notified at additional food import entry points, expanding roster for import clearance until further orders.
Notification designates authorised officers for food import clearance under Section 25 read with Section 47(5) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Regulation 13(1) of the FSS (Imports) Regulations, 2017, updating and consolidating the roster of authorised officers at Points of Entry to include six additional ports and producing an annexed list of 165 Points of Entry with specified officer categories for import clearance until further orders.

RoDTEP claim amendment: exporters may seek post-EGM correction to obtain retrospective tariff-alignment benefits.
Exporters who filed shipping bills before the Customs Automated System updated retrospective RoDTEP rates may request a Post-EGM Amendment to change the RoDTEP claim flag from "N" to "Y" for specified tariff items; such requests will be processed pursuant to the established customs processing advisories and the local public notice directing officers to treat this as a standing order.