GSTAT appeal scrutiny guidelines extended, with filing document checks, certified-copy acceptance, and no defect for valid exemptions.
Guidelines for scrutiny of appeals on the GSTAT Portal are extended to 31 December 2026 for ease of filing. Scrutiny officers must verify that APL-05 contains the required soft copies and, where higher-court exemption from court fee or pre-deposit exists, no defect is to be raised. Certified copies of the Order-in-Original or Order-in-Appeal may be accepted if the issuing authority's endorsement is satisfactory, and authorization or Vakalatnama must be uploaded. Revenue applications under section 112(3) require specified documents, with no court fee or pre-deposit and only one verification and digital signature.

Customs circular validity extended for maritime disruption relief, keeping earlier facilities and conditions unchanged until 30 June 2026.
Extension of the validity of specified customs circulars issued under Section 143AA of the Customs Act, 1962, in response to maritime route disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The extended facilities under the earlier circulars continue in force up to 30 June 2026, while all other terms and conditions remain unchanged. Any implementation difficulty may be brought to the Board for further action.

Hazardous cargo declaration and system flagging streamline import clearance for listed goods across customs formations.
Identification and import clearance of hazardous cargo is to be streamlined through system-based marking of Bills of Entry and mandatory item-level declaration by importers. Where imported goods fall under the corresponding Chapters listed in Annexure-A, the importer must declare hazardous cargo at the item level, and the Bill of Entry will be flagged for expeditious processing. The facility is to be implemented across all customs formations, with corresponding modifications in RMS to improve facilitation.

Advance Authorisation for gold imports now carries inspection, export obligation, and reporting conditions under revised SION notes.
Conditions were inserted under SIONs M-1 to M-8 for the Gems and Jewellery product group governing Advance Authorisation for import of gold. The notes prescribe a maximum permissible import quantity of 100 kilograms, mandatory physical inspection for first-time applicants, consideration of subsequent authorisations only after fulfilment of at least 50% of the export obligation, and fortnightly as well as monthly reporting requirements for compliance monitoring and centralised oversight.

Interest subvention support for export credit gets clarified through UIN timing rules, disbursal-based admissibility, and bank claim linkage.
Interest subvention support under the Export Promotion Mission is clarified for eligible pre-shipment and post-shipment export credit where UIN generation was delayed during initial implementation. For FY 2025-26, claims may be filed if the credit was disbursed on or after 02.01.2026 and the UIN is generated on or before 31.05.2026, with support admissible from the date of disbursal. For FY 2026-27 onwards, a UIN generated within 15 days of disbursal is treated as valid, and banks must link claims to the year of disbursal.

RTI Act jurisdiction updates for customs offices revise designated information officers, appellate authority, and fee payment arrangements.
Updated jurisdictional assignments under the RTI Act, 2005 were notified for the Commissionerate of Customs (Preventive), Custom House, Kolkata after transfer of charges. The notice identifies the designated Central Public Information Officers and the corresponding first appellate authority, with Annexure-A serving as the updated reference for the relevant offices and jurisdictional coverage. The annexure lists the concerned officers, their office addresses, designations and territorial or functional jurisdictions across the Customs formations, and specifies the notified officer and RBI account arrangement for payment of fees.

Outward remittance compliance framework tightens bank responsibility, disclosure duties, data protection and settlement controls for online third-party arrangements.
An operating framework is prescribed for outward remittance services for non-trade current account transactions through third-party entities in online mode, with Authorised Dealer banks remaining solely responsible for FEMA and KYC compliance. The earlier approval-based arrangement for non-bank tie-ups is removed, and banks must follow detailed transparency, invoicing, customer disclosure, grievance redressal, data protection, cybersecurity, settlement, fund-safeguarding, and due-diligence requirements. Agreements with third parties must preserve the bank's full regulatory responsibility, and similar requirements apply to doorstep delivery of forex cards or foreign currency notes.

Delegation of financial and leave powers streamlines bill sanction, approvals, and controlled authority within Customs administration.
Delegation of financial, administrative, bill-sanctioning, and leave-sanctioning powers is assigned within Customs Commissionerate, Ahmedabad to specified Heads of Office, Controlling Officers, and leave sanctioning authorities. The order covers claims, bills, advances, GPF withdrawal, leave categories, and object-head wise financial powers, with conditions for Group 'A', Group 'B' and Group 'C' officers, limits on leave beyond 60 days, no further sub-delegation, and continued requirement of prescribed rules, instructions, and higher approval where required.

Customs cargo service provider renewal for a container freight station, subject to compliance with cargo handling regulations and customs law.
Renewal of the appointment of M/s Central Warehousing Corporation as Custodian and Customs Cargo Service Provider for its Container Freight Station at Distripark, covering imported goods until clearance, warehousing or transhipment, and export cargo until examination, stuffing and export through Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The renewal is subject to compliance with the Customs Act, 1962, the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009, and all related regulations, notifications, orders and CBIC instructions.

Customs area extension adds adjoining land to the Container Freight Station for unloading imports and loading exports.
Additional land admeasuring approximately 7,824 square metres adjoining the existing Container Freight Station premises of M/s Indev Infra Private Limited is notified as a place for unloading imported goods and loading export goods under the Customs Act, 1962. The customs area is extended under Section 8(a) and Section 8(b) to cover the specified land parcels, and the total notified area of the Container Freight Station becomes 45,864 square metres, subject to the Customs Act and directions issued by the customs authorities.

LCL export container return procedure requires seal verification, de-stuffing, incentive recovery, and shipping bill cancellation before back-to-town clearance.
Procedure is prescribed for handling export cargo containers containing Less than Container Load (LCL) consignments that were offloaded at foreign ports and returned to India because of disruption in maritime routes caused by closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Returned containers are to be moved to a Container Freight Station, subjected to seal and manifest verification, and, where the seal is intact, de-stuffed under Customs supervision before processing for Shipping Bill and LEO cancellation, recovery of export incentives already disbursed, and grant of Back to Town permission. Tampered seals require 100% examination and re-import procedure.

Safe harbour rules for rough diamond sales clarify eligibility, tax rate, deductions, withholding tax, and invalidation conditions.
Clarifications are issued on the safe harbour regime for a foreign company engaged in the sale of rough diamonds in Special Notified Zones. The circular states that only diamonds meeting every element of the definition of raw diamonds are covered, that sorted diamonds are excluded, and that a Kimberley Process Certificate alone is insufficient. It also clarifies the tax rate, denial of deductions, the application of DTAA credit, withholding tax, separate taxation of an Indian trader, invalidation for incorrect facts or concealment, and the position where no safe harbour option is exercised.

Departure manifest compliance and EGM error rectification to preserve post-export benefits and incentives
Customs authorities directed exporters, customs brokers, shipping lines, custodians and other concerned persons to take note of EGM errors reflected in the EDI system after filing of shipping bills and delivery of the departure manifest. The notice reiterates the requirement that the person in charge of a conveyance carrying export goods must deliver a departure manifest to the proper officer before departure from a customs station. Concerned parties were requested to rectify the errors or file the departure manifests, as the case may be, for availing post-export benefits and incentives.

Preferential Certificates of Origin expanded for India-UK CETA through a wider list of authorised issuing agencies.
Amendment of Appendix 2B of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023 expands the list of agencies authorised to issue Preferential Certificates of Origin for the India-United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (India-UK CETA). The notified agencies include the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and its regional offices for all products; the Export Inspection Council and Export Inspection Agencies for all products; APEDA for agricultural products; the Marine Products Export Development Authority and its regional offices for marine products; and other designated boards and Special Economic Zones for specified product categories.

Certificate of Origin framework expanded for India-UK CETA and India-EFTA TEPA through exporter self-declaration.
Amendments to the Handbook of Procedures 2023 recognise the India-United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement in the list of free trade agreements and revise the Certificate of Origin process. For India-EFTA TEPA and India-UK CETA, Certificates of Origin may be obtained on the basis of self-declaration by the exporter, in addition to issuance by an authorised agency. The amendments update the procedural framework under the Foreign Trade Policy 2023.

Case grading and file readiness for Supreme Court matters strengthen briefing, monitoring, and compliance across customs groups.
Instructions require customs groups and officers to improve the handling of matters pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India by grading cases, preparing detailed and updated briefs, and keeping files immediately retrievable. Proper indexing and record management are required so that synopses and files can be used for briefing or responding to the Learned ASG at short notice. Senior officers, including the Assistant Commissioner and the concerned JC/ADC, must acquaint themselves with case details, and the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner must monitor compliance.

Price data sharing norms for investor education are revised to a thirty-day lag, with special one-day access for NISM simulation labs.
Price data may be shared and used for investor education and awareness activities with a thirty-day lag, replacing the earlier one-day sharing norm and the three-month usage norm for entities solely engaged in education. The revised framework prohibits any monetary incentive to participants and requires MIIs and registered market intermediaries to exercise due diligence when sharing such data. Market price data may be shared with NISM with a one-day lag for use in its simulation lab, supported by legal agreements containing safeguards against misuse and maintenance of an audit trail.

Pre-shipment inspection agency enlistment and instrument updation set conditions for certificate issuance through the DGFT portal.
Pre-Shipment Inspection Agencies are enlisted and updated in Appendix-2G under para 2.52(c) of the Handbook of Procedure, 2023, with DGFT recognising fourteen agencies as PSIAs for issuance of Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificates through the DGFT portal. Two existing PSIAs are also permitted to add additional approved instruments to their existing lists. The approvals are stated to have been granted on the basis of applications considered by the Inter-Ministerial Committee and the comments and recommendations of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

Investor Risk Reduction Access platform discontinued as contingency trading and business continuity measures now cover broker disruptions.
Discontinuation of the Investor Risk Reduction Access (IRRA) platform follows SEBI's view that the platform has become structurally redundant because stock brokers now operate under stronger business continuity, cyber resilience and contingency trading arrangements. The circular records that the IRRA platform, originally introduced as an alternative trading access point during disruptions, was not accessed by brokers after operationalisation. SEBI has therefore discontinued the IRRA platform with immediate effect and advised Stock Exchanges to disseminate the circular to stock brokers.

GST appellate filing procedure sets committee review, monetary thresholds, and time-bound appeal drafting before the tribunal.
Standard operating procedure prescribed for filing departmental applications and appeals before the GST Appellate Tribunal in Uttarakhand under the State GST law. The instructions apply to adverse first appellate or revisional orders, taxpayer-filed appeals requiring cross-objections or replies, and cases proposed to be dropped, subject to a disputed amount threshold exceeding Rs. 20 lakh and the procedure laid down by the headquarters guidelines. The process involves committee scrutiny, fixed time limits for comments and review, preparation of appeal memoranda in English with translated annexures, filing through the Tribunal portal, and case-wise authorization of officers to represent the Department before the Tribunal.