Transshipment cargo reworking at Mundra Port requires approved CFSs, simplified documentation, and stricter safeguards for shipping-line changes.
Reworking and re-containerisation of international transshipment cargo at Mundra Port is permitted only at CFSs specifically approved by the Commissioner of Customs on a limited first-come-first-served basis. Requests for reworking or cross-stuffing are to be considered case by case, with simplified documentation for same-line transfers and additional NOCs and confirmed booking where a change of shipping line is involved. Perishable cargo is to receive priority, seal opening is restricted, videography is mandatory, and no transshipment permit fee is to be levied.

LCL export transhipment by sealed trucks is operationalised with Customs supervision, bond control, and gateway port verification.
Introduces a procedure for LCL export transhipment by Closed Body Trucks from ICD HALCON, Janori to a gateway port under Customs seal. The process requires electronic filing of Shipping Bills, completion of assessment and clearances at ICD Janori, issuance of an Export Transhipment Permit, stuffing and sealing of the truck under Customs supervision, and verification at the gateway port CFS. It also provides for EGM reconciliation, bond re-credit, drawback and IGST refund processing, weekly reporting by the custodian, and custodian responsibility for transit integrity and compliance.

RTI officer appointments and appellate channels are notified for Customs Commissionerate Kolkata under the transparency law.
Appointment of Central Public Information Officers and First Appellate Authorities is notified for the Commissionerate of Customs (Port), Kolkata under the RTI Act, 2005, following redistribution of charges and supersession of earlier public notices. The notice assigns officers to specified jurisdictions and states the procedure for filing RTI applications and appeals, including the designated RTI Cell for applications received by post or by hand and the corresponding appellate authority for each jurisdiction.

Alternative Investment Fund winding up rules permit retention of proceeds for litigation, liabilities and residual expenses under specified conditions.
Alternative Investment Funds and their schemes may retain liquidation proceeds beyond the permissible fund life only where specified conditions are met, including pending litigation or tax, regulatory or legal liabilities, investor consent for anticipated liabilities, or substantiated residual winding up expenses. Retained monies must be invested as prescribed, disclosed to investors where consent is sought, and, for residual operational expenses, retained for no more than three years from the end of permissible fund life. The scheme is to be wound up after liabilities are satisfied and retained amounts are distributed.

Foreign Trade Policy interpretation issues must follow the prescribed channel, with no direct DGFT references and expedited clearance encouraged.
Uniform handling of interpretational issues under the Foreign Trade Policy is to follow a prescribed internal channel, and officers are not to make direct references to DGFT authorities for clarification. Issues arising during assessment, examination or clearance must first be examined at the Group or Section level, escalated through the Deputy or Assistant Commissioner, and forwarded for policy-level clarification only after due examination through the prescribed CBIC route, with commodity-specific matters referred only after NAC examination where applicable.

Valuation documentation and coordinated fair value assessment under insolvency law require transparent reports, asset-specific inputs, and integrated business synergies.
Valuation under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 must be supported by comprehensive documentation, transparent reasoning, and prescribed report contents so that valuation reports are consistent, professional, comparable, and reliable. Registered valuers must maintain written records of communications, working papers, alternative methodologies considered, data and inputs evaluated, risks and biases identified, professional judgement applied, and quality control procedures, together with material substantiating the valuation process and conclusions reached.

ETF price bands and base price norms revised with dynamic flexing, pre-open auction for commodity ETFs, and close-out rules.
Norms are prescribed for ETFs on base price determination, dynamic or fixed price bands, pre-open call auction for commodity ETFs, and close-out procedure. The base price is initially linked to T-1 day closing price based on the last 30 minutes of VWAP, with fallback to last traded price or closing NAV, and is to be adjusted for corporate actions. Dynamic bands apply to equity, debt and commodity ETFs with specified cooling-off and flexing mechanisms, while overnight and liquid ETFs retain a fixed 5% band. Close-out rules and pre-open call auction provisions are also specified, and the circular operates from 1 September 2026.

Export consignment testing recognizes accredited laboratory reports for compliance, while risk-based cases still follow existing sample procedures.
NABL-accredited laboratories, laboratories recognised by Export Promotion Councils, or other recognised agencies may be used by exporters for testing export consignments for the destination country's regulatory requirements. Where such reports are submitted for compliance purposes and there is no risk-based intervention or intelligence, the proper officer is to consider them without mandatorily sending samples to CRCL. Risk-based intervention continues to follow the existing procedure.

Merchant Overtime Charges exemption for cruise passenger clearance at notified customs ports under 24x7 operations.
Merchant Overtime (MOT) charges are not to be levied for customs services rendered in relation to the clearance of international cruise passengers and their accompanied baggage at customs locations notified for 24x7 operations. The measure is intended to ensure uniform implementation of the customs clearance framework for cruise operations, and field formations are required to ensure strict compliance.

Foreign portfolio investment liberalisation expands equity investment access for resident outside India investors through repatriable INR accounts and aligned compliance.
Foreign portfolio investment under Schedule III of the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 is liberalised to permit investment in equity instruments of a listed Indian company on a recognised stock exchange in India by all individual persons resident outside India, with enhanced investment limits. Authorised Dealer Category-I banks may open a repatriable INR account for such investors, and reporting and monitoring are to follow the same manner as NRI and OCI investments.

Compulsory registration for standalone hard disk drives is amended, while USB external drives remain under existing notified provisions.
Amends the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021 by substituting the entry at Serial No. 50 with Standalone Hard Disk Drives. USB Type External Hard Disk Drives continue under the existing notified provisions, while all other standalone HDDs are brought under the Order from 5th November.

Exemption for Highly Specialized Equipment under compulsory registration rules applies to limited-volume imports and manufacturing.
Highly Specialized Equipment (HSE) is exempted from the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021 where a specific exemption is issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the equipment is manufactured or imported in less than 100 units per model per year. The exemption covers equipment powered by three-phase supply, single-phase supply above 16 Ampere, equipment exceeding specified dimensions, and equipment weighing more than 80 Kg. The amendment takes effect from 15 June 2026.

Tribunal help desk established for appeal filing, procedural guidance, and general assistance at the Chennai Bench.
Establishment and operationalisation of a Help Desk at the GSTAT, Chennai Bench to provide assistance to stakeholders in filing appeals, procedural requirements, case-related queries and general guidance concerning the functioning of the Tribunal. The Help Desk will function from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM on all working days and is temporarily located at the GSTAT, Chennai Bench, Chennai. The designated officials are Smt. A. S. Charmi Sheela and Shri. Subhasish Giri.

Container scanning hours extended to improve cargo clearance and preserve existing customs procedures for specified container movements.
Operational hours of the Container Scanning Facility at Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port, Kolkata, are extended with immediate effect by revising the working window for both the Drive Through Container Scanner and the Mobile X-ray Container Scanner from 10:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs to 10:00 hrs to 22:00 hrs on all working days. The existing procedures for DPD containers, containers destined for ICDs, and Nepal/Bhutan-bound CTD containers remain unchanged and continue under the earlier public notices governing scanner operations and related customs handling.

GST appellate tribunal functioning notice sets jurisdiction, filing procedure, defect scrutiny, and compliance requirements for stakeholders.
The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, has commenced functioning from its temporary premises at Bandra Kurla Complex, and the notice informs stakeholders of the formal start of its judicial operations. The Mumbai State Bench, including the Panaji Circuit Bench, exercises jurisdiction over Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban Districts in Maharashtra and all districts in Goa, and hears appeals under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the corresponding State and Union Territory GST Acts within those jurisdictions. All appeals, applications, and proceedings relating to the notified jurisdictions are to be instituted before the Mumbai Bench in accordance with the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025.

Merchant banker compliance timelines extended for separate business units, net worth requirements, liquid net worth, and categorisation intimation.
The Circular extends the compliance timelines for Merchant Bankers under the January 02, 2026 framework. It postpones the transfer of activities to Separate Business Units and compliance with Clause 11.2.10 to December 31, 2026, and shifts the staged net worth and liquid net worth requirements, together with the related categorisation intimation, to March 31, 2027 and March 31, 2028, while leaving all other provisions unchanged.

Allowed for Shipment Request and stuffing cancellation messages are made live for transshipment under SCMTR compliance.
Pan India implementation of the ASR (Allowed for Shipment Request) message and the SFCN (Stuffing Cancellation) message under SCMTR, 2018 is brought into effect from 25.05.2026. The ASR message is made live for shipment readiness in transshipment operations, to be filed by the Authorized Transhipper after the Custodian files the SF message. The SFCN message is introduced to enable custodians to reset an already filed SF message.

Allowed for Shipment Request messaging now advances transhipment Shipping Bills after stuffing, while cancellation enables custodians to reset stuffing records.
Allowed for Shipment Request and Stuffing Cancellation messages under the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 are operational pan-India from 25 May 2026. After a custodian files the container-wise Stuffing message, an Authorized Transhipper must file the Shipping Bill-wise ASR message to indicate cargo readiness for transhipment; successful filing moves the Shipping Bill to the next queue. The SFCN message permits custodians to reset a submitted Stuffing message. Subsequent export-leg messages depend on SF and ASR operationalisation.

GSTAT procedure rules amendments reshape appeal filing, verification, defect scrutiny, cause lists, and rectification fee provisions.
The Committee considered proposed amendments to the GSTAT (Procedure) Rules, 2025 covering certified copies, appeal filing, documentation, verification, translation, scrutiny of defects, interlocutory applications, cross-objections, replies, rejoinders, cause lists, rectification, and fee provisions. It recommended revised filing and verification requirements, portal-based compliance, relaxation of translation rules, expanded scrutiny and rectification timelines, weekly cause lists, and a no-fee proviso for rectification applications, while recording that no amendment was required to the rectification limitation rule and that fee prescriptions under the CGST Rules were outside its jurisdiction.

Customs area approval for BMCTPL access road extends custodian and cargo service provider responsibilities under customs law.
Approval is granted for an access road area admeasuring 118,089.89 sq. mtrs. as a place for unloading imported goods and loading export goods. The area is specified by boundary vertices and forms part of the BMCTPL notified customs area. M/s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. is appointed custodian of imported goods and export cargo in the area, and M/s BMCT Pvt. Ltd. is appointed as a Customs Cargo Service Provider subject to compliance with the Customs Act, 1962 and the Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009.