Passenger clearance: ensure smooth, harassment-free customs baggage processing through monitored inspections and improved passenger facilities.
The Board directs that passenger baggage clearance be conducted smoothly and without harassment, requiring senior officers to monitor field formations by surprise visits or otherwise to prevent rude behaviour, extortion, denial of rightful claims and improper penalty assessment; administrative and procedural improvements-such as separate counters for vulnerable passengers, prominent public information displays, courteous staffing at international airport posts, and examination of on the spot duty collection with receipts-are to be implemented and reported upon.

Concessional duty eligibility confirmed for SBOC used via intermediate TPR in manufacture of soles, subject to end use bond.
Concessional duty under Notification No. 20/99-Cus. applies to SBOC listed in List 3A where SBOC is converted into TPR compound used to produce TPR soles for use by footwear manufacturers in the leather industry; insofar as List 3A imposes no additional condition analogous to List 3B, the concessional rate is available, subject to safeguards such as end use bonds and finalisation of pending provisional assessments consistent with Board instructions.

DEPB scrip portability permits imports at any notified port via TRA, allowing use of registered DEPB entitlements for imports.
DEPB holders with scrips registered at any customs station notified under the DEPB Scheme may import at any of those notified sea-ports, airports, ICDs or LCSs; this facility applies only to imports. Imports at stations not notified must occur at the port of registration. Imports under the facility will be enabled by issuance of a Telegraphic Release Advice (TRA) from the port of registration to the importing Customs House, specifying description, value, quantity, DEPB serial number, date of issue and duty entitlement; the receiving Customs House will relay import details to the issuing Customs House, which will record them in a register.

Common identification based on PAN to replace IE Code, requiring PAN submission and phased adoption of the PAN based identifier.
Importers and exporters must furnish their Permanent Account Number to DGFT for allotment of a PAN based IE Code; customs documents will initially show both the existing IE Code and PAN during a transition and thereafter use the PAN based IE Code exclusively. Public notices and administrative instructions will be issued to implement PAN as the common identifier to enable inter departmental data sharing, verification of Modvat and export rebate claims, and to support selective risk based assessment of import/export transactions.

Self-sealing export container procedure: reduced routine physical checks and one-in-five visual inspections permitted at Gateway Ports.
Containers moved under the self-sealing procedure at Gateway Ports are to be exempted from routine opening; only one out of five self-sealed containers should be opened for visual inspection, and from each opened container a minimum of two packages and up to 5% of packages may be examined. The para 7 sampling percentage applies only to goods not under the self-sealing procedure, and conflicting Public Notices and Standing Orders must be amended.

Concessional duty for greenhouse equipment permitted on presentation of designated authority certificate; end-user proof no longer required for concession.
Concessional import duty for specified Green House equipment under Sl. No. 166 of Notification No. 20/99-Cus. is available on production at importation of a certificate from an officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce stating the goods are required for use in a Green House; the notification contains no actual user condition, and field formations should not insist on an end user requirement, thereby modifying the earlier Board instruction imposing an actual user condition.

Product classification: composite artware with mixed materials excluded from 'aluminium artware' DEPB benefit due to input-output norms.
Composite decorative articles partly of aluminium and partly of other materials are not classifiable under the DEPB entry for "Aluminium Artware" because the entry's wording excludes mixed material artware and DEPB Entries must be interpreted against standard input output norms; the product in question falls outside the scope of the corresponding standard norms and so is not eligible for DEPB benefit.

Drawback interest period reduced; monthly statements must adopt revised pending-period breakups for claim reporting henceforth.
Amendment reduces the period after which interest is payable on duty drawback claims from three months to two months and requires the monthly statement on receipts, disposal and pendency of drawback claims to present pending cases under four periods: below one month; one to two months; over two months; and over one year.

Drawback entitlement clarified: All Industry Rates apply to plastic fabrics and made up articles regardless of tariff chapter classification.
All Industry Rate drawback for plastic fabrics, tarpaulins and other made up plastic articles specified under SS Nos. 63.01 and 63.02 is payable irrespective of whether the goods are classified under the plastic goods chapter or the made up articles chapter of the Drawback Table; claims should be settled at those specified rates and field formations and Trade informed by Standing Orders and Public Notices.

Courier clearance obligations: mandatory records for samples, registration decisions within a prescribed period, and periodic customs checks.
Customs formations must maintain records of bona fide samples imported through courier channels; Commissionerates must prescribe and ensure maintenance of records and accounts by registered authorised couriers and ensure Customs conducts regular checks of those records; Commissioners must decide applications for registration as authorised couriers within a prescribed time-bound period once all relevant documents are submitted.

Modvat credit treatment clarified: utilised credit on capital goods need not be reversed on conversion; unutilised credit lapses.
If a DTA unit converted to an EOU/EHTP/STP has already availed Modvat credit on plant, machinery and equipment and utilised that credit for payment of duty on goods manufactured and cleared before conversion, the utilised credit need not be reversed on conversion. Any Modvat credit balance unutilised at the date of conversion lapses and cannot be used after conversion.

B-17 bond: security reduced to a fraction of projected duty, simplifying clearance and establishing a single all-purpose bond.
A single B-17 Bond, executed before the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner, shall be the sole bond for EOU/EPZ/EHTP/STP units for duty-free imports and local procurement covered by the exemption notification; the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner's certificate alone is sufficient for port clearance and no additional bonds or port-level securities should be demanded. The bond amount is to be calculated on projected sanctioned requirements (covering capital goods and three months' raw-material stock), is a running bond debited on fresh procurement and adjusted if actual procurement exceeds projections, with monitoring by the Assistant Commissioner on a broad basis.

EPCG licence cancellation: cancelled unutilised licences with bonded goods permit ex-bonding under the replacement scheme's conditions.
Where an EPCG licence is cancelled as unutilised while the imported capital goods remain in Customs bond and have not been cleared under EPCG terms, the EPCG obligations are not operative; ex-bonding and clearance may proceed as normal goods, subject to the conditions of the scheme under which they will be cleared, and no contravention of EPCG conditions is to be construed.

Permission for job work by EOU/EPZ units requires direct export and excludes drawback or DEPB benefits.
EOU/EPZ/EHTP units in aquaculture, animal husbandry, electronics hardware and software may undertake job work for DTA units provided the finished products are exported directly from the EOU/EPZ/EHTP and not returned to the DTA; Shipping Bills are filed in the DTA unit's name with the job worker named, assessed by specified Assistant Commissioners depending on EPZ/EOU gateway, invoice and AR-4 must list and be signed by both parties, and no drawback/DEPB benefits are admissible.

Cargo reception hours extended at air terminals, allowing export acceptance until 10 p.m. and import delivery until 8 p.m.
The circular substitutes paragraph 2(C) of earlier Board circulars to provide that export cargo will be received in all cargo terminals from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and delivery of import cargo will be allowed up to 8 p.m.; officers are to issue standing orders to implement the revised hours and report any difficulties to the Board.

DEPB scrip transferability confirmed: restriction on single transfer removed, transfers freely permitted under Exim Policy.
Paragraph 7 of the Standing Order annexed to Circular No. 14/99-Cus., which limited a DEPB scrip transfer to a single transfer from the original allottee to the importer, is deleted. The Department, after consultation with DGFT and reference to Exim Policy and customs notifications, determined that DEPB scrips are freely transferable and that the remaining provisions of the Standing Order and Circular continue to apply.

Attested shipping bill copy accepted as substitute drawback proof when the triplicate is reserved as the EP copy.
Where a DEPB shipping bill's triplicate is the EP copy required in original by the licensing authority and thus unavailable for drawback claim, a photocopy of the shipping bill duly attested by the relevant licensing office officer may be accepted by the Custom House as the drawback copy for claims under the DEPB-cum-Drawback Scheme.

DEPB Scheme TRA procedure extended to additional bonded warehouses and customs stations, expanding import facilitation.
Amendment extends import permissions under the DEPB Scheme via the TRA procedure to all Customs bonded warehouses within the jurisdiction of Commissioners who have been granted full TRA privileges at additional customs stations, and specifically adds sea-ports at Paradeep, Sikka, Pipavav and Magdalla; Airport at Coimbatore; and ICDs at Coimbatore, Singanallur, Salem and Tirupur.

Bonded trucking transhipment allowed between airports and inland customs subject to custodial bonds, seals, and documentation.
Bonded trucking transhipment between airports/ACCs and ICDs/CFSs/airports is authorized subject to Chapter VIII and transhipment regulations, requiring appointment of a duty approved custodian, execution of a running bond with bank guarantee, full insurance and custodian liability for shortages, secured vehicles with Customs "Bottle Seals", a transhipment warehouse or supervised make up area with double locks, prescribed transhipment application and stamping, customs sealing and endorsement upon loading, and verification and handover at destination with documentation to close the originating register.

Product classification: Orimulsion treated as natural bitumen dispersed in water and classed under the bitumen tariff heading.
Orimulsion, consisting of dehydrated pulverised natural bitumen dispersed in water with a small amount of emulsifier to aid handling and transport, does not change the product's character by the mere addition of water and emulsifier. The HS Committee amended Explanatory Notes to include such dispersed bitumen within the natural bitumen tariff heading, and the Board has accepted that classification, excluding mixtures with added substances other than water or necessary emulsifiers which rank under the separate bitumen-mixture heading.