IGST refund drive enables exporters to rectify shipping bill errors and submit required documents to clear pending refunds.
A time-bound IGST refund drive at Chennai Customs prioritises processing of shipping bills with validation error codes (SB001-SB006) by enabling exporters to verify ICEGATE error responses and submit prescribed rectification documents. Dedicated refund cells and a nodal Additional Commissioner are appointed to handle EGM errors, GSTIN mismatches and invalid invoice corrections; remedies require specified documentary proof, EDI job numbers or TR6 challans as applicable, and submission options include in-person during the drive or at the Sevottam Desk for offline filings.

Arrest and incident reporting: mandatory revised formats and immediate email submission to central compliance for risk-based targeting.
Revised Annexure-I and Annexure-II templates mandate uniform email reporting to a specified recipient list to support national risk-based targeting. Intimation of arrest must be sent by the Chief Commissioner/Director General through email within the prescribed short timeframe, while Commissioners/ADGs must immediately email incident reports where arrests are not made. The formats and filling guide require standardized capture of offence category, mode and direction, documentary references, commodity and seizure details, identity particulars, and a concise modus operandi to enable integration into a centralized database for early detection of smuggling syndicates.

Custodianship renewal: terminal must meet customs area regulations, maintain bonds, insurance, security and liability obligations.
Extension of custodianship to M/s JSW Mangalore Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. is granted for five years under Section 45(1) of the Customs Act and Regulations 10(2)-10(3) of HCCAR, 2009, subject to conditions including maintenance and renewal of prescribed bonds, bank guarantees and insurance; compliance with infrastructure, security, recordkeeping and reporting requirements; payment of duties for pilfered or lost goods; indemnity to the Commissioner; prohibition on transfer or outsourcing of custodial functions without written permission; and adherence to all applicable laws, rules, notifications and circulars.

Import source cancellation due to undisclosed change of manufacturing site leads to new registration requirements.
Non-compliance by M/s Chongqing Chemical Pesticide (Group) Co. Ltd. in failing to disclose a manufacturing-site change for Dimethoate technical prevented submission of required 5-Batch samples from old and new sites for CIL impurity-profile testing; because samples from the dismantled old plant are unavailable, the Registration Committee cancelled the company's import-source listing and directed that any future application be treated as a new registration requiring full data submission.

Prohibition on trade with North Korea: customs clearance allowed only after correcting country data to prevent prohibited imports or exports.
Customs officers must strictly enforce prohibitions on trade with North Korea by amending any Bill of Entry or Shipping Bill that incorrectly names DPRK/KP as Country of Origin or Destination; OOC/LEO or Customs clearance is to be granted only after deleting the incorrect DPRK reference and recording the correct country, with penal action possible for wrong declarations and prompt amendment required for bona fide data errors to prevent misleading publication of trade statistics.

Drawback claim queries: exporters must reply in EDI by the prescribed deadline to avoid processing on record basis.
Exporters and other trade stakeholders must monitor Drawback claim status in the EDI system and reply to queries in the "Query Raised" or "EXPORTER" queues; replies in EDI trigger immediate processing and disbursement. Claims with shipping bills prior to 01.10.2023 must be answered or explained in person to the Assistant Commissioner (Drawback) by 28.02.2024, failing which claims will be processed based on available records or applicable rates. Annexure I lists pending claims and contact details are provided for assistance.

Waiver of late fee for delayed Bills of Entry due to ICEGATE disruption, providing administrative relief and reporting channel.
A waiver of late fee is granted for Bills of Entry delayed because of erratic ICEGATE functioning for cargo arriving at Chennai Air Cargo/Airport during the notice period; the waiver is provided under the statutory framework for electronic Bill of Entry filing, is to be treated as a Standing Order for departmental officers, and affected parties should report remaining difficulties to the Additional Commissioner for necessary action.

Restriction on export of specified goods prevents IGST-paid exports; refund route blocked at shipping bill level.
Goods listed in the notification must be exported only under LUT and cannot be exported on payment of IGST with refund; CBIC's backend disables the IGST refund route at the shipping bill level so any shipping bill containing a restricted item will not be allowed to be filed for the IGST-paid export/refund route.

Change of manufacturing site: import source cancelled; applicants must treat that supplier as new registration requiring data submission.
The Registration Committee found the manufacturer failed to notify a change of location of the manufacturing site and did not provide the required 5-Batch samples from old and new sites for impurity verification; as samples from the old plant are unavailable, the Committee cancelled the import source designation and directed that future applicants treat the source as a new registration with requisite data submissions and testing.

Electronic declaration for postal exports authorizes additional booking post offices to file e PBE and accept export consignments.
The Department of Posts has authorized fourteen Booking Post Offices with Dak Ghar Niryat Kendra (DNK) facility for electronic filing of the Postal Bill of Export (e PBE) and to accept international mail consignments booked via the DNK portal, mapping each Booking Post Office to a corresponding Foreign Post Office; these offices are additional to earlier notified DNK locations.

Ex-bond shipping bill requires warehouse linkage and itemwise into-bond BE tracking with automatic ledger updates on filing.
ICES 1.5 now includes an ex-bond shipping bill format requiring a warehouse code and mandatory item-wise linkage to the original into-bond BE details; only one warehouse may be specified per shipping bill, though multiple into-bond BEs for the same item may be entered as separate lines. Filing, cancellation or amendment of the shipping bill automatically debits or re-credits quantities in the warehouse ledger. The format applies only to export of warehoused goods as such and is a free shipping bill with no export incentives available.

ICES system update suspends Bill of Entry filing and Section 48 approvals until tariff and notification changes are applied.
ICES Notifications and Tariff Directories will be updated after the Budget presentation, causing suspension of Bills of Entry filing and Section 48 approvals from 11.00 hours on the budget day until updates are completed; Shipping Bill filing and assessment continue, prior BEs must be monitored for duty changes before OOC, and any new export levies must be collected manually until directory changes are in place.

Grievance redressal: BIS directs trade to website guidance, product manuals, line ministries for QCOs, or cmd2/cmd3 emails.
Stakeholders must use the BIS product-certification webpage to determine compulsory certification applicability, consult product-specific information and product manuals on BIS for labelling and marking queries, approach the issuing Central Government line ministry for QCO applicability or implementation issues, and direct other or policy queries to [email protected] and/or [email protected] as the established grievance redressal channels.

Faceless bills of entry clearance uses a designated Nodal Officer to facilitate delayed clearances and verification feedback.
Faceless bills of entry clearance pending beyond 24 hours is facilitated through the appointed Nodal Officer. Feedback concerning verification of messages received by the Air Cargo Complex from the Department of International Customs may be obtained from the Assistant Commissioner (Import) previously designated as Nodal Officer.

IGST refund disposal: Special drive urges exporters and brokers to submit documents to clear pending refund cases promptly.
A Special Drive will be held from 05.02.2024 to 07.02.2024 to dispose of IGST refunds pending as of 31.12.2023 where shipping bills carry error codes awaiting rectification; affected shipping bills and error-code details are published on the ICD, TKD Export Commissionerate website. Exporters and customs brokers listed are requested to submit necessary documents during the scheduled drive to enable refund processing, and difficulties may be communicated to the nodal officer via the provided email.

Online AQCS clearance now mandatory for imported consignments; manual NOCs discontinued, all clearances via AQCS ICS integrated portal.
AQCS has adopted the AQCS ICS portal integrated with ICEGATE to provide AQCS clearances for imported consignments exclusively online; manual NOCs are discontinued and stakeholders must obtain all AQCS clearances through the AQCS ICS portal. Standing Order No. 23/2023 is withdrawn.

Export obligation monitoring: non fulfilment triggers duty recovery, bond encashment, SCNs, confiscation and penalties under customs law.
The Export Obligation Monitoring Cell (EOMC) will monitor fulfilment of export obligations under EPCG and Advance Authorisation, issue simple notices for proof of discharge or DGFT application, and, where proof is not furnished, recover unpaid duties with applicable interest by enforcing bonds/ bank guarantees under Section 143 or by detaining/selling goods under Section 142; non-fulfilment may also lead to SCNs, confiscation under section 111(o), and penalties under section 112(a).

Bonded air-cargo transshipment permission renews road movement under ECTS seal, subject to bond liability and compliance conditions.
Bonded-trucking permission is renewed for export and import air-cargo transshipment from the Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata to Customs-notified airports, Air Cargo Complexes, Container Freight Stations and Inland Container Depots. Cargo must move in closed-body trucks under ECTS seal. The permission operates for three years or until bond expiry, whichever is earlier. Bond amounts are debited on removal of cargo and credited upon delivery to destination Customs. The operator remains liable for cargo shortages or pilferage and must comply with applicable transit, transshipment, cargo-handling and foreign-trade requirements.

Recovery of unpaid customs duty authorised by attachment, detention and sale of goods with remittance to customs account.
Notice directs recovery of unpaid customs duty and applicable interest from M/s Mili International pursuant to an Order in Original, authorising recovery from any monies payable to the company and, alternatively, by detaining and selling goods under customs or central GST control. Officers designated nationwide are requested to effect attachment, detention or sale, intimate recovery to the issuing authority, and remit proceeds by demand draft to the Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai.

Warehouse code declaration mandatory for into-bond bills; ICES enforces active-code checks and ACB manages suspensions.
Mandatory declaration of warehouse code is required for filing into-bond bill of entry; ICES has been updated to enforce declaration and to check at clearance that the warehouse code is active and valid. ACB role functions now include Suspend/Revoke warehouse and an Imports WH code entry option to enter, modify, view warehouse details and update expiry dates.