Security under section 59(3) Customs Act: exemptions, transit insurance and staged bank guarantee requirements for warehoused imports.
Security under section 59(3) requires an importer who executes a warehousing bond to furnish security; specified public bodies, power and project imports, petroleum, shipbuilding inputs, manufacture-in-bond units, diplomatic and duty free consignments, and ship/airline stores are exempt. Transit requires comprehensive transit risk insurance in favour of the President of India, subject to narrow operational exceptions. For storage, no security is needed for the first year, with progressive bank guarantee requirements for extensions; sensitive goods attract higher guarantees and private bonded warehouse storage requires a bank guarantee equivalent to duty at import.

Licensing of Special Warehouses: transitional license requirement for warehouses storing duty free, ship, airline and diplomatic stores.
Section 58A mandates licensing of Special Warehouses for goods destined for duty free shops, ship stores, airline stores and diplomatic stores, with the Board specifying eligible end uses and issuing related licensing and custody regulations. Existing warehouses may operate under Customs lock during the transitional period but must apply for Section 58A licences within the prescribed application window; Commissioners will streamline processing for existing licensees and licences must be obtained to continue storage beyond the transition. Duty free shops in customs areas are point-of-sale, not warehouses.

Bond requirement for warehousing: importers must execute triple duty bonds covering movement and accounting of goods.
Importers must execute a triple duty bond at the customs station of import for goods deposited in a warehouse; the bond remains valid until goods are cleared for home consumption or export and covers movement from import station to warehouse, inter-warehouse transfers, and proper accounting while stored. The prescribed bond formats, finalized with the Ministry of Law & Justice, supersede earlier bond formats and are to be followed as per the Board circular.

One-time-lock requirement for removal of goods to warehouse: affix serially numbered seal and record details to ensure custody.
Removal of goods from a customs station to a warehouse requires affixation of a one-time-lock (serially numbered bottle seal) by the proper officer, with the OTL number and date/time endorsed on the bill of entry and transport document; customs stations must record the OTL number, bill of entry, truck/container number, date/time and officer details, and warehouse or bond officers must inspect seals and permit unloading only if intact.

Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme permits declarants to halt appeals by declaring liabilities and paying prescribed tax, interest and penalty.
The Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme allows declarants with specified pending appeals to file a declaration in prescribed form with the Designated Authority, whose acknowledgement stays appellate proceedings. Declarants must pay tax, interest and a prescribed penalty, report payments in the prescribed form, and upon proof of payment the Designated Authority must issue a discharge order in the prescribed form. The scheme excludes matters arising from search and seizure, pre scheme prosecutions, narcotics or prohibited goods, specified criminal offences, and certain detention orders.

Officer nomination amended in trade notice: designated Assistant Commissioner replaced following transfer, other notice provisions unchanged.
The trade notice amends Trade Notice No.06/2015 by substituting Shri P. Joseph Xavier Regis, Assistant Commissioner, as the nominated officer for the Taxpayer's Service Centre in the Tirupati Commissionerate in place of Shri Shokendar Kumar due to the latter's transfer to Kurnool Division; all other provisions of the earlier notice remain unchanged.

Single Window Simplification: streamlined ADC clearance for non-pharmaceutical and declared non-pharmaceutical-use consignments via integrated electronic declarations.
The notice directs that items identified on the PGA Exemption Category (PEC) list as chemicals not drugs be declared in the Integrated Declaration to avoid ADC referral; allows electronic declarations that dual-use items are non-pharmaceutical grade and contain no API and that end-use is non-medicinal to normally prevent ADC referral; mandates risk-based sampling with ADC-drawn samples where required and forbids repeat sampling of the same tested batch; accepts digitally signed integrated declarations as substitute for hard-copy undertakings; and maps ICES locations to nearest ADCs for regulatory routing.

Single Window clearance simplified for drugs and cosmetics consignments through PEC declarations and risk based ADC referrals.
Single Window clearance for drugs, cosmetics and related items is simplified: chemical items out of regulatory scope should be declared under the PEC to avoid ADC referral; dual use items/excipients that are non pharmaceutical grade and contain no API and have non medicinal end uses need not be referred to ADC when so declared; risk based sampling will limit re sampling of already tested batches; digitally signed integrated declarations will substitute for hardcopy undertakings; ICES locations are mapped to nearest ADCs and IT upgrades will enable regulator access.

Panel selection of standing counsels initiated; advertisement, interviews, and performance-based recommendations required for vacant zonal slots.
A fresh panel of Senior and Junior Standing Counsels will be constituted to fill vacant zonal slots for CBEC indirect taxation matters, rescinding certain prior inclusions. Eligibility follows existing Board instructions; where Chief Commissioner slots are vacant, the Review Committee will act as the Committee of Chief Commissioners. Selection requires advertisement, application scrutiny, interviews of all applicants, assessment of communication skills, overall performance as the primary criterion, and examination of reputation; recommendations must be forwarded to the Board within the prescribed timeline.

Opening of RMS containers permitted for sampling without prior approval from Joint or Additional Commissioner, subject to allied agency tests.
Docks and shed officers are authorized to open RMS-facilitated containers to draw samples without prior permission of the Joint or Additional Commissioner so that allied agencies (e.g., FSSAI, AQ, PQ, ADC) may obtain samples for examination and testing before according clearance, consistent with the procedures referenced in the earlier Public Notice.

Increase in All Industry Rates for drawback on gold and silver jewellery requires exporter declaration of no CENVAT or rebate.
Revised All Industry Rates (AIR) of duty drawback for exports under tariff items 711301, 711302 and 711401 are effective from 24.06.2016 and are subject to a mandatory exporter declaration that the goods were manufactured and exported without availing CENVAT credit or rebate under rule 18 and not under rule 19(2) of the Central Excise Rules, 2002; Customs officers must ensure and record this declaration at the Let Export Order stage.

Reward eligibility expanded: non-CBEC government officers may receive rewards for contraband seizures subject to rank and guideline conditions.
Amendment expands reward eligibility to Government Servants of other departments/agencies (Police, Border Security Forces, Coast Guard, etc.) for seizures of contraband effected under the Customs Act, 1962 or the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and subsequently booked/investigated by CBEC; only officers of those Departments/Agencies holding rank equivalent to the Additional Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise or lower will be considered for sanction of rewards in terms of Paras 4.2 and 4.3.

Centralised refund processing centralises filing and standardises procedures to expedite customs duty refund claims and electronic disbursement.
Centralised Refund Section reorganises refund administration into CRC I and CRC II to centralise receipt, scrutiny, processing, sanction and electronic disbursement of refund claims. The Notice prescribes serialised receipt and master register entry, initial scrutiny with first come first served processing for complete claims, issuance of deficiency memos within a week to ten days for incomplete claims, cash section verification for prior refunds, officer proposals addressing time limit, merit and unjust enrichment, and decision by Assistant/Deputy Commissioner with required speaking orders, pre audit and post audit steps where applicable.

Warehousing licence applications require a prescribed form, centralized antecedent verification, and 30 day processing with annual insurance submissions.
Prescribes a standardized application form for new bonded warehouse licences under the 2016 Warehousing Regulations, serving as an information checklist for premises, security, fire protection, types of goods, financial solvency and statutory declarations; requires bond officer inspection and report within 15 days and Principal Commissioner/Commissioner decision within the next 15 days (30 day target); mandates centralized antecedent verification with specified agencies and allows post verification; licences remain valid until surrender/cancellation while annual insurance and solvency evidence must be submitted.

Withdrawal of appeals: Departments must file applications to withdraw identified cases and report compliance promptly.
The Board directs immediate filing of applications to withdraw departmental appeals identified before High Court and CESTAT, freezes the zonal figures shown in the annexed chart as final, and requires zones to report compliance to the Board by the prescribed deadline, ensuring recorded counts match filed withdrawal applications and outcomes.

Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme: declarants may suspend appeals by declaration and obtain discharge on compliance with deposit requirements.
The scheme permits parties with appeals before the Commissioner (Appeals) at the cut-off date to file a Form-1 declaration with a designated authority; the authority issues Form-2 acknowledgement which suspends the appeal. Declarants must deposit required sums within a fortnight and report deposits in Form-3. The designated authority issues a Form-4 discharge order; the Commissioner will reconcile Form-4 and remove the appeal from pendency as disposed of, with such disposal carrying no binding precedent.

Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme enables declarants in pending appeals to file for settlement and obtain discharge after payment.
The Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2016 permits persons with appeals pending before the Commissioner to file a declaration with the designated authority using prescribed forms, obtain an acknowledgement that stays appellate proceedings for a statutory period, deposit required tax, interest and penalty within prescribed timeframes and, upon submission of proof of payment, receive a discharge order from the designated authority. The scheme specifies categories of impugned orders that are excluded from its application and identifies the rank and appointment of the designated authority for filing and processing declarations.

Export certificate for travellers enables duty-free re-entry of personal high-value items when presented with proof at departure.
Passengers carrying jewellery or other high-value personal items may obtain an export certificate by presenting the items to Customs at Mangaluru International Airport for valuation or by submitting purchase invoices or an authorized valuer's certificate; a downloadable export-certificate format is available on the Commissionerate website and must be completed in duplicate and presented at the designated departure counter to enable duty-free re-import.

IGST on imports: importers must declare GSTIN or PAN; customs will validate payments with GSTN for credit/refund.
Imports will be liable to IGST and applicable compensation cess in addition to customs duties, with valuation rules amended to include customs duties while excluding IGST and cess; Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills have been modified and Customs EDI/EDT will reconcile declarations with GSTN so importers claiming IGST credit must declare GSTIN (or PAN and state code if not registered) and exporters must provide GSTIN, invoice and item-wise values to enable customs validation for refunds or proof of export.

Trade facilitation committee reconstitution establishes monthly stakeholder meetings to address common customs clearance issues and representation rules.
Re-constitution of the Permanent Trade Facilitation Committee (PTFC) establishes a multisector stakeholder forum including customs officers, technical and NIC representatives, customs house and ship agent associations, CFS representatives, banks, warehousing managers, import/export associations and industry bodies. The committee will meet monthly (last Thursday at 11:30 a.m., adjusted for holidays), restrict attendance to members and invitees, encourage consistent association representation, focus on common systemic customs clearance issues rather than isolated individual problems, and may invite individuals when issues have wider implications.