Designation of Additional and Deputy/Assistant Commissioners as CPIOs and First Appellate Authorities; appeals to the First Appellate Authority under RTI.
Additional and Deputy/Assistant Commissioners of Customs, Airport & Administration Commissionerate, Kolkata are designated as Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) and First Appellate Authorities under the Right to Information Act, 2005, with specified charges and jurisdictional assignments set out in an annexed table; persons aggrieved by a CPIO decision may appeal to the First Appellate Authority within the Commissioner's jurisdiction.

Pre-inspection certificate requirement for metallic scrap: exemption for safe-country consignments via designated ports, subject to safety checks.
Import consignments of metallic waste and scrap generally require a pre-inspection certificate (PSIC) from the country of origin. Exemption applies for consignments from specified safe countries/regions when cleared through six designated ports, provided they carry supplier certification of no radioactive materials or explosives and are subject to radiation and explosive checks; transshipments via those countries are excluded and imports through other ports remain PSIC bound.

Priority assessment and examination for AEO and DPD clients via online module with specified timelines and escalation.
Grants priority assessment and priority examination to eligible AEO and DPD importers/exporters via an online DPD JNCH module; users submit IEC, Bill/Shipping Bill details, assessment group and DPD/CFS information which triggers an SMS to the responsible Assistant/Deputy Commissioner. Assessments must be completed within two hours and examinations within six hours of SMS receipt during 10:00-17:00 on working days. AC/DCs must issue directions, maintain records, and escalate failures to ADC/JC and then Commissioner; the facility is limited to entitled clients.

Unique DPD code requirement mandates terminal-wide registration and shared code use to enable seamless DPD facility access.
JNPCT shall allot a canonical Unique DPD Code for DPD importers which all other terminals (GTI, NSICT, NSIGT, BMCT) must accept and use for extending DPD facilities and opening PD accounts. JNPCT and other terminals must share existing and new DPD codes and prevent duplication when allotting codes. DPD importers registered at only one terminal must register with all terminals and complete requirements online; difficulties may be raised with the Additional Commissioner in charge of the DPD Cell via the designated email.

Import of second hand capital goods permitted under SHIS after withdrawal of prior restriction guidance
Import eligibility under the Status Holders Incentive Scrip (SHIS) scheme is clarified to permit import of second hand capital goods because the FTP/HBP do not specifically bar such imports; an earlier restrictive clarification limiting SHIS to new capital goods has been withdrawn and stakeholders are invited to report any operational difficulties.

Sea Cargo Manifest Regulations: commencement deferred and shipping stakeholders must adjust compliance and implementation timelines.
The Public Notice communicates that the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 were initially notified to commence on 1 August 2018 but the Board has issued an amendment deferring the commencement; the Regulations shall now come into force on 1 November 2018, and steamer agents, importers, customs brokers and consolidators are notified to adjust implementation and compliance timelines in accordance with the Board's amendment.

Electronic scaling requirement for warehousing bond movements extended to allow infrastructure and seal procurement implementation.
The Board has extended the date for compulsory RFID electronic scaling for goods moving under warehousing bond to permit warehouse owners time to establish necessary infrastructure and procure seals, thereby enabling orderly compliance for deposit into and removal from Customs bonded warehouses.

Classification of solar panels requires importers to declare diode type on entry; CE certificate preferred and testing possible.
Solar panels/modules are classified by the type of diode fitted: modules with bypass diodes under CTH 8541, with blocking diodes under CTH 8501, and with both types under CTH 8501. Importers must specify diode type on the Bill of Entry and ideally support the declaration with a Chartered Engineer's certificate or supplier/load port document; if the declaration is suspect, ADC/JC permission may be sought to test the goods through a local Chartered Engineer.

Refund of IGST on export: clarifications allow rectification of mismatch errors via officer interface; facilitation available to exporters.
Refund of IGST on export of goods: exporters must follow the Board's Circular No. 22/2018 to rectify SBOO3 mismatch errors and SBOO5 date-extension issues using the Officer Interface. A Customs Officer is deputed at the FIEO office, Bangalore, to collect documents and assist exporters in obtaining pending IGST refunds until 01.08.2018; exporters should use this facility and report difficulties to the AC/Superintendent, IGST Refund Cell, ICD, Bengaluru.

Registration and manifest obligations require authorised sea carriers to file prescribed arrival/departure manifests and secure bonds for transhipment.
The Regulations require persons delivering arrival or departure manifests to register with the jurisdictional Commissioner in Form I for defined terms, prescribe formats and contents of manifests including separate sheets for specific cargo (notably radioactive material), permit amendment by proper officers absent fraudulent intent, and condition transhipment and coastal transit on manifest inclusion and execution of specified bonds with or without guarantee. Commissioners may suspend or revoke an authorised carrier's registration for specified reasons, penalties may be imposed for contraventions, and appeal remedies are available under the statute.

Authorised Officer designation under FSS Act enables named customs officers to clear imported food at Kandla port.
Notification designates two named customs superintendents as Authorised Officers under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 for clearance of imported food consignments at Deen Dayal Port, Kandla and the specified terminal within its jurisdiction, and provides their office address and contact details to implement FSSAI's import-control and clearance responsibilities at that port.

RFID one-time seals mandated for bonded warehouse movements, requiring ISO compliant seals, certified vendors, and data capture.
Extension of mandatory use of RFID tamper-proof one-time-locks (RFID OTL) for deposit into and removal from customs bonded warehouses requires seals conforming to ISO standards, unique serials and vendor branding, vendor certification submitted to Risk Management Division, deployment of prescribed readers, and capture/upload of specified data elements (IEC, document numbers, RFID OTL number, sealing date/time, container/vehicle identifiers, warehouse and customs location codes). Licencees must procure readers and seals, vendors must link TID to warehouse codes, and scanned trip reports will serve as arrival acknowledgements; tampering triggers examination or refusal to unload.

Registration requirement under Sea Cargo Manifest Regulations: carriers must register or renew to transact; non-registration bars operations.
Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations, 2018 come into force and supersede earlier manifest and transportation regulations; stakeholders including Steamer Agents, Main Line Operators, Liners and authorized carriers must apply for registration or renew existing registration in the prescribed form under Regulation 3, and failure to register will bar them from transacting business under the Regulations, with the office to be informed of any compliance difficulties.

Electronic sealing requirements for customs bonded warehouses mandate compliance for deposit and removal of goods and reporting implementation issues.
Electronic sealing is mandated for the deposit into and removal of goods from customs bonded warehouses pursuant to Board Circular No. 19/2018, directing customs brokers, exporters, importers and other trade stakeholders to adopt electronic seals to secure consignments and comply with procedural requirements, with stakeholders asked to report implementation difficulties to the issuing office.

One-to-one correlation between duty-free precious metal imports and exports not required; agencies must maintain accurate records.
Nominated agencies importing duty free gold, silver or platinum under the Export Against Supply scheme need not establish a one to one correlation between each imported consignment and exported jewellery; instead they must maintain proper records showing that duty free metal has been used in the manufacture of exported jewellery or articles and clearly account for duty free versus duty paid metal to demonstrate compliance with the exemption and export obligation.

Reward scheme for tax recovery extended to informers and officers, enabling discretionary payments for actionable intelligence.
Rewards are extended to informers and government servants for information that leads to recovery of arrears from tax defaulters; informers' names will be kept confidential. The Chief Commissioner may authorize rewards only after departmental efforts to trace defaulters have been exhausted and the information is shown to have been instrumental in recovery. The reward quantum is discretionary, guided by the nature and efficacy of the information, and capped as per the scheme. Officer rewards require Reward Committee satisfaction that recovery was pending after finality or the unit was nonfunctioning, with no appeal pending, and follow existing allocation policies.

Reward scheme for informers extended to tax recovery cases; informers and officers may receive discretionary rewards subject to conditions.
Extension of the reward scheme allows payment to informers who provide actionable intelligence on defaulters' assets and to government servants whose efforts result in recovery. Rewards require Chief Commissioner satisfaction that departmental tracing efforts were exhausted and that the information led to recovery. The reward may be up to 5% of the amount recovered, determined by the information's nature, accuracy and efficacy. Informer-initiated cases draw from the informer reward pool under existing policy. Officers may receive rewards for extraordinary post-adjudication recoveries subject to Reward Committee approval and applicable upper limits for post-investigation work.

Classification of Tramadol as a psychotropic substance: delayed applicability for licensed manufacturers, importers and exporters after grace period.
The amendment defers the operational applicability of Tramadol's classification as a psychotropic substance so that licensed manufacturers, importers and exporters are subject to the notification only after the expiry of a prescribed grace period following publication; the earlier public notice is amended accordingly and Customs staff are to treat this Public Notice as a Standing Order.

Exporters must correct EGM errors to enable Shipping Bill migration and receipt of IGST refund to bank accounts.
EGM filing errors (SB002, SB006) and invoice errors (SB005) prevent Shipping Bills from migrating from the IGST Temporary Scroll to the Final Scroll, blocking IGST refund credit. Exporters must ensure correct EGM filing before flight departure, submit reconciliation documents (GSTR 1/Table 6A, GSTR 3B and a Concordance Table) and send rectification details to the IGST Refund Cell (Airport) for processing.

IGST refund clearance fortnight to expedite processing of pending export refund claims and assist exporters.
A public notice announces a dedicated IGST refund clearance fortnight at the Air Cargo Complex, NSCBI to expedite liquidation of pending IGST refund claims and assist exporters and export organizations in getting refund claims processed, with difficulties to be reported to the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Drawback & IGST Refund Section.