Electronic Delivery Orders to streamline customs clearance and enable e-invoicing and e-payments while retaining verification safeguards.
Introduction of electronic Delivery Orders to replace paper Delivery Orders aims to simplify Customs clearance and reduce transaction time and costs. Custodians, shipping lines and consol agents must have technical capacity to receive and generate electronic Delivery Orders and are encouraged to adopt electronic invoicing and e-payment to avoid in-person visits. Existing Customs procedures-verification, obtaining out-of-charge, and issuance of gate passes-remain unchanged. Manual Delivery Orders are permitted for specified categories and temporarily when electronic transfer fails. Stakeholders are invited to report implementation difficulties and suggestions.

Customs Single Window expansion enables electronic NOC and lab referrals, streamlining agency clearances and document upload.
The Single Window expansion implements an ICES-based No Objection Certificate module to identify Bills of Entry requiring agency clearance and redirect them to agency officers who will record online determinations (Release, Out of Scope, Reject, Withhold NOC, or Provisional NOC). Customs will rely on agencies' online entries and will grant Out of Charge only after agencies enter Scope or Provisional NOC for all items. A Lab Module will permit online Test Memo generation, sample tracking, and laboratory reporting to support agency testing and recommendations; directories mapping tariff heads and locations to agencies will be managed by Local Systems Managers.

EDD Challan generation role expanded to SVB and EDI appraisers to centralize processing and reduce delays.
EDD payment challan generation is authorized for Special Valuation Branch (SVB) and EDI appraisers in addition to Group Appraisers. This centralized arrangement allows SVB and EDI to generate EDD challans irrespective of the assessing Group to address delays caused by Group Appraisers exiting the Appraising Menu during B/E assessment, thereby streamlining processing and reducing dwell time.

Custody of cargo: KSIE appointed custodian at air cargo complex, subject to handling regulations and operational obligations.
M/S Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd. is appointed Customs Cargo Service Provider at the Air Cargo Complex, Karipur, Calicut as custodian of import and export cargo under the Customs Act and Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009. KSIE must provide specified infrastructure, security, storage segregation, electronic connectivity and furnished office accommodation; maintain records; restrict removal of goods except on written permission; obtain insurance; execute required bonds for transit; publish charge schedules; indemnify Customs for loss or damage; and comply with Commissioner directions and regulatory amendments.

Payment of refund/rebate through e-payment: sanctioned amounts credited via NEFT/RTGS to beneficiary bank accounts after bank-certified authorization.
Sanctioned refund/rebate payments will be made by electronic transfer (NEFT/RTGS) after claimants submit a bank certified one time authorization (Annexure A). The refund authority forwards a signed consolidated statement (Annexure B), a consolidated cheque and an electronic copy to the authorized bank, which credits beneficiary accounts after deducting RBI prescribed charges. Banks must generate UTRs and periodic scrolls; the sanctioning authority forwards UTR reports monthly to the PAO for reconciliation and discrepancy reporting.

Transshipment of courier shipments: updated procedure requires bonds, guarantees, secured transfer and destination landing acknowledgements.
Authorised Couriers may transship imported consignments from Bangalore Airport to specified domestic customs stations, subject to Sections 54-55 of the Customs Act, the Transshipment Regulations and Courier Regulations. Permissions are granted by the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner (Courier) where procedures are followed; air is preferred, road allowed only when air carriage is unavailable. Security and procedural safeguards include segregation, X ray, secured TP godown with double locks, Cargo Transfer Manifests and destination landing acknowledgements. Couriers must execute a bond with a bank guarantee of 15% (self renewing), may use a mother bond, insure goods, and face forfeiture or penal action for failures.

All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback revised to add and reclassify tariff entries and adjust drawback caps.
Changes to the All Industry Rates (AIR) of Duty Drawback effective 23.11.2015 extend AIR to rice in PP/HDPF bags, create separate tariff entries with AIRs and caps for specified varieties and blends, restructure sub headings to distinguish drawback caps, expand descriptions of tariff items to include additional products, provide composite AIRs for footwear under specified headings, and increase or adjust drawback rates and caps for a range of identified tariff lines.

Electronic refund payment to bank accounts introduced; requires one time bank certified authorization, cancelled cheque, and self attested copy for later claims.
Electronic payment of sanctioned rebate/refund amounts will be made directly to assessees'/exporters' bank accounts via RTGS/NEFT. For fresh claims filed on or after 10.02.2016 claimants must provide a one time, bank certified authorization in duplicate in the prescribed format (Annexure A) with a cancelled cheque containing the IFSC code; for subsequent claims a self attested copy of the authorization must be produced. Queries may be addressed to the jurisdictional Commissioner.

Customs Single Window expands online NOC and lab integrations to streamline regulatory clearances across multiple agencies and locations.
Implementation of an integrated Customs Single Window within ICES to enable electronic lodging of Customs clearance documents, message exchange with regulatory agencies, an online No Objection Certificate (NOC) module for referral of Bills of Entry to specified agencies with defined online decision categories, and a Lab Module to automate sample referral and online test reporting; Out of Charge depends on agency entries and initial item referral will use Customs Tariff Head while directories and role mappings are managed by Local Systems Managers.

Re-export under Section 69: shipping bills must be processed via EDI 1.5; manual filing requires prior commissioner approval.
All shipping bills for re-export under Section 69 of the Customs Act, 1962 must be filed and processed under the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 1.5 system; manual noting is permitted only in genuine technical-failure cases with prior approval of the Additional/Joint Commissioner in charge of docks, and implementation difficulties must be reported to the issuing office.

Port clearance: Steamer agents may use a one year continuity bond to streamline vessel entry, with documents due within seven days.
Steamer agents may furnish a one year continuity bond/guarantee, in prescribed format, to obtain Advance/EDI Port Clearance and avoid repeated bonds; required certificates must be submitted within seven days of sailing or customs action under the Customs Act, 1962 may follow. The bond must be on Rs. 500 stamp paper as revised, renewals must be sought before expiry, and other public notice provisions remain unchanged.

Continuity bond option for steamer agents simplifies port clearance, replacing repeated bonds while preserving document submission rules.
Steamer agents may furnish a one year continuity bond/guarantee in the prescribed format to obtain Advance/EDI Port Clearance for vessels, reducing repeated bond execution; the bond must be on revised stamp paper and requires submission of specified certificates (inward/outward clearance, immigration NOC, port health, ship registry) within seven days of sailing, with noncompliance subject to action under the Customs Act, 1962, and agents must apply for renewal prior to expiry.

Minimum Import Price obligations strengthened; importers must comply or face customs enforcement and penalties for iron and steel imports.
Amendment to import policy conditions imposes Minimum Import Price requirements on specified iron and steel HS codes under Chapter 72; customs formations are directed to implement the amended conditions and initiate action under the Customs Act, 1962 against importers violating those conditions, and to report any enforcement difficulties to the Board.

Custodianship extension and custodial liability emphasized; operator bears duty and loss responsibility for goods in custody and transit.
Extension of custodianship is subject to maintenance and renewal of a Custodian Bond and insurance, with the custodian liable for duty and losses for goods pilfered, lost, damaged or mishandled in the customs area or during transit for export or transshipment. The custodian must provide specified infrastructure, security, EDI connectivity, safe transport, records and segregation of cargo, prohibit removal without written customs permission, publish charges, and comply with all statutory regulations and performance benchmarks.

Custodianship obligations require compliance with customs regulations and impose liability for loss or pilferage of cargo.
Custodianship is extended under Section 45(1) of the Customs Act subject to compliance with Section 45(3), the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, and all applicable laws. The custodian must maintain prescribed bonds and insurance, execute fresh bonds on expiry including separate export transshipment bonds, and is liable for duty and loss arising from fire, theft, pilferage or transit damage. Operational obligations include segregation and secure storage of imports, exports and transhipment cargo, provision of infrastructure, EDI connectivity with Customs, record-keeping, restricted movement of goods without proper officer permission, and publishing a schedule of charges.

Procurement certificate issuance: pre authenticated PCs allowed without AC/DC countersignature, subject to bond coverage and eligibility.
Issuance of Procurement Certificate for duty free imports is delegated to the jurisdictional Superintendent, who must ensure consignments are covered by the bond. Chemical and textile units remain subject to issuance by Assistant/Deputy Commissioners. Eligible status holder or high turnover units with clean records may receive pre authenticated procurement certificates issued by Superintendents on direction of the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner; such pre authenticated PCs must not be sent for AC/DC countersignature. Inbond movement, examination, bonding and re warehousing procedures continue to apply.

Extension of warehousing period for bonded capital goods aligned with renewal of private bonded warehouse licences to avoid duplicate renewals.
At the time of renewal of the private bonded warehousing licence, the warehousing period of all capital goods installed or put into use shall be extended simultaneously so that further extension for any item falls due only on the next licence renewal; the extension term for each capital good must be adjusted accordingly and no single extension granted at renewal shall exceed the maximum permissible period.

Unaccompanied baggage EDI processing now mandates electronic Baggage Declaration, systemised examination and duty payment before release.
The ICES 1.5 EDI system is extended to Unaccompanied Baggage at Cochin and requires filing a revised Baggage Declaration Form at the Service Centre, payment of a nominal filing fee, verification and signature of a system-generated checklist, and receipt of a location slip from the port custodian to direct baggage to examination. Preventive Officers and the Superintendent will examine and assess entries; specified cases are escalated for assessment. After assessment the final BDF printout is used to pay customs duty and obtain an out-of-charge endorsement, following which the CFS issues gate passes and baggage is released after exit verification.

Recovery of drawback: exporters must submit BRCs or negative statements to enable Customs monitoring and recovery action.
The notice requires exporters to declare Authorised Dealers and to submit biannual Bank Realization Certificates or six monthly negative statements from ADs or statutory auditors for drawback shipping bills; the ICES BRC module will auto generate due dates, maintain pendency lists, permit three modes of BRC entry (specific BRCs, period negative statement, or listed pending S/Bs), and enable Customs to delete entries upon approval or recovery, thereby facilitating recovery action where export proceeds are not realized within the statutory period.

NOC requirement waived for factory-stuffed container BTT; exporters must notify jurisdictional excise/customs and provide acknowledgement.
The prior NOC requirement for Back to Town (BTT) of factory stuffed containers is dispensed with; exporters must intimate the jurisdictional Central Excise/Customs Commissionerates about such permissions and submit an acknowledged copy of that communication to the concerned AC/DC of Customs.