Exports: higher duty drawback AIRs may be claimed via exporter self-declaration, effective from 1.7.2017 and included in EDI shipping bill.
The requirement for a GST officer certificate under Note and Condition 12A of Notification No.131/2016-Cus (N.T.) has been removed and replaced with an exporter self-declaration (format to be included in the EDI shipping bill) for claiming higher All Industry Rates of duty drawback; this change is to apply retrospectively from 1.7.2017. Exports with let export order after 1.7.2017 must use the self-declaration; goods cleared before 1.7.2017 with later export orders remain governed by the prior Note and Condition 12 requirements.

Electronic filing for re-export under Section 74 required; officers must record identification and use findings before LEO.
Re-exports under Section 74 must be filed electronically through the EDI system; manual shipping bill procedures are discontinued. Export examination officers must establish identification of goods and determination of use by physical and documentary verification, record findings in the "Departmental Comments" field before issuance of LEO, and perform examination even if RMS applies. Drawback claims will follow existing re export drawback rules and be filed under the interim scheme/designation until a separate scheme code is provided.

Courier authorisation and strict KYC determine eligibility for courier clearance, with misdeclared consignments subject to detention and reassessment.
Assessment and clearance under the CEDPR, 2010 is limited to goods/documents transported by air by a registered Authorised Courier engaged in international door to door delivery; customs agents/brokers do not qualify. Authorised Couriers must obtain consignor and consignee authorisations after prescribed due diligence and KYC and produce them at assessment; consignments failing regulatory definitions for documents, gifts or samples, or misdeclared consignments, must be detained, reassessed, and may be seized and adjudicated. Courier charges must be included in CIF/assessable value when determining exemption eligibility. Supervisory examinations, audits and reporting obligations are mandated to ensure compliance.

RMS Facilitation Centre establishment centralises handling of RMS facilitated Bills of Entry to enhance trade facilitation.
Creation of a RMS Facilitation Centre at NCH, Mumbai, Zone I with immediate effect to process RMS facilitated Bills of Entry for all Commissionerates. Five officers are posted to run the Centre alongside existing charges, with two appraisers allocated counter responsibilities by Customs Tariff Heading ranges (CTH 01-71 and CTH 72-99). The postings are approved by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs.

AEO programme digitization enables online filing and processing of authorisation applications and extends review intervals.
CBIC has launched an online portal for AEO programme digitization to permit electronic filing of AEO T1 applications and online processing and issuance of AEO certificates by Customs officials, with trade urged to adopt the platform and report difficulties to the AEO Cell; the circular also extends the interval for review and onsite PCA of AEO T1 certified entities to three years, changing the monitoring cycle.

Redemption Certificate submission required for bond cancellation and clearance; scheme-specific documents and special submission drive announced.
Submission of original Redemption Certificate/EODC is required for cancellation of Bonds/Bank Guarantees and clearance of consignments for Advance, EPCG and DFIA licence holders; a special submission drive is organized and scheme-specific documentary checklists are prescribed, with presentation of evidence of export obligation fulfilment to avoid initiation of Customs Act penalty proceedings.

Monthly disposal reporting requires members to submit bench-wise appeal statements, counting only orders personally dictated and files sent to registry.
Members must submit a Monthly Disposal Statement to the President by the fifth day of the succeeding month, recording only orders personally dictated in Division Benches and confined to files sent to the Registry as on the last working day after signature on the green sheet. The prescribed template requires bench-wise fields for orders dictated, orders reserved, reserved orders pronounced, member names (for DB), subtotals, and a grand total.

Language requirement: File appellate documents in English; non-English materials must be translated and certified before transmission.
All documents in appellate proceedings before the Tribunal must be filed in English because the Tribunal's language is English and records sent to the Supreme Court must be in English; where records are in another language, they must be translated and the translation certified by a departmental officer not lower than Superintendent. This requirement applies to appeals and related proceedings, including applications and cross-objections, to enable transmission of records to the Supreme Court on requisition.

Customs Post Clearance Audit expands statutory audit scope; risk based selection and premises audits increase compliance oversight.
Customs Post Clearance Audit is now governed by a statutory framework under Section 99A and the Customs Audit Regulations, 2018, expanding the definition of Auditee to include custodians, warehouse licensees, customs brokers and others involved in clearing, forwarding or stocking. The regime prescribes Transaction Based Audit and Premises Based Audit, allows risk based and theme based selection by the Board, broadens assessment review to declared entries and self assessment, and establishes Audit Commissionerates and governance arrangements for coordination, monitoring and replication of detections.

EGM compliance required: timely online filing and gateway-local integration to enable automated IGST export refunds.
Automated IGST export refunds are delayed by EGM errors-late/non-filing of local or gateway EGMs, mismatches between them, and absent stuffing reports for consolidated LCL cargo. Custodians and carriers must file EGMs online and maintain container-wise tally sheets linking previous and new containers; preventive officers must enter stuffing reports and use ICES amendment options to correct C/N errors. Field officers should obtain re-stuffing particulars from shipping agents and custodians to enable revalidation or supplementary EGMs. Persistent non-compliance may attract penalties, while facilitation is permitted for timely rectifications.

Electronic Data Interchange implementation at a land customs station mandates EDI filing and limited after hours clearances with conditions.
Implements ICES 1.5 EDI at Darranga Land Customs Station, requiring all statutory import/export declarations to be filed and processed electronically under an adopted Standard Operating Procedure; normal operating hours are prescribed, with clear limits on holiday and after-hours clearances except for emergencies or perishable cargo subject to Merchant Overtime Fee payment. Designated grievance and technical helpdesk contacts and system managers are identified for trade support.

Car Pass system extended to additional land customs stations, requiring existing procedural compliance and operationalisation.
The Car Pass system is extended to Manu, Bholaganj, Muhurighat, Mahendraganj and Mankachar Land Customs Stations; the procedural framework prescribed in Facility No. 02/2011 and Facility No. 04/2015, as amended by subsequent notices, must be followed at these LCSs and operationalisation may be initiated pursuant to the 12th Joint Group of Customs decision between India and Bangladesh.

Container Scanning Procedure requires scan, clean image and BE facilitation before Out-of-Charge is issued for selected containers.
Containers selected for scanning at the Drive Through Scanner or fixed scanners must be scanned with a clean image and have the Bill of Entry facilitated before Customs issues Out of Charge. DPD CFS importers must bring containers to the operational scanner or follow the "NOT SCANNED AT FIXED SCANNER" protocol when a scanner is down; DPD DPD importers generally must use their nominated CFS unless specifically authorised (e.g. AEO T 2/T 3) and follow advance delivery order and Customs permission procedures. Suspicious images trigger CSD endorsement and physical examination.

Direct Port Delivery and Entry extended to Balmer Lawrie CFS enabling continuous rail movements with prescribed customs verification and reporting.
A 24x7 Direct Port Delivery (DPD) and Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility is established at a designated area within M/s Balmer Lawrie CFS, Kolkata, for rail movements to decongest ports. Export procedures require ICEGATE Shipping Bill checklists, REID-scanner verification of seal integrity, ICES registration, RMS-directed inspections and re-sealing, issuance of LEO and movement by rail with shipping bill and gate pass. Balmer Lawrie is custodian, must provide verification and inspection facilities, publish tariffs, avoid extra charges, facilitate examinations, submit monthly DPD/DPE reports and bear terminal charges arising from its delays.

Kachha Bill of Entry processing: system appraisal, online duty payment, specified inspection and Out-of-Charge rules for urgent imports.
Processing of Kachha Bill of Entry (KBE) at Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata, prescribes that eligible urgent or special consignments be filed as Prior BE and be system appraised on declared contents with automated challan generation; online duty payment is required before out-of-charge. IFOs shall scan all packages and inspect a five percent random sample, verifying IGM/flight and requisite certificates. The shed Superintendent grants Out-of-Charge on verification of declarations and original documents, with manual night releases allowed pending next day system regularisation. All KBEs are audited within three days and round-the-clock processing is permitted except scheduled downtime.

IGST validation rectification extended, permitting officer interface corrections and refund processing with matching invoice requirements.
Extension permits Customs officers to correct specified IGST validation errors and to process refund claims via the officer interface in ICES for shipping bills filed up to 15.11.2018; exporters must ensure invoice details in GSTR 1 match shipping bill entries, and operational issues should be reported to local EDI/customs formation or [email protected].

IGST revised refund processing now lets officers enter the total revised IGST per invoice for eligible shipping bills.
An option in the DBK_AC role permits processing revised IGST refunds for Shipping Bills previously scrolled with amounts lower than eligible IGST under Board Circular No.40/2018; it excludes cases of short shipment or composite-rate drawback. Officers see IGST per invoice from the Shipping Bill and GSTR 1, must enter the total revised IGST per invoice after verifying the exporter's RRR, and the system will calculate and generate scrolls for the differential amount, with separate temporary and final revised scroll categories.

Online goods registration via ICEGATE enables importers and CHAs to register eligible consignments after duty payment.
Importers and CHAs may apply for goods registration online via the ICEGATE portal for all eligible BES after payment of applicable duties and arrival of goods at the Customs Station; ICEGATE will display specific errors for ineligible or not-ready BES. A new STA-role report lists BES successfully registered online for further Customs action, and implementation difficulties may be reported to local EDI/Customs formation and the ICEGATE support email.

Digital submission of export documents enabled nationwide; exporters must retain originals for five years and produce on demand.
Implementation of eSANCHIT extends uploading of digitally signed export documents to all ICES locations nationwide; authorized persons must submit digitally signed electronic integrated Shipping Bills and may omit routine hard copies, but must retain original supporting documents for five years from acceptance and produce them on demand to Customs or other government agencies in connection with proceedings under the Customs Act or other law.

Re-importation exemption compliance: pre-filing surrender of export benefits and intimation required to secure customs relief.
Importers claiming duty exemption on re-imported goods must, before filing an advance or prior bill of entry, surrender the export incentives and submit intimation to the AC/DC of Customs and the licensing authority, produce dated acknowledgement, and upload proof in e-sanchit; if unable to comply they may file without claiming exemption. Where exemptions are claimed, first-check need not be used and identity may be established under second check, but mis-declaration or variation can lead to denial of exemption and penal action.