Common Adjudicating Authority appointed; show cause notice reassigned for adjudication under delegated Customs Act powers.
The Board, invoking notifications under subsection (1) of section 4 of the Customs Act, assigns a specified show cause notice to the Commissioner of Central Excise (Adjudication) as the Common Adjudicating Authority, effecting an administrative reassignment that centralises adjudicatory responsibility and authorises the designated office to proceed with statutory adjudication.

Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme expanded to allow annual authorizations with Nexus Certificate compliance at import clearance.
The annual supplement and Handbook amend export promotion and customs rules: EPCG authorizations for annual requirements may be granted to eligible exporters without listing specific capital goods but must identify export products and require a Nexus Certificate from an independent Chartered Engineer at import clearance; Zero Duty EPCG and SHIS are extended and sector coverage broadened with clarification that SHIS scrips are not available in years when Zero Duty EPCG authorizations are issued; SFIS now permits professional service vehicles; Advance Authorization annual imports are exempt from anti dumping and safeguard duties; miscellaneous amendments adjust duties, duty free inputs and port notifications.

Transit bond discharge on receipt of verified re-warehousing certificate enables ex-bond clearance to SEZ units.
SEZ units procuring from bonded warehouses must submit a request, assessed warehouse bill of entry (seal cover), ex-bond shipping bill and a transit bond to the Bond Officer. Bond Department will scrutinise, accept the bond, endorse transfers in bond and SEZ registers, allow release on relevant documents, forward originals to the recipient SEZ or hand them to authorised representatives, retain duplicates, and monitor receipt and verification of Re-Warehousing Certificates to discharge and cancel the transit bond.

Food sample drawal procedure: random and risk based testing required for imported food items, with FSSAI test reports needed for clearance.
Procedure mandates risk-based and random sampling and testing of imported food products with FSSAI responsible for testing and clearance. A defined list of high-risk items requires 100% sampling; non-high-risk items face initial consecutive sampling and thereafter randomized testing where prior consignments conform. Non-conformity reinstates 100% checks. Imports must satisfy shelf-life and labelling conditions and obtain applicable statutory clearances. Appraising Groups order FSSAI testing and goods are released after FSSAI test reports/NOC, subject to limited interim release provisions for certain dry fruits pending reports.

Common Adjudicating Authority appointed to adjudicate customs show cause notice, assigning the case to the Commissioner of Central Excise (Adjudication).
The Board, exercising powers under the customs notifications issued under the Customs Act, assigns the show cause notice issued by the Additional Director General, DRI (Hqs), New Delhi in the matter of Shri Vineet Gupta and others to the Commissioner of Central Excise (Adjudication) I, New Customs House, New Delhi, for adjudication, thereby designating that office as the common adjudicating authority for the specified notice.

Prohibition on dumping in customs areas requires direct back to back transshipment and immediate customs clearance for bulk imports.
Large consignments of stone chips and bricks are prohibited from being dumped in the Agartala Land Customs Station Customs Area; such bulk imports must be moved directly from the foreign truck to the Indian truck on a back to back basis without temporary storage, and Customs officers must assess and grant clearance immediately after arrival, consistent with removal obligations following grant of Out of Customs Charge and permissions under Section 40.

EPCG annual authorizations expanded, requiring engineer nexus certification and clarifying interaction with status holder incentives.
The circular implements the FTP Annual Supplement by operationalising an Annual EPCG Authorization allowing Status Certificate holders and qualifying exporters to obtain authorizations for annual requirements under zero duty and 3% duty variants, requiring Nexus Certificates from independent Chartered Engineers at customs clearance. It extends and expands Zero Duty EPCG and SHIS to additional sectors, clarifies that SHIS scrips are not issued in years of Zero Duty EPCG authorization, permits certain professional vehicles under SFIS while excluding personal vehicles, allows AIIS transfers to units in recognised parks for cold chain imports (not park developers), exempts annual Advance Authorization imports from anti dumping and safeguard duties, and records various duty and tariff adjustments and port notifications.

Satellite phone licensing: undeclared or unpermitted devices must be declared and may be detained by customs.
Use of satellite phones in India requires a permission from DOT; arriving passengers must declare satellite phones in baggage to Customs, declared devices will be cleared only on production of such permission, and devices imported or used without DOT permission may be detained and prosecuted under the Telegraph Act.

Filing of Bill of Entry and IGM required for imported vessels even if duty-exempt; review and adjudication urged.
Vessels imported into India are statutory goods for import purposes and must comply with filing of the Import General Manifest (IGM), filing of the Bill of Entry, and payment of duty where applicable; these procedural requirements apply even when the vessels are exempt from duty. Jurisdictional Commissioners are instructed to review past non-compliance, initiate adjudication if warranted, and Chief Commissioners may seek appointment of a common adjudication authority from the Board.

Conversion of shipping bills: permitted between comparable export schemes if pre existing export documentation proves eligibility within prescribed conditions.
Commissioners of Customs may allow conversion of shipping bills between export promotion schemes on a case by case basis under section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962, provided documentary evidence existing at the time of export proves eligibility for the target scheme and subject to DGFT/MoC conditions. Requests must be made within three months of Let Export Order and satisfy conditions about input usage, shipping bill endorsements, scheme coverage and fulfilment, and absence of fraud or double claiming. Conversion of free shipping bills into EP scheme bills is not permitted, though All Industry Rate drawback may be allowed without conversion.

Accredited Customs Programme extended to Foreign Trade Policy status holders; eligibility and disqualification criteria clarified.
Accredited Customs Programme eligibility is amended to include Foreign Trade Policy status holders, who must also satisfy Paras 7(ii)-7(vii) and other Circular conditions. The ACP application form gains a field for FTP status category. Para 7(iii) is revised to specify categories of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax cases in the previous three financial years that disqualify applicants - including duty evasion by mis declaration or fraud, clandestine removal warranting confiscation, fraudulent claims for credits/refunds/benefits, collection not deposited with the exchequer, and non registration with intent to evade - and Chief Commissioners may report such cases to Risk Management Division even absent a show cause notice.

Indelible package marking requirement replaces stencil-only rule, mandates permanent non overwrite markings and case by case officer relief.
All packages presented for export must bear markings that are indelible and permanent in nature; no overwriting of numbers or markings is permitted. Existing conditions of the original notice remain in force, and any difficulties in complying may be referred to the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs for case by case decisions.

All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback revised effective 20.9.2010; updated rates, new entries and procedural clarifications for exporters.
Notification revises the All Industry Rates (AIR) of Duty Drawback effective 20.9.2010, recalculating rates and caps across tariff chapters based on input prices, SION, import shares and applied duties while factoring fuel and service tax incidence. It introduces new entries and adjusts many sectoral rates (textiles, leather, metals, machinery, bicycles, carpets etc.). It clarifies that the customs component of AIR remains available despite Central Excise rebate or procurement without excise duty, restricts drawback where DEPB benefits are actually availed at export, and relaxes jewellery examination requirements to other trained appraisers/superintendents.

Re-crediting of duty credit scrips: manual registration permitted to clear pending CVD refund claims under conditions.
Customs will allow manual registration of duty scrips re credited by DGFT based on consolidated certificates from Commissionerates and permit manual filing of Bills of Entry to utilize the re credited amount, limited to cases where the duty payable does not exceed the scrip balance; re credit is to be used for basic customs duty and CVD only and not to generate further re credits for the 4% CVD.

Special CVD refund: manufacturers claiming exemption cannot obtain refund; credit available only if excise paid.
Clarifies that Special CVD paid on imported inputs is eligible for CENVAT credit and can be utilized where the manufacturer pays excise duty on the final product; manufacturers availing full exemption for final products who do not pay excise duty cannot claim CENVAT credit or refund under the customs exemption notification, and refund is unavailable where the State VAT payment condition on inputs cannot be satisfied because inputs are consumed in manufacture.

Change of Customs House Agent notification required; department must be informed before filing, non-compliance treated as regulatory violation.
Whenever an importer or exporter changes its CHA, or a CHA accepts engagement from an importer/exporter, the change must be notified to the Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner, SIIB (Import) or (Export) before filing any import/export documents. New CHAs must obtain from the importer/exporter a letter stating earlier CHA details or that none existed and forward this with erstwhile CHA particulars to the department; importers/exporters must similarly intimate details of erstwhile and new CHAs prior to filing.

Signing correspondence with name and designation required; unnamed submissions may be returned or recorded with sender queried.
All departmental officers and trade members must include the name and designation (and telephone number if feasible) below the dated signature on all correspondence and replies; a Standing Order directs officers to do so, trade submissions filed personally without such identification may be returned for compliance, and mailed submissions lacking identification may be recorded while the sender is asked to furnish the required particulars.

Carrier agency verification required: unverified entities cannot transact after migration to the new ICES version.
Verification and updation of Carrier Agency directory entries is required for ICES 1.5 implementation: agencies must submit a filled form and attested documents to the EDI Help Desk at NCH, Mumbai; verification focuses on correctness of PAN (which is the system registration number) and other particulars, with no change permitted in PAN or entity name during verification; incorrect PAN requires fresh registration. Discrepancies will be communicated immediately, verified records will be posted daily, and unverified agencies will be unable to transact after migration.

Authorized Officers designated for imported food clearance under the Food Safety and Standard Act, coordinating with Customs for port clearance.
Designation of Authorized Officers under the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006 for imported food clearance at Mumbai Sea Port and JNPT is announced, naming Dr. S.K. Halder (Mumbai Sea Port) and Shri Ais Kumar (JNPT) with administrative commencement from 1 September 2010 and operational processing from 13 September 2010. These Authorized Officers will perform the functions of the Port Health Officer in coordination with Customs; during absence of one officer the other will discharge duties. Importers must obtain necessary clearance or no objection from the named officers, whose contact details are provided, and report implementation difficulties to the Commissioner of Customs.

Security deposit refund procedure revised: project import group will process refunds and direct CAO for RTGS disbursement.
Project Import group (Group VI) will directly process refunds of cash security deposits on project finalization, passing a Sanctioning Order and conducting pre-audit where required, then forwarding the Refund Order to the Chief Accounts Officer after defacing the security deposit challan; the CAO will prepare the cheque and effect transfer to the party's RTGS account, replacing prior centralised refund claims through the Central Refund Cell I and taking effect immediately.