Single bond requirement for exporters: consolidated surety bond authorises duty free clearance and job work movements.
A consolidated single bond (B-17) shall replace multiple bonds for 100% EOUs and units in EPZ/FTZ/STP/EHTP schemes to cover liabilities under Customs and Central Excise; only a surety bond is to be taken, executed before the Assistant Commissioner who issues a certificate authorising duty free clearance and job work movements, while existing annexure II procedures continue for domestic procurement and failure to receive rewarehousing certificates within ninety days triggers a demand notice procedure.

Rejection of declared value allows customs to question and set aside invoice value where reasonable doubt exists, with procedural safeguards.
Rule 10A authorises the proper officer to reject a declared transaction value when there is reason to doubt its truth or accuracy; the officer may seek further information and, if doubt persists, the value is treated as not determinable under the transaction value provisions. On request the officer must state grounds for doubt in writing and provide a reasonable opportunity to be heard before a final decision is taken.

Warehousing extension may be granted after expiry in exceptional circumstances, subject to the Chief Commissioner's discretionary assessment.
Section 61 allows extensions of the warehousing period by the Commissioner and Chief Commissioner; importers should apply before expiry. In exceptional circumstances the Chief Commissioner may grant post expiry extensions after assessing the exceptional circumstances, nature of the commodity, duty rates and risk of revenue loss, licensing aspects and related factors.

Running serial number requirement ensures circulars issued only after registration and record copies are submitted for administrative control.
All customs circulars, instructions and orders of a general nature must be issued only after obtaining a running serial number, with all Sections in the Customs, Drawback and Anti Smuggling Wings regularly sending instructions and clarifications to Chief Commissioners/Commissioners and relevant Board customs sections; two copies of each circular/instruction must be furnished to Customs III Section for record and duplicates sent to formations that did not receive the original.

Disposal of unclaimed cargo: sale after notice and valuation under Section 48 with auction and shared proceeds.
Imported goods lying unclaimed in Air Cargo Complexes may be sold under statutory disposal power after custodians prepare monthly lists of consignments older than 45 days, notify consignees and allow 15 days for Customs to withhold items. A valuation committee with custodian, government valuers and a Customs appraiser fixes reserve prices and segregates prohibited imports. Auctions are publicly advertised, conducted by government-approved auctioneers on a cum-duty basis with staged reserve reductions for unsold perishable and non perishable goods, and gross proceeds are shared 50:50 with custodians bearing sale-related costs.

Officer signature requirements: assessing officers must sign shipping bills in full and mark examination percentages precisely.
Assessing officers must sign shipping bills and bills of entry in full with their name, preferably by rubber stamp, to prevent forgery and allow later identification; final examination orders must precisely indicate the chosen examination percentage by striking out alternate figures. Suitable standing orders should be issued to implement these procedural requirements.

Examination of re-imported exhibition goods-single inspection to establish identity and allow expedited customs clearance.
Re-imported exhibition goods shall be examined only once for customs clearance: customs officers must rely on a single examination to establish identity and permit expeditious clearance from docks and cargo complexes, avoiding duplicate inspections by Appraisers and Assistant Commissioners that cause delay and additional handling costs.

Fraudulent diversion of ship stores: enforce strict clearance and escorting to prevent unlawful domestic diversion.
Fraudulent diversion of imported ship stores and spares cleared duty free from bonded warehouses occurred where mandatory clearance and escorting procedures were not followed; the Board directs strict adherence to prescribed clearance and escort requirements and issuance or reiteration of standing orders to departmental officers to prevent such diversion frauds.

Computer software exemption limited to interactive programs for automatic data processing machines; application specific software excluded.
Exemption under S. No. 173 of Notification No. 11/97-Cus. applies only to computer software recorded in machine readable form and capable of manipulation or providing interactivity via an automatic data processing machine falling under heading 84.71. Software solely for operation of machines performing specific non data processing functions, including telecom and medical application software, is not eligible. Interactive products such as encyclopedias, games and books qualify if they meet the interactivity criterion. Pending assessments should be finalised accordingly.

Duty-free import entitlement for accredited journalists extends to goods sent by post or authorised courier if conditions satisfied.
Accredited journalists may claim duty-free import under the Notification if they produce the prescribed certification and an undertaking; where goods arrive by authorised courier or Post the journalist qualifies as the importer and may avail the exemption, but goods carried in another passenger's baggage cannot be treated as imported by the journalist because that passenger is the importer.

Port-specific DEPB import permission via telegraphic release enables imports at designated other ports subject to TRA and recordkeeping.
DEPB scrips registered at the Hyderabad port of registration may be used for imports at designated other ports for imports only. The concession requires a Telegraphic Release Advice from the port of registration to the Customs House of import identifying goods description, quantity, value, DEPB serial number, issue date and duty entitlement, and the Customs House issuing the TRA must record the import details in a register.

Bank guarantee requirement for duty-free gold imports reduced to a fraction of gold value, easing securities for jewellery exporters.
Bonds for duty-free supply of gold to gem and jewellery exporters from nominated agencies shall be secured by a bank guarantee of 5% of the value of the gold (and not of the bond amount). This amendment modifies the specified paragraphs of the earlier circulars with immediate effect and is to be publicised by issue of a suitable public notice.

Additional customs staff requirement: prioritize cost recovery, then internal diversion, then redeployment proposals for approval.
Additional customs staff for new or expanded facilities at Airports, ACCs or FPOs must follow a three-tier procedure: seek cost recovery from the user party; if unsuccessful, examine diversion of staff within the Commissionerate; if still unresolvable, Chief Commissioner should propose redeployment or restructuring within existing manpower and forward a comprehensive proposal for administrative approval.

Special Valuation Branch procedures centralized; provisional assessments require investigation with strict timelines and reduced deposit obligation.
Centralisation requires SVBs at Chennai, Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai to handle related-person and complex valuation cases; registration for SVB investigation needs Commissioner approval. Assessment Groups will determine value without SVB reference where declared price aligns with transaction, deductive, or computed values or contractual conditions govern. Cases showing prima facie related-party influence, use of deductive/computed methods, or additions under Rule 9 (royalty/licence fees, proceeds of subsequent sale, conditional payments) may be referred to SVB after provisional assessment. Extra duty deposit is reduced to 1%; investigations must be finalised within three months of SVB registration, with monitoring by Commissioners.