Failure to remit collected inland air travel tax now attracts imprisonment and corporate officer liability under new statutory provisions.
Insertion of offences for Inland Air Travel Tax makes it a punishable act when a carrier collects the tax but fails to remit it to the Central Government, with imprisonment and fine prescribed. Corporate-liability provisions deem the company and persons in charge liable, subject to a defence of lack of knowledge or due diligence; officers shown to have consented, connived or been negligent are also criminally liable. "Company" includes firms and partners are treated as directors. The provisions apply prospectively and permit the Central Government to take action against defaulting carriers, with directions for public notice.

Change of port authorization allows customs to permit alternate shipment ports pending certificate amendment, subject to later ratification.
Customs will permit change of port in EDI Shipping Bills and invoices for hosiery exports on an exporter's request pending AEPC certificate amendment, with subsequent AEPC ratification; Customs Houses must issue Public Notices and Standing Orders and report implementation difficulties to the Board.

DEPB benefit entitlement allowed where only minimal preservative use is shown; pending scrip verifications to be completed promptly.
Where investigations conclusively establish no use of chemicals or preservatives, adjudication proceedings shall continue; where evidence shows only a meagre percentage of such use, exporters otherwise eligible shall be permitted the DEPB benefit and all pending DEPB scrip verifications, registrations and provisional assessments for those cases must be completed immediately, with administrative guidance and trade notice to be issued.

Filing of Bill of Entry via floppy now requires submission in revised ICES version three format; accurate data prevents rejection.
Filing of Bills of Entry is authorised through floppy submission to the ICES system in revised Version 3 format using the file layout set out in the annexure; submissions must be made at the designated service centre. Strict compliance with prescribed field lengths and validation checks is mandatory and noncompliant floppy data will be rejected, so traders must ensure accurate programming of data to enable expeditious processing.

Classification of Magnetic Accupressure Systems: reclassified as bed articles under tariff heading, change prospective only.
Magnetic accupressure mattresses, quilts and pillows are to be classified as bed articles under heading 94.04 rather than as massage apparatus under 90.19, because they lack an ability to actively vary pressure sites and depend on user movement; WCO opinion accepted by the Board. The reclassification is prospective from this circular's date, while assessments of Bills of Entry filed between the earlier circular's issue and this revised circular remain under the earlier classification; field formations must follow the Board circular and issue public notices.

Currency prohibition on a specified high-denomination Indian note requires customs to warn travellers and display notice at entry points.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs directs customs units to publicize a Nepalese Gazette prohibition on possession, sale, import and export of Indian currency notes of the 1000-denomination, to prominently display notices at airports and Land Customs Stations, to advise travellers to Nepal about the prohibition and prescribed documentation requirements, and to acknowledge receipt of the circular.

Relinquishment of title under Customs Act frees importer from duty but not accrued interest on that duty.
Amendment to Section 68 permits the owner of warehoused goods to relinquish title before clearance upon payment of rent, interest, other charges and penalties, and on such relinquishment the owner is not liable to pay customs duty. The term "interest" in the proviso refers to interest on other dues like warehouse charges and rent, not to interest accrued on customs duty up to the date of relinquishment.

Administrative control of EOUs shifted to local Central Excise to streamline permits and trade facilitation.
Administrative control of EOUs in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is transferred to the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise, and all work concerning those EOUs shall be handled exclusively by Central Excise staff posted locally; this modifies the earlier circular to that extent and requires public notice and reporting of implementation difficulties.

Correction to customs circular cross-reference clarifies conversion procedure for shipping bills between export promotion schemes.
Amendment to Department of Revenue Circular No. 40/2003-Cus.: in paragraph 3 the words and figures "vide para 4(i)" are corrected to read "vide para 4(ii)", clarifying the cross-reference that governs conversion of free shipping bills into advance Licence/DEPB/DFRC/drawback shipping bills between export promotion schemes.

Conversion of shipping bills permitted subject to commissioner discretion and no fraud, preserving eligibility for export promotion schemes.
Conversion of free shipping bills into Advance License/DEPB/DFRC/Drawback shipping bills and conversions between export promotion schemes may be permitted by the Commissioner on merits, subject to the conditions in Para 4(a),(b) and (c) of the earlier circular and the additional requirement that the exporter has not availed benefit of any export promotion scheme and that no fraud, suspected manipulation, or investigations have been initiated regarding those exports.

Tariff value notification authenticity: disregard unverified private-site notices and rely only on departmental notifications online.
The Board directs officers to disregard a circulated fake notification revising the tariff value of Crude Soyabean Oil published on private websites and to give effect only to notifications published on the Departmental websites and in the Gazette; the last valid tariff-value notification remains the one previously issued by the Board.

Anti-dumping duty on raw silk: clearance allowed pending grade testing with a bank-guaranteed test bond to avoid delays.
Imposition of anti-dumping duty on imported raw silk of specified lower grades from China requires regular grade verification due to reports of misdeclaration. Customs may clear consignments before test reports are available if the importer provides a test bond with a Bank Guarantee, balancing timely clearance with revenue protection and retrospective adjustment if testing reveals liable grades.

Stock transfer treated as DTA clearance entitling EOUs to concessional duty, valuation governed by Customs valuation rules.
Stock transfers by EOUs to DTA units are covered by paragraph 6.8 of the Exim Policy and Appendix 14-IH, and thus qualify for concessional duty under the relevant notification; intra-company stock transfers are treated equivalently to DTA sales for this purpose. Valuation of such clearances must follow Section 14 of the Customs Act and the Customs Valuation Rules, 1988, taking related party status into account. Notification No.2/95-CE has been superseded by No.23/2003-CE which broadens the wording to "brought to any place in India."

Custodian bond requirement amended: bond based on average duty for stored goods with limited guarantee; government undertakings exempt.
Custodian bond obligations for EPZs/ICDs/CFSs are revised to require a bond equal to the average duty on goods likely to be stored for thirty days, supported by a bank guarantee, Government bond or cash deposit equal to a portion of that duty; Central and State Government undertakings are exempt from furnishing the supporting bank guarantee or cash deposit.

Export fraud: forged supervision reports used to misdeclare coloured water as printing ink to obtain DEPB benefits via false exports.
Export transactions were manipulated to secure undue benefits under the DEPB scheme by falsely presenting coloured water as industrial printing ink and using forged documents purporting Central Excise supervision. Containers were held in local storage and later stuffed at peripheral yards with coloured water misdeclared as printing ink, and forged examination reports were used to substantiate export consignments and obtain shipping clearance.

Verification of supplementary DEPB scrips: re verification waived where original DEPB was Customs verified; full verification required otherwise.
Where the original DEPB scrip was duly verified by Customs when imports were cleared, re verification of the supplementary DEPB scrip need not be done; Customs shall cross check the supplementary scrip's references to the original DEPB and export consignments against records and verify genuineness before allowing import clearance. If the original DEPB was not verified, Customs must perform detailed verification of the supplementary scrip under the established verification procedure prior to permitting imports under the DEPB Scheme.

Custodian infrastructure requirement: custodians must provide EDI-ready computerization and secure financial sanction before staff cost recovery posts are notified.
Custodians must provide adequate infrastructure for computerization and link with Customs EDI, with existing facilities given a transitional period to upgrade; financial sanction for creation of cost recovery posts must precede the Commissioner's notification of ICDs/CFSs, and authorities should issue Public Notices or Standing Orders to inform stakeholders and acknowledge receipt.

Administrative control of ICDs/CFSs now vests with territorial Commissioners of Customs or, where none, Commissioners of Central Excise.
Administrative control of ICDs/CFSs is vested in territorial Commissioners of Customs, and where an ICD/CFS lies outside any Customs commissioner's territory, control is assigned to the territorial Commissioner of Central Excise; specified ICDs are allocated to named Central Excise commissioners and affected parties must issue Public Notices/Standing Orders, report implementation difficulties to the Board, and acknowledge receipt.

Waiver of interest may apply when re exported capital goods are defective and unfit for installation or use.
Requests for waiver of interest in cases of re export of capital goods may be considered favourably where, on clearance, those goods are found defective or sub standard and therefore would not be installed, commissioned or used; Chief Commissioners are to consider and decide such requests in light of Board guidance relating to extension of warehousing periods and re export permissions.

Administrative control over export units assigned to customs in ports; cost recovery or MOT option governs officer services.
Administrative control over EOUs, EHTP and STP units in port-city territories is vested with the Commissioner of Customs, while units elsewhere remain under the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise; Bangalore Customs is excepted. Special Economic Zones are under the jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs. EOUs/EHTP/STP units may choose between cost recovery charges or paying Merchant Over Time (MOT); units opting out must notify within the prescribed period and will pay MOT even for work during office hours. Officers in cost-recovery posts will continue until promoted to permanent cadre posts, and units must bear charges while those posts exist.