Assignment of Show Cause Notices: SCNs issued by DRI reassigned to Commissioner of Customs Mangalore for adjudication.
The Board, under Notification No.15/2002 Customs issued under subsection (1) of section 4 of the Customs Act, 1962, assigns the Show Cause Notices DRI/MRU/INVN/GSEC/48/2011 Kwr, Kand, and Mund dated 31.01.2013, issued by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Bangalore Zonal Unit in respect of GSEC Limited and others, to the Commissioner of Customs, Mangalore for adjudication, with copies directed to specified customs formations and the issuing office.

Assignment of show cause notices directs adjudication by Commissioner under a statutory notification under the Customs Act.
The Board assigns specific show cause notices to the Commissioner of Customs (Mulund CFS and General), New Custom House, Mumbai, for adjudication pursuant to the statutory notification under the Customs Act, directing that the Commissioner undertake adjudication of the listed matters and that copies of the assignment be provided to the relevant intelligence units and customs offices.

Light-dues liability: owners must declare and pay tonnage-based charges for deck and excluded spaces before port clearance.
Light-dues under the Lighthouse Act, 1927 are payable by the owner or master on arrival and departure and are recoverable by the Proper Officer; tonnage for assessment is determined per the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 and the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage Measurement of Ships) Rules, 1987, with open deck spaces and excluded spaces converted to tonnage by calculating cubic capacity and dividing by the prescribed factor. Owners, masters or agents must declare volumetric capacity and computed tonnage of deck cargo and other spaces not included in Net Tonnage, and if inadequate information is provided a Surveyor will determine tonnage with inspection costs borne by the owner or master. No port clearance will be granted until all light-dues are paid.

Verification of duty credit scrips via DGFT website enables electronic checks to speed customs clearance and reduce delays.
Verification of Chapter 3 duty credit scrips and EODCs is to be conducted via the DGFT Mumbai zonal office website, where details of EODCs issued by Western Zone offices and authorizations and duty credit scrips issued by Mumbai are posted, enabling direct electronic verification to reduce time, transaction cost, and delays in customs clearance and bond cancellation.

Authorised courier clearance: online real-time publication of customs queries enables AWB-based tracking and facilitation of consignment assessment.
Authorisation is given to a specified list of courier firms to clear consignments at the international airport. Customs will publish, in real time, queries raised during assessment on its website; users may enter an AWB number to view any query. Absence of information indicates no query. The online data is informational only and replies must be submitted through the authorised courier that filed the bill of entry.

Additional Duty refund: single monthly claim required; duplicate monthly refund filings in a month are disallowed under CBEC guidance.
Importers must present a single refund claim per month for Additional Duty levied under the Customs Tariff Act regardless of the number of Bills of Entry processed, and trade must comply with the CBEC Circular limiting refund filings to one claim per importer per month.

Sealed transport requirement for transit motor vehicles: self-powered clearance permitted for previously landed vehicles, sealed conveyance mandatory thereafter.
Vehicles landed before the specified cutoff were authorized to proceed to Nepal under their own power in relaxation of the Protocol provision, effective immediately. Vehicles landing after the cutoff must be transported only in sealed conveyances-railway wagons, marine containers, pilfer-proof container trucks, or other trucks capable of being sealed-to prevent visible tampering, with the choice of sealed mode at the importer's option.

Re-import of pets as baggage allowed subject to identity verification, health certificate and quarantine inspection requirements.
Re-import of pets as baggage is allowed only upon establishment of the pet's identity by Customs, production of the required health certificate from the country of export, and examination of the animal by the concerned Quarantine Officer at arrival; this re-import is not covered by Circular No. 15/2013 and Customs formations must issue Trade/Public Notices and standing orders to guide field officers, reporting any difficulties to the Board.

Constituent-material classification directs filter elements to be classified by material, not under the filter machinery heading.
The circular directs that elements of filters must be classified according to their constituent material rather than automatically as parts of filtering machinery; paper-based elements are classifiable in paper headings, textile technical elements in textile headings, glass or ceramic elements in their respective material headings, while the filters themselves remain within the filter machinery heading.

Risk Management System in exports enables clearance of low-risk consignments by self-assessment, guiding verification and audits.
The Risk Management System (RMS) for exports will process Shipping Bills filed through ICES to enable clearance of low risk consignments on self assessment, while selecting higher risk consignments for verification, physical examination, drawback scrutiny or Post Clearance Audit. RMS outputs shall direct Appraising, Examining and Audit officers; deviations from RMS instructions require prior Commissioner level authorization and recording of reasons. Implementation is phased, will modify existing assessment norms where RMS output is received, and necessitates staff reorganisation and creation of a PCA function.

Duty free shop operations at Visakhapatnam Port: bonded warehousing, escorted transfers, restricted foreign currency sales and audit controls.
Operation of the Duty Free Shop requires a Private Bonded Warehouse licence and a registered General Bond; all imported non-duty-paid goods must be received, transferred and warehoused only under Customs supervision with prescribed Into-Bond Bills of Entry or transfer bonds, endorsed duplicate/triplicate documentation, space certification, escort of goods, and detailed bond-register and stock-card entries. Removals to the DFS require quadruplicate transfer applications and Bond Officer escort; sales are limited to eligible international passengers and crew for payment in freely convertible foreign currency, supported by triplicate sale vouchers counter signed by the Bond Officer. Monthly statements, internal audit reconciliation, recovery of differential duty for unaccounted goods, and audit clearance for bond closure are mandated.

Duty free shop licensing and bonded procedures require supervised receipt, stock control, restricted sales and audit compliance.
Licensees must hold a Private Bonded Warehouse (PBWH) licence covering the Duty Free Shop and Main Bonded Warehouse, register a General Bond, pay cost recovery charges, and operate all receipts, transfers and sales of imported non-duty paid goods under Customs supervision. Receipts require into-bond Bills of Entry or prescribed transfer applications, escorted movement, inventorying and entries by Bond Officers. Transfers from MBWH to DFS use multi-copy applications and escorted removal; sales only to eligible international passengers/crew in approved foreign currency require serial triplicate sale vouchers and Bond Officer certification. Monthly statements, audits, register maintenance, double-locking and recovery of differential duty are mandatory; final closure follows audit clearance.

Recredit of SAD extended to allow use of re credited duty credit scrips for DEPB scrip utilisation under specified procedures.
Extension permits use of re credited SAD amounts in DEPB/Reward Scheme scrips until 30 September 2013; freely transferable duty credit scrips (including DEPB) are deemed revalidated for this purpose without further RA endorsement, and consolidated certificates issued by Customs within the cutoff are deemed to effect re crediting. Importers are advised to pay SAD in cash for expeditious refund because no re crediting will be allowed where payment is made by scrips.

Round-the-clock customs operation corrections: designated location amended to Kolkata and the commencement date revised accordingly.
Corrigendum to the Board Instruction on 24x7 Customs Operation at major ports and airports: paragraph 2(iii) is amended to read Kolkata instead of Bangalore, and paragraph 3's commencement date is revised; all other contents of the instruction remain unchanged and administrative officers are directed to note and implement these corrections.

Storage period in public warehouse limited to 30 days, extendable by the Commissioner in 30-day increments.
The amendment replaces the permission to store imported goods in a public warehouse with a limit that such storage shall be "for a period not exceeding thirty days in a public warehouse" and adds a proviso that the Commissioner of Customs may extend the period for further periods not exceeding thirty days at a time; stakeholders are informed for compliance and to report difficulties.

Customs Broker liability expanded: brokers now equally liable for authorised acts or omissions, increasing compliance obligations.
Amendments adopt the nomenclature Customs Brokers and make Customs Brokers equally liable for acts or omissions when expressly or impliedly authorised by an owner, importer or exporter in respect of goods for purposes of the Customs law; brokers must act professionally and negligence, deliberate mis-declaration or collusion will attract stringent action.

Direct movement of imports to CFS permitted under interim SMTP and bond procedure to reduce dwell time.
An interim procedure allows direct movement of goods from a Gateway Port to a CFS of another Customs Station pending ICES modification. Gateway Port Customs will transmit a consolidated CFS wise SMTP list electronically; goods move under a bond with duplicate SMTP hard copies to the CFS. The CFS custodian must prepare a daily arrival list and a Landing Certificate, obtain Customs endorsements, forward documents to the ICD and Gateway Port to enable re crediting the bond, verify consignments with surveyor/Customs, endorse SMTPs and send them to the ICD, where local IGM filing and B/E processing and clearance take place.

Transit declaration requirement: exporters must amend CTD to confirm non diversion and enable clearance after Treaty compliance.
A one time exception allows transit export consignments of third country goods from Nepal via Kolkata port to be cleared upon amendment of the CTD declaration to state the goods are for export from Nepal to countries other than India and will not be diverted or retained in India; clearance will follow once the CTD is amended and other procedures under the Treaty of Transit are satisfied. Future cases will be governed by bilaterally agreed amendments to the Memorandum to the Protocol of the Treaty of Transit and revised procedures.

Containerised cargo transhipment requires electronic manifests, bonded movement, seal verification, destination landing certification, and export shipping bill reconciliation.
Containerised import cargo transhipment to ICD Durgapur requires electronic manifest filing, transhipment permission, a continuing bond and applicable bank guarantee. The Container Cell processes permissions, while Customs verifies load and seal details and destination Customs certifies landing for restoration of bond and guarantee limits. Missing landing certificates result in enforcement of the running bond or guarantee. Export shipping bills processed at the ICD are verified at the gateway port; intact seals permit shipment without further examination, while seal discrepancies require full examination. Returned transference copies enable export confirmation and continuity-bond credit.

Transhipment procedure: bonded movement to ICD Durgapur requires ICEGATE IGM filing, transhipment bond and landing certificate.
Notice prescribes electronic IGM/Consol filing via ICEGATE for ICD Durgapur and sets out when IGM amendments require customs approval. It requires carriers to register a transhipment (TP) continuity bond, open PLA accounts for fee debits, and recognises 1st and 3rd party bonds and specified exemptions; custodians' existing guarantees may cover transhipment exposure. A Container Cell centrally processes transhipment permissions, carriers must present sealed documentation and lorry/rail receipts, and destination-certified landing certificates must be produced within the prescribed period to restore debited bond and guarantee limits, failing which enforcement follows.