CVD exemption restricted to garment-manufacturing machines; erroneous extensions must be corrected and duties promptly demanded.
CVD exemption under the Zero Duty EPCG Scheme is confined to machines directly used in the manufacture or processing of textile garments (including knitwear); machines used only for fabric processing do not qualify. Where the exemption was wrongly extended to fabric-processing machines, show-cause notices demanding CVD should be issued and provisional assessments finalised denying the exemption, with the Board to be informed of action taken.

Baggage rules: tourists may import personal effects duty free without passport endorsement per prescribed conditions.
Customs must not endorse passports for imports of tourists' personal effects because the Baggage Rules contain no provision for passport endorsement; tourists may clear permitted personal effects and travel souvenirs duty free subject to the conditions and limits set out in the Baggage Rules and accompanying guidance on the definition of personal effects.

Misdeclaration of rice consignments requires inspection to enforce OGL broken-rice standard and prevent circumvention by importers
The Board directs that all rice consignments be opened and physically examined to detect misdeclaration where first-class (unbroken) rice is declared as broken to qualify under the Open General Licence; inspections must verify conformity with the OGL standard requiring a minimum proportion of broken rice, and standing instructions should be issued to field officers, with implementation difficulties reported to the Board.

Degree equivalence for CHA licence: certificates and diplomas not accepted unless university explicitly declares equivalence.
Certificates or diplomas shall not be accepted as equivalent to a degree for CHA licence examination eligibility unless the concerned university explicitly declares such equivalence; notably, Certificates of Competency for Master Mariner and Master of a Foreign Going Ship are not to be considered degree-equivalent.

Duty-free import procedures for EOUs and allied units simplified, delegating re-export and clearance powers to Assistant Commissioner.
Amendments align Customs and Central Excise permissions with the Exim Policy and simplify procedures for EOUs and EPZ/STP/EHTP units by delegating clearance of used packing materials and non-capital goods to the Assistant Commissioner, harmonising delegation for re-export of imported goods to the Assistant Commissioner, removing Development Commissioner recommendation requirements for spares/fuels/lubricants for captive power, adjusting procurement/import recommendation levels for captive power plants, removing sample quantity restrictions for certain units, and revising agro-processing eligibility so agro-processing units in bonded areas may operate under the EOU scheme.

Clearance and exchange rules for Gem & Jewellery units enable duty adjusted debonding and conditional duty free packing disposal.
Amendments allow Gem & Jewellery units in EOUs/EPZs/Jhandewalan to clear used packing materials into DTA duty free under Assistant Commissioner conditions; to clear capital goods into DTA on duty payable on depreciated value with depreciation from commercial production and option to debond under the EPCG scheme; to temporarily clear parts and tools for repair without duty on undertaking and conditions; and to exchange plain hand made gold, silver or platinum jewellery for bullion of identical purity and weight, subject to prescribed conditions and without wastage allowance or deemed export benefits to the DTA supplier.

Drawback document fabrication: verification and authentication measures required to prevent fraudulent export claim payments.
Fraudulent procurement of export drawback involved forged export certificates, bills of lading, bank attested invoices, insurance certificates, fabricated deficiency memos, counterfeit bank seals and signatures, and use of fictitious firms or another firm's IEC code to divert payments; customs administrations are directed to verify exporter identity, authenticate bank endorsements, scrutinise originals, control handling of returned deficiency memos, and coordinate across Customs Houses to prevent recurrence.

Import price floor enforcement: duty recovery and penal action where advance-licensed steel imports are diverted to domestic market.
Where iron and steel items imported under advance licences at prices below DGFT-declared floor prices are diverted into the domestic market before fulfilling export obligations, customs must recover duty at the declared floor prices and initiate penal proceedings under Section 111(O) of the Customs Act. Normal imports without diversion should be debited to the advance licence on the actual import price if otherwise in order.

Unclaimed cargo disposal: auction proceeds to be shared between port authorities and customs; custodians must submit consignment accounts.
Auction disposal is mandated for unclaimed and uncleared cargo received up to 31 December 1998 to reduce port congestion; proceeds are provisionally shared 50:50 between port authorities and Customs. Custodians must submit consignment wise accounts after disposal so that full duty collectible under section 150(2) of the Customs Act, 1962 is recovered from the disposal value; the 50:50 split is interim and subject to final statutory accounting.

Condonation of delay in filing brand rate applications allowed after refund or drawback claim rejection, permitting a short extension to apply.
The Ministry permits relaxation of time limits for filing Brand Rate applications where a Central Excise refund claim is rejected or revoked, or where a drawback claim filed after the ordinary filing period is rejected or subsequently revoked and recovered; in such cases the competent authority may allow a limited extension from the date of rejection or recovery to enable filing of Brand Rate applications, and these scenarios are added to the annexure of the prior condonation circular.

Export cess double charging barred; levy must be single and depend on whether goods are primary or processed.
Export cess on processed fruits and vegetables must not be collected more than once; double charging by treating the same item as both primary and processed is impermissible. The rule requires that cess be collected only once: under the primary-product cess framework if the item is a primary product, or under the processed-food export cess framework if the item is a processed product, and field formations must uniformly follow this practice.

Conversion of shipping bills into drawback bills may be authorised by local customs without Board referral, even if reports were not received.
The Board has decided that all cases of conversion of Free/DEEC shipping bills into Drawback shipping bills, whether or not factual reports were received by the Board, shall be dealt with by the respective Customs Houses at their own level in accordance with the prior delegation of powers to Jurisdictional Commissioners.

Additional duty equal to excise: imported colour televisions with MRP on package attract specific screen-size based CVD rates.
The concession in S.No.225 sub clause (i) of Notification No.5/99 CE is not applicable to imported Colour Television sets with MRP affixed on the package when the MRP was not affixed by the importer. In such cases the importer bears responsibility under Rule 33 of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977 and CVD must be calculated under Section 3(1) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, applying the highest excise rate and the specific screen size based rates provided in sub clause (ii) of S.No.225.