Customs approval of an inland container depot authorises regulated loading and unloading of imports and exports under Customs control.
Approval is granted for the Inland Container Depot at Central Warehousing Corporation's Complex, Village Banthala and Loni (ICD Loni) as a place for loading export goods and unloading import goods under the Customs Act, subject to strict compliance with the Customs Act, rules, regulations and instructions of the Central Government and the Commissioner. The Commissioner specifies the Customs Area limits for ICD Loni comprising 26.927 acres with described perimeter demarcation, gates for container train entry/exit and a main gate, and operations within the area are subject to customs controls and administrative directions.

International transshipment of LCL containers: new Customs procedure mandates supervised de stuffing, segregation, sealing and custodial safeguards.
Procedure permits international transshipment of LCL cargo at approved premises under identified Custom Houses with manifesting and EDI fields to record container status and cargo movement codes. Customs must supervise unloading, seal inspection and resealing, de stuffing, segregation of consignments, re stuffing and sealing for export, and custodians must keep records, furnish a bond and prevent intermixing; transshipment is subject to statutory time limits and exclusions for prohibited or security sensitive goods.

Additional duty of customs (CVD) on raw asafoetida is not chargeable; raw imports treated as natural gums exempt from CVD.
Imports of asafoetida (heeng) in raw or natural form are not subject to additional duty of customs (CVD) because such goods are classified as natural gums and do not amount to a finished manufactured product; compounded asafoetida (powder or paste with extraneous matter) is covered by a central excise exemption, and after tariff alignment raw asafoetida remains not chargeable to central excise or CVD. Pending assessments should be finalised accordingly.

Risk Management System enables self assessed customs clearance with targeted selection and post clearance audit enforcement.
The Risk Management System (RMS) will process electronically filed Bills of Entry and IGMs in ICES to permit Out of Charge after duty payment for self assessed low risk consignments or to select entries for appraisal/examination based on risk parameters, intelligence or random sampling; concurrent audit is replaced by Post Clearance Audit. Accredited Clients receive facilitation but remain subject to CCRs and random selection. Importers/CHAs must ensure accurate annexure details, bond registration, requisite certificates and data quality to obtain facilitation.

Online transmission of DEPBs: DEPB number must be quoted on the bill of entry for duty payment under EDI.
An online processing regime for DEPBs under Customs EDI enables electronic receipt from DGFT, online validation and availability for importers, while importers must temporarily produce hard copies to the designated DEPB officer before use; DEPBs received online must have the DEPB number quoted on the bill of entry for duty payment, with the new procedure applying to DEPBs issued on or after 12th March, 2007 and earlier DEPBs following existing procedures.

Online transmission of DEPBs now requires verification and DEPB numbers on Bills of Entry, with temporary hard copy production.
Introduction of an online transmission and verification mechanism for DEPB credits at Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House; DEPBs received online will undergo prescribed validation checks by the DEPB Verification Section and details published on the designated website. Temporarily, importers must produce hard copies of online-issued DEPBs before use. For DEPBs received online, the DEPB number must be quoted on the Bill of Entry when used for duty payment; the prior manual verification procedure continues for earlier-issued DEPBs. Difficulties may be reported to the department.

Quarantine referral requirement: Customs must obtain a quarantine no objection before clearing livestock and livestock products.
All consignments of livestock and livestock products must be referred to Quarantine authorities before Customs clearance and detained until a no objection is received from the animal quarantine officer regardless of any Sanitary Import Permits; destruction or re-export directed by quarantine officers must be carried out and custodians may auction uncleared consignments only after a custodial NOC based on quarantine no objection.

Duty Drawback Rate Revision seeks industry input on input consumption, duties and service tax for annual rate recalculation.
The Department requests industry submissions to revise All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback for 2007-08 by providing detailed proformas that itemise input materials (domestic and imported), quantities used, excise and customs duties paid, domestic and export sales and FOB realisations, company cost sheets, and a company-level service tax break up; entries must be relatable to actual export activity and auditor-certified where specified, and must be furnished by the prescribed deadline to the stated e-mail.

Secondary and Higher Education Cess introduced; customs and excise tariffs restructured and CENVAT credit rules amended.
A 1% Secondary and Higher Education Cess is levied on aggregate customs, excise and service tax duties with specified exclusions and CENVAT creditability; major customs tariff reductions, sectoral duty adjustments, and targeted export duties are announced; central excise measures include new exemptions, revised rates, RSP based assessment expansion, dual cement rates and increased SSI threshold; procedural amendments revise valuation (transaction value basis), refund relevant dates, Settlement Commission eligibility and timelines, CENVAT credit conditions and job work valuation, with specified effective and transitional provisions.

Export characterization of DTA supplies to SEZs requires ARE 1/Bill of Export and proof for duty exemption.
Procurement from DTA by SEZ units and developers is governed by Rule 30 of the SEZ Rules, 2006: movements to SEZ must be on ARE 1 (or ARE 1 plus Bill of Export where entitlements are claimed) and against a general Bond or Letter of Undertaking furnished by the DTA supplier. The Domestic Procurement Certificate requirement is dispensed with. Proof of admittance into the SEZ must be furnished by the authorised customs officer within the prescribed period, failing which duty is to be demanded from the DTA supplier, who remains liable for duty, penalty and interest in cases of loss, diversion or fraudulent proof.

Customs duty exemption for government imports clarified; follow circular guidelines and report implementation difficulties.
The notice reiterates that government imports qualify for a customs duty exemption under the Customs Act subject to the procedural conditions and documentation set out in the referenced circulars; importers and intermediaries must apply the circular's instructions and report any implementation difficulties to the customs commissioner while trade associations and agents are required to disseminate the guidance among their members.

Amendment non-retroactivity: changed warehousing conditions do not apply to goods warehoused before amendment, per departmental clarification.
An amendment to the Customs Act altering the terms under which goods remain warehoused shall not apply to the goods warehoused prior to the amendment; earlier Board instructions based on a Law Ministry advisory are modified to this extent following acceptance of High Court interpretations that the reduced warehousing period is not retrospective.

Security deposit under Customs Act may be dispensed; officers must ensure statutory departure conditions and recover dues.
The Board directs discontinuance of the routine collection of small security deposits from foreign and coastal vessels as a trade facilitation measure, relying instead on recovery of duty, charges and penalties through existing statutory recovery and attachment mechanisms; proper officers must still ensure compliance with Section 42 conditions before permitting a conveyance to depart.

Abolition of produce cess laws ends export cess requirement for covered commodities; exporters exempt from paying cess.
The Produce Cess Laws (Abolition) Act repeals the Agricultural Produce Cess Act, 1940 and the Produce Cess Act, 1966 subject to specified savings; exporters need not pay cess on exports of commodities formerly covered by those Acts and trade stakeholders are directed to note the repeal and resulting exemption.

Electronic transmission of DEPBs removes port verification requirement, with online validation and DEPB number required on bill of entry.
Electronic transmission of shipping bills and DEPBs exempts such DEPBs from Customs verification at EDI ports; DEPBs received online will be subject to prescribed electronic validation and made available on the portal. Temporarily, importers must present hard copies to the designated officer until procedures stabilise. For online DEPBs the DEPB number must be quoted on the bill of entry for duty payment. Commissioners shall implement the instructions from a specified date in consultation with the Directorate General of Systems; the prior procedure remains for DEPBs issued before that date and for manually received DEPBs at non-EDI stations.

Customs duty exemption limited: ad-hoc relief only for narrow security, defence, or disaster imports; budgetary provision required.
Ad-hoc customs duty exemptions are limited to narrowly defined cases: secret or strategic government imports; defence and defence R&D imports; and, only in exceptional unforeseeable security situations, police and para-military equipment when no budget provision for duty could be made. Customs duty is not dispensable; routine functional imports and project-related imports by governments, autonomous bodies, municipalities, or public undertakings must be funded through their budgets. Relief and rehabilitation imports in unforeseen disasters are an exception and will be considered on merits. Ministries are directed not to forward inappropriate exemption requests.

Execution and attestation of bonds: ensure proper signing and independent witnessing to validate bond obligations.
Execution requires signing, sealing and delivery as the formal completion of a deed; attestation means a witness signs after seeing the executant execute or after receiving personal acknowledgment. A party to the instrument cannot serve as attesting witness. Administrative requirement: bonds and guarantees must be properly signed and attested, with executants and witnesses being distinct persons to prevent disputes over surety liability.

Testing requirement for stainless steel exports: exporters must provide sample test reports to obtain nickel-content dependent drawback.
Exporters claiming drawback under sub. sl. No. 732301 for stainless steel household articles must submit analytical test reports at assessment or examination because drawback varies with nickel content; proof of submission for factory-drawn samples must be shown to staff, and exporters must cooperate with sample drawal in dock stuffing. Assessing and export-shed staff will require test reports and issue proper examination orders; drawback benefit will not be allowed without constituent analysis.

Realization of Export Proceeds: exporters must produce bank realization evidence or face recovery under drawback rules.
Exporters receiving drawback must file an undertaking to submit a Bank Realization Certificate for the relevant consignment within six months of export (or any period extended under FEMA); if they fail to submit the BRC or surrender the drawback, the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner shall issue a notice demanding repayment of the drawback amount under Rule 16(A) of the Drawback Rules.

Import controls: Drugs allowed only through designated ports, with quality checks and name verification required before clearance.
Importation of pharmaceutical products is permitted only through specified designated entry points for rail, road, sea and air, and ports not listed are not to be used for drug imports. Field authorities at ports and airports and health ministry officers are to be employed to support quality control checks, and customs formations must seek clarification when there is uncertainty about a medicine's chemical name versus its generic name before clearance.