Rebate of Terminal Excise Duty: exporters under Advance Licence may claim rebate even when inputs were duty-free.
Exporters under the Advance Licence Scheme are precluded from claiming rebate of excise duty paid on input materials but may claim rebate of terminal excise duty paid on finished goods exported under Rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002. Corrigenda were issued to correct inadvertent drafting errors in Advance Licence notifications so as to restore the longstanding distinction that barred input-duty rebate while permitting terminal-duty rebate. Payment of terminal duty by cash or CENVAT credit remains acceptable and, where paid, is refundable on export under Central Excise law.

Customs duty reductions on specified industrial inputs and project imports take effect, easing import taxation and expanding project import coverage.
Notification No. 6/2007, effective 22 January 2007, reduces customs duty on specified imports: inorganic chemicals and carbon black feedstock; primary and semi finished non ferrous metals including copper, aluminium, zinc and tin; pipes, tubes and fittings of those metals; calcined alumina; ferro alloys, stainless and alloy steels; refractories and specified raw materials; Portland cement; specified capital goods and parts including winding wires; and places all project imports on a reduced duty rate, expressly including airport development and metro rail projects.

Perishable cargo examination: avoid routine inspections; allow inspection only on credible intelligence with supervisory approval.
Perishable export cargo must receive expedited, time bound customs processing; no routine examination is to be conducted and inspection is permitted only on credible intelligence. If examination is necessary, prior permission of the Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Airport/Air Cargo Complex is required, and consignments taken up for examination should be cleared the same day unless Customs law is contravened.

Customs procedural response: field formations must provide time-bound clarifications to stakeholders, with reporting of implementation difficulties.
Directs CBEC field formations to provide prompt, time-bound responses to stakeholder queries on customs procedures for air cargo and airports, supplementing existing helpdesk and FAQ resources on CBEC portals; requires reporting of any implementation difficulties to the Board.

Transshipment procedure standardised: approved CTMs, bonded storage with customs supervision, and bond re credit upon acknowledgement.
Transshipment at any customs airport is authorised under the Customs Act and governed by a uniform procedure: segregate consignments in the custodian's premises; file an application or CTM for approval by the proper officer; escort cargo under Preventive Officer supervision to a receiving airline warehouse with double locking; no routine physical examination except on intelligence; debit transshipment bond and re-credit upon destination acknowledgement; destination customs will clear cargo by usual procedures.

Location codes allocation for customs facilities - use assigned codes in TR-6 challans to streamline duty remittances.
Allotment of location codes to the Bangalore Customs Commissionerate and its formations is announced; specific codes have been assigned to the Commissionerate, Air Cargo Complex, Inland Container Depot, Postal Appraising Depot, Bangalore International Airport, Customs Division and multiple EOU/CWC ranges. Importers, exporters and the trade must incorporate the respective location codes in TR-6 challans presented to nominated banks for payment of Customs duties to standardise payment identification and facilitate duty remittances.

Coercive action for recovery of customs arrears: time limit for payment after confirmation triggers enforcement measures.
The Board links initiation of coercive action to non-payment of confirmed customs demands by fixing a time limit for payment after confirmation; it directs that procedures and instructions previously issued for recovery of central excise duties be applied mutatis mutandis to recovery of customs arrears.

Monitoring of de novo adjudication requires time-bound re-adjudication and supervisory oversight in customs cases.
Field formations must treat remanded matters as fresh receipts for monitoring, apply prescribed procedural guidelines, and ensure that de novo cases are disposed of within six months/one year. If these time limits cannot be met, the adjudicating officer must notify the supervisory officer, who will set a new time frame and monitor disposal.

Adjudication time limits for customs seizure cases set, with staged deadlines and supervisory review required.
The Board prescribes adjudication time limits for seizure only customs proceedings: one year for Commissioners or Additional/Joint Commissioners, six months for Assistant/Deputy Commissioners, and three months for gazetted officers below Assistant Commissioner from service of the show cause notice. These limits exclude cases combining seizure with duty demand, which follow the indicative timetable for demand cases. If the prescribed period cannot be observed, the adjudicating officer must report circumstances to the supervisory officer, who will set and monitor an appropriate disposal timeframe.

EGM amendment authority moved to docks AC/DC to speed processing and reduce exporter time and travel costs.
Power to amend the Export General Manifest (EGM amendment) is reallocated so that authority previously exercisable by AC/Export shall be exercised by AC/DC Docks to expedite amendment transactions and reduce time and travel costs. The modification immediately supersedes the earlier public notice delegation and is intended to facilitate faster disposal of EGM amendment cases for exporters, CHAs, shipping agents and other stakeholders.

Time-bound disposal obligations for EOU/EHTP/STP/BTP applications require prescribed prompt processing and public notice of timelines.
Prescribes a time-bound framework requiring field formations to meet specified processing periods for applications under the EOU/EHTP/STP/BTP schemes for licences, bond execution and acceptance, broad-banding, procurement and CT-3 certificates, warehousing and re-warehousing, export and re-export clearances (subject to advance intimation where applicable), permissions for re-export of rejected inputs, and job work permissions and renewals. Time limits exclude holidays and apply only after deficiencies are rectified; senior officers must monitor compliance and widely publicise the timelines.

Customs peak rate reduction prompts revised tariff structure, new education cess and specified export duties effective immediately.
Peak customs duty on non agricultural goods is reduced to 10% with exceptions; a new Secondary and Higher Education Cess of 1% is imposed in addition to the existing education cess and both cesses are computed excluding each other. Export duties are introduced on specified iron and chromium ores effective immediately. Chapter wise tariff changes lower ad valorem rates for broad categories, maintain higher rates for designated items, extend or withdraw concessional entries and exemptions, and amend notifications to implement the revised tariff structure.

Export of software now includes development, data entry, processing, analysis and call center services for export.
The term "export of software" in notification no. 153/93-Cus is clarified to include manufacture or development of software, data entry and conversion, data processing, data analysis and control data management, and call center services for export, aligning its scope with activities permitted for STP units under notification 52/2003-Cus; a Public Notice is to be issued and implementation difficulties referred to the Directorate General of Export Promotion.

Bank Guarantee requirement for EPCG manufacturer-exporters mandates specified registration documents to obtain the reduced guarantee.
Execution of a reduced bank guarantee under the EPCG scheme is permitted for qualifying other Manufacturer Exporters at JNCH, subject to submission of one of the prescribed registration documents with PAN: certified Central Excise registration, permanent SSI registration from District Industries Centre, Secretariat for Industrial Assistance registration, or other manufacturer-exporter registration supported by prior export performance certified by a Chartered Accountant or Export Promotion Council.