Single Window Interface for Exports expands automated NOC routing, streamlining agency clearances and reducing physical documentation.
Extension of the Single Window Interface (SWIFT) to exports implements an online single-point filing and automated referral of Shipping Bills to Partner Government Agencies for electronic No Objection Certificates (NOC). Identified consignments will be routed to agencies while Customs processing runs in parallel; agencies will record dispositions (Release/NOC, Out of Scope, Reject, Withhold, or Provisional NOC). Physical documents may be required temporarily, but once agency disposition and Customs assessment are complete, exporters may proceed to registration, examination and Let Export Orders without producing physical NOC copies.

IEC modification procedures revised so the jurisdictional RA processes address-change requests and permits benefit access at the new address.
Procedural amendments require the Regional Authority under whose jurisdiction the applicant exists to process IEC address-change requests and amend the IEC if appropriate, intimating the RA to which transfer is sought; the receiving RA shall allow the entity at its new address to perform functions and apply for FTP benefits. Rejected online IEC applicants who have paid the application fee may rectify defects and reapply without further fee. Application fees paid for earlier cancelled authorizations may be adjusted against replacement authorizations, subject to a minimum fee and proper linkage by the RA.

Paperless customs processing: routine printing of specified challans, shipping bill and bill of entry copies discontinued, electronic records prevail.
Directive to minimise routine printing of specified customs documents and adopt paperless processing: GAR-7/TR-6 challans will not be printed by default as payment confirmations are electronic; TP copies need not be printed except where systems are not interconnected; Exchange Control and Export Promotion copies of Shipping Bills are unnecessary given digital delivery and EDPMS integration, with a summary copy sufficient for authorised dealers; Bill of Entry Exchange Control copy is discontinued routinely due to IDPMS integration, with printouts available on demand or in manual cases.

Specified Bank Notes deposit permitted for eligible passengers under limited grace periods with Customs-verified declaration form.
An Ordinance provided limited grace periods for tendering Specified Bank Notes (Rs.500 and Rs.1000) after cessation of legal tender: residents until March 31, 2017 and non-residents until June 30, 2017. The facility is subject to foreign exchange limits of Rs.25,000 per person and excludes arrivals from Nepal and Bhutan. Eligible persons (residents who were abroad and non-resident Indians absent Nov 9-Dec 30, 2016) must complete a Customs arrival declaration; Customs will count, verify, stamp the form, which will facilitate deposit with the central bank.

Diplomatic cargo quarantine: diplomatic consignments with livestock must undergo quarantine inspection and receive AQCS clearance, with priority handling.
Customs will refer diplomatic cargo and baggage containing livestock and livestock products to animal quarantine authorities for inspection and AQCS no-objection certificate prior to clearance; diplomatic consignments are to receive priority in AQCS clearances and paragraph 6 of the earlier circular is modified to allow commencement of standard quarantine referrals, with implementation issues to be reported to the Principal Commissioner of Customs, Kandla.

All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback amended to revise tariff coverage, restructure entries and adjust drawback caps.
Amendments effective 11.02.2016 to the All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback revise tariff coverage and caps: AIR is extended to rice packed in PP/HDPE bags; separate tariff entries with AIRs and caps are created for specified mats, yarns, blended fabrics, garments with elastane, MMF blankets, specified stainless and non alloy steel items and cages; sub headings under selected four digit heads are restructured to distinguish drawback caps; certain tariff descriptions are amended to include specific products; and drawback rates or caps are increased or adjusted for various listed tariff lines.

Single Window clearance: streamlined ADC referrals via declarations and PEC identification to expedite customs release.
Amendments under the Single Window project require importers and brokers to identify PEC listed chemical items and declare non pharmaceutical grade or API free dual use items and their non medicinal end use in the Integrated Declaration to avoid ADC referral; risk based sampling, avoidance of repeat batch sampling, digital substitution of declarations and mapping of ADCs to ICES locations are provided to streamline customs and ADC interactions.

Hazardous goods separation: prescribed minimum distances and specific safety rules determine storage and handling obligations.
Prescribes safety guidelines for premises handling imported or exported goods, treating explosives as a distinct category with an extended separation from administrative buildings and prescribing a uniform separation for other hazardous goods; storage separation between hazardous and general cargo in port areas must follow the IMDG Code. For land storage in container depots, CFS/ICD and customs areas, specific statutory rules (such as those for gas cylinders, explosives, petroleum and pressure vessels) govern safe distances and, in case of conflict, specific rules prevail over port rules.

Abolition of Mate's receipt: containerized exports no longer require manual mate's receipt; non-containerized shipments unaffected.
Customs will no longer require a manually issued Mate's receipt for containerized export cargo because automation and electronic message exchange, together with EGM-based processing and drawback disbursal, make the manual document redundant. The Mate's receipt practice remains for non-containerized exports like bulk cargo. Any difficulties in implementation should be notified to the Principal Commissioner of Customs.

All Industry Rates of Drawback revised; tariff lines restructured and procedural changes govern provisional drawback and claims.
The Central Government revised the All Industry Rates of Drawback, restructured tariff lines and expanded certain product descriptions, reduced residuary customs rates, and provided alternative AIRS procedures for garment exports under Special Advance Authorization using suffixes ICI or ID. Provisional drawback payable by customs equals the customs component of the AIR and follows existing procedural annexures. The Drawback Rules were amended to remove a prior threshold restriction on AIR/Brand Rate payments, and administrative instructions address packaging, parts classification, declaration scrutiny and extension of the Drawback Committee's tenure.

Special Advance Authorization enables duty free pre import of fabric with AIRS drawback option and alternative brand rate route.
Special Advance Authorization under Para 4.04A allows duty free pre import of fabrics for incorporation in Chapter 61/62 exports and permits election of All Industry Rates (AIRS) drawback where DGFT fixes the value of other inputs at 22% of FOB for value addition purposes; alternatively, exporters may claim Central Excise brand rates under Rule 7 with actual input values. Customs Notifications 45/2016 and 110/2016 operationalize the exemption and AIRS alternative, require tariff suffixes 'Ct' or 'ID' for AIRS, and prescribe identifier 19807 with character '13' on shipping bills for provisional Customs drawback processing.

Pre-shipment inspection requirement affirmed for shredded metallic scrap imports; clearance conditioned on presentation of inspection certificate.
Imports of shredded metallic scrap remain subject to the pre-shipment inspection certificate requirement for customs clearance; an earlier circular is modified to require submission of the designated inspection and certification agency's certificate as part of documentary requirements, and other revised guidelines for un-shredded compressed or loose scrap remain effective.

Transferability after three years: goods imported under SFIS/SAS scrips may be sold, consumables excepted, subject to export restrictions.
Goods imported or procured using SFIS/SAS scrips under FTP 2009 14 may be sold or transferred after completion of three years from clearance; imports under FTP 2004 09 will be considered on merits with similar effect. Consumables, including food and alcoholic beverages, remain non transferable even after three years. DGFT may permit export sale without any claim to incentives, and any re import will be treated as a fresh import.

Brand rate fixation procedure requires declarations, CA verification and self-attested documents; originals dispensed subject to limited random verification.
Applicants for brand rate fixation must submit a working sheet containing a signed declaration and a certificate from an independent Cost Accountant/Chartered Accountant verifying details and that original duty-paid documents have been endorsed/defaced to the extent of utilization. Self-attested copies of duty-paid documents with applicant self-endorsement/defacement must be filed. Originals are not normally required for post-facto endorsement except for limited random cross-verification of selected originals based on Commissioner-determined risk parameters; existing applications may opt into this dispensation.

Single Window Interface for Trade exports: agency NOC processing integrated online to route shipping bills and enable parallel customs clearance.
Extension of SWIFT to exports establishes online referral of electronically filed Shipping Bills to Partner Government Agencies for NOC determination, with automatic routing to agency offices and parallel Customs processing. Agencies will record outcomes online (Release/NOC, Out of Scope, Reject, Withhold, Provisional NOC where applicable). Hard-copy documents must be produced until electronic upload is enabled. Once the agency records NOC online and Customs assessment is complete, exporters may proceed with registration and export formalities without physical NOC; agency rejections must include reasons to allow Customs action, including adjudication.

Abolition of Mate's Receipt: containerized cargo no longer requires issuance; non-containerized export cargo still needs it.
Abolition of Mate's Receipt has been implemented for containerized consignments: issuance should not be insisted upon for containerized import and export cargo; issuance practice continues for non-containerized export cargo such as bulk shipments, and trade participants may report difficulties to the customs department.

EP Copy requirement lifted; temporary EP copy printing for shipping bills filed before the circular will cease after cutoff.
The EP Copy of Shipping Bills is no longer required following issuance of the CBEC circular; however, EP Copy Print Sections at four designated CFSs will permit printing only for Shipping Bills filed before the circular's effective date, and this temporary facility will not be available after the prescribed cutoff.

Correction of SION table references updates engineering product entries and deletes a specified footnote phrase in the Handbook.
Corrections amend table references in multiple SIONs for engineering products and delete the sentence "given at the end of this product group" from specified SION footnotes, replacing incorrect table numbers with the corrected table numbers to align SION cross-references with the Engineering Table structure in the Handbook of Procedure Vol. II.

Direct Port Entry procedures clarified: factory stuffed containers routed via CFS may receive LEO and proceed without Parking Plaza.
Factory stuffed and self sealed containers entitled to Direct Port Entry should be brought to the Parking Plaza Document Processing Area when intended for DPE, but if exporters route such containers through a CFS they may obtain LEO at the CFS and move directly from CFS to the terminal without passing through the Parking Plaza; CFS examinations will follow RMS instructions and CFS gate officers must verify and record container and seal details.

Special Economic Zones: extensions of approvals, SEZ merger approved, co developer and shareholding changes granted with conditions.
The Board issued time limited extensions of formal approvals and Letters of Permission for multiple SEZ developers and units, deferred or required hearings/inspections where operational progress was lacking, approved co developer arrangements subject to prohibition of duty benefits outside SEZs and a maximum 30 year lease, approved several new sector specific SEZs while deferring those lacking state recommendations, authorised a multi SEZ merger conditioned on contiguity, and approved change of shareholding requests subject to continuity, eligibility, tax compliance and disclosure to revenue authorities.