Customs duty exemption eligibility clarified: suppliers and contractors excluded; expedited clearances required for Commonwealth Games imports.
The Board clarifies that suppliers, contractors and vendors appointed by the Organizing Committee are not eligible importers for exemption under Notification No.13/2010-Customs; Organizing Committee specimen signatures are to be used and Foreign Trade Policy compliance applies. Commissioners must expedite clearances (including on holidays with applicable charges), appoint nodal officers and provide contact details, and submit consolidated weekly reports to the Board to monitor Game-related imports.

Automatic renewal requirement for bank guarantees: guarantees must include a self renewal clause and prescribed format to be accepted.
Bank guarantees submitted to the Customs House must incorporate a self renewal clause keeping the guarantee operative until its conditions are fulfilled and must follow the prescribed format specified by RBI. Importers, exporters and CHAs are responsible for ensuring guarantees remain in force until duly invoked or released; guarantees without the automatic renewal clause or correct format will not be accepted. Existing guarantees must be amended by addendum within one month of this notice.

Buyback of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds permitted under RBI approval route subject to compliance with prescribed conditions.
Extension of permission for buyback and prepayment of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) under the approval route is allowed, provided issuers comply with previously prescribed terms and conditions; eligible applications must be submitted with supporting documents through Authorised Dealer Category I banks to the Reserve Bank of India's Foreign Exchange Department, External Commercial Borrowings Division at the designated central office address.

Annual Activity Certificates deadline extended, permitting later submission together with audited balance sheet in the financial year.
Extension of filing timeline for Annual Activity Certificates (AACs) and audited balance sheets: AACs as at March 31 may be submitted by September 30; if accounts close on a different date, AAC and audited balance sheet must be filed within six months from the balance sheet's due date. Other instructions remain unchanged and Authorised Dealer Category I banks must notify their constituents; directions issued under sections 10(4) and 11(1) of FEMA.

Work allocation among tax commissioners assigns zonal oversight and pecuniary-band appeals, objections, and specialised administrative cells.
The Department of Trade & Taxes reallocates zonal administrative oversight and adjudicatory responsibilities among Additional and Joint Commissioners, assigning appeals, revisions and objection hearings by specified pecuniary bands to particular officers, and designating responsibility for specialised cells and operational branches such as Recovery & Collection, Refund Branch, Internal Audit, Vigilance, GST Implementation Cell, Training, and other administrative units.

Prohibition on cross-border currency movement clarified; import/export of specified Indian notes to Nepal and Bhutan disallowed with penalties.
The corrigendum clarifies that export and import of Indian currency notes above one hundred rupees to and from Nepal and Bhutan are prohibited under the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) Regulations, and that Nepalese guidelines bar exchange of certain higher-denomination Indian notes within Nepal, rendering those notes liable to seizure and subjecting carriers to fines or imprisonment.

Debt allocation to foreign investors via bidding and FCFS processes with caps, utilisation windows, and non utilisation charge.
Allocation of unutilised Government and Corporate debt investment limits to FIIs will occur via a bidding process with per-entity ceilings, minimum bid size and tick, and a short utilisation window; remaining limits will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis subject to a per-entity ceiling, a dedicated request email with a specified opening time, a limited utilisation period, and a non-utilisation charge tied to the average successful bid premium from the bidding stage.

Fund of funds expense structure must follow prescribed alternatives, with SID disclosure and unitholder exit option.
Fund of funds mutual fund schemes must adopt one of the prescribed total expense structures and AMCs must disclose the chosen structure in the scheme information document; existing fund of funds schemes must obtain trustees' approval to adopt a prescribed expense structure and must give unitholders an exit option when changing the total expense structure.

Import of compressed gas cylinders requires a licence, pre arrival declaration and Customs permission before landing and release.
Imports of cylinders filled or intended to be filled with compressed gas require a valid licence and pre arrival procedures: the ship's master or agent must give notice and deliver a Form A declaration to the pilot and Customs; importers must file a prior bill of entry with the licence and documents for assessment. Landing is permitted only with the Commissioner of Customs' permission after Preventive Customs verifies assessment and permissions; assessed bills showing licence and payment evidence must be produced before landing, and prompt removal after landing is required or enforcement action will follow.

Centralized EDI migration to ICES 1.5 centralizes document numbering and mandates pre-migration submissions and bank EDI integration.
Implementation of ICES 1.5 will migrate Cochin Customs House operations to CBEC's National Data Centre with centralized document numbering and EDI message exchange; designated customs officers will provide certain printouts, banks will receive electronic challans and confirm payments electronically, and Service Centre and shipping agent submissions must be completed prior to migration to avoid re-entry. DEPB licences will be centrally debited online, CHAs must use PAN-based registration, temp scroll generation will be mandatory for DBK scrolls, and helpdesk support is provided for users.

Point of taxation rules link service tax to provision, invoice issuance or payment, determining applicable tax timing and rate.
Point of taxation is fixed at the earliest of three events: provision of service, issuance of invoice, or receipt of payment. Advances (other than interest free refundable deposits) trigger tax on receipt. For continuous supplies, timing follows a sequential test: contractual payment due date, event/milestone completion, then invoice or payment (earlier). Rate changes are governed by rules that generally treat the earlier of invoice or payment as the point of taxation, with a 30 day exception for invoices issued before a rate change.

Dematerialisation threshold required before shifting securities from Trade for Trade to rolling settlement.
Companies with connectivity to both NSDL and CDSL may be shifted from Trade for Trade Settlement to normal Rolling Settlement only if at least 50% of shares other than promoter holdings are dematerialised, evidenced by a certificate from the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, if no separate RTA exists, from a practicing Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant, and provided there are no other grounds for continuation of TFTS. Stock exchanges must report actions taken in their Monthly/Quarterly Development Reports.

Customs exemption for audiovisual imports extends to television content on qualifying carrier media, confirming broadcaster eligibility.
The term motion pictures in Notification No. 27/2010 is a generic descriptor covering all moving-image audiovisual content and therefore includes television content, documentaries, advertising films, news films and feature films recorded on cinematographic film, video tapes, masters, stampers, VCDs, DVDs and similar carrier media; imports of such television content on the covered media qualify for the customs duty exemption subject to the notification's valuation limitation.

Clean Energy Cess on coal, lignite and peat applies to domestic and imported supplies, with registration and monthly self-assessment payments.
A Clean Energy Cess is levied as an excise duty on coal, lignite and peat at a prescribed rate payable in cash and not via CENVAT credit; it applies to gross quantity raised and dispatched from mines, with downstream goods exempt where cess was paid at the raw stage. The levy also applies to all imported coal. Rules borrow Central Excise machinery for collection and set obligations including registration, monthly self-assessment payment, specified payment due dates, a monthly return, limited documentary requirements and a general penalty for contraventions.

Administrative control over Export Oriented Units shifted to Central Excise formations to unify administration and enable GST transition.
The circular mandates that administrative control over Export Oriented Units (EOUs), including EHTP and STP, shall be transferred from Customs formations to Central Excise formations-even in port cities-to ensure uniform administration, support ACES automation and facilitate transition to the GST regime; it requires handing over all records and directs circulation to field formations and trade for compliance.

Value addition requirement imposed on specified petroleum products under Appendix 11B, affecting export compliance obligations.
An amendment to Appendix 11B of the Handbook of Procedures (Vol. I) adds a value addition requirement for specified petroleum products comprising Light Ends, Middle Distillates and Heavy Ends, excludes certain lubricants and petrochemicals, and prescribes a minimum value addition threshold for exports of those SION-listed items, to take effect immediately.

AST software implementation enables SARAL II return processing; officers must report any incorrect calculations or excess refunds immediately.
Implementation of AST Software authorises electronic data entry and processing of I.T.R.-1C (SARAL II); a user manual explains the software provisions and must be brought to the attention of all relevant officers. Assessing officers are required to report immediately to the Directorate of Systems any incorrect calculations or excess refund computations identified in software outputs.

Adjustment of refund orders: Refund Banker now processes departmental payment adjustments electronically to address automated bank clearing.
A new functionality in the Refund Banker module allows transmission of adjustment Refund Orders in favour of the Income Tax Department electronically because banks' automated clearing systems have reduced acceptance of manual departmental cheques; officers must implement and note this change. Handling of FBT refunds payable to Income Tax remains unchanged.

Free baggage allowance clarified for Hong Kong SAR arrivals: higher non-dutiable limit applies to eligible returning residents.
Because Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is a separate Customs territory from China, passengers aged ten and above who are Indian residents or foreigners residing in India and who return after a stay abroad of more than three days from Hong Kong SAR are entitled to clearance free of duty on articles other than those in Annexure I up to Rs.25,000 under the Baggage Rules, 1998, and field officers are to be instructed to apply this uniformly.

Classification of boric acid clarified: earlier circulars superseded and import must comply with Foreign Trade Policy and assessments finalised.
Boric acid is to be classified under the customs tariff for inorganic acids except when presented as technical grade pesticides for insecticidal use or as retail pesticide/preparation, which are classifiable as pesticide preparations; Board Circular No.34/2007 supersedes earlier circulars and instructions on classification and importability, and import clearance must comply with the Foreign Trade Policy.