Duty-free procurement and export procedures for EOUs expanded to allow spares, promotional materials, transfers and simplified clearances.
Amendments expand duty free supplies of spares/components during warranty to the original buyer, permit duty free import/procurement of export promotion materials within a capped proportion of prior year exports, allow clearance of leftover textile material to DTA up to a capped percentage of prior year consignment value or quantity, extend removal of capital goods for repair/test to all units on prior intimation, authorise inter unit transfers under in bond or re warehousing procedures without duty, require bank guarantees for contract farming removals, provide Fast Track import clearance via pre authenticated procurement certificates subject to conditions, simplify Shipping Bill serialisation and submission, decentralise warehousing station declarations, and adjust Gems & Jewellery rules for precious metal timelines and outward treatment/re import of cut and polished stones.

Moratorium on new trading unit approvals in Special Economic Zones-proposals to be kept on hold pending further orders.
Proposals for setting up new trading units in Special Economic Zones are to be kept on hold until further orders, continuing prior Department of Commerce instructions; the suspension functions as an interim administrative moratorium on new trading-unit approvals and is circulated to Development Commissioners, the Department of Revenue, the EPC for EOU/SEZ units, and for posting on the SEZ website.

Transfer of duty free inputs between LTU units allowed after export obligation fulfillment, subject to CENVAT and IEC conditions.
Paragraph 4.5 is amended to allow transfer of duty free raw materials imported under an Advance Authorisation between units of a Large Taxpayer Unit without following the job work procedure after fulfilment of the export obligation, provided no CENVAT benefit has been claimed on the transferred inputs and all unit addresses are listed in the IEC issued to the LTU.

Revised returns permitted to correct clerical errors and misstatements without changing tax liability, subject to prescribed procedure.
Revised returns under rule 29 may be filed to correct clerical mistakes, totalling errors, misstatements of purchases or other inaccuracies in original VAT returns even where there is no change in tax liability. Such revised returns must be submitted within the prescribed period, be accompanied by a detailed explanatory note, and will be subject to scrutiny by the relevant assessing officers before being accepted.

Validity period amended to within two years from date of issue, replacing licensing year reference in public notice.
The words "of the licensing year 2005-2006" in Para 2 of Public Notice No. 27 (RE-2005)/2004-2009 are corrected to read "within two years from the date of issue of this Public Notice", effecting a change in the operative time limit. The correction is made under the authority of paragraph 2.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy and issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade in public interest.

AO code population and duplicate refund deletion required; centres must apply the supplied patch and report compliance.
A patch addresses refunds posted under suspense and duplicate refund entries by providing Deletion of duplicate challan/refund and population of AO code on refund data. Centres must take two full backups, ensure no users are active, download and execute the patch from the specified server path, copy executables to the file server renaming or backing up same-named files, and report implementation by the stated deadline; prior OLTAS Instructions must already be implemented and routine 'Correction due to wrong BSR' runs should be performed.

Focus Product Scheme: notified list of eligible product categories and conditions for entitlement under the Foreign Trade Policy.
Notification designates Appendix 37D as the schedule of products qualifying for benefits under the Focus Product Scheme pursuant to Para 3.10 of the Foreign Trade Policy. Appendix 37D lists eligible items by product code and ITC(HS) headings across categories: value added leather and footwear; sports goods, fireworks and stationery; handicrafts (subject to an FOB value cap in the Drawback Schedule); handloom products bearing the Handloom Mark; and specified value added fish products, thereby defining the scope and operational constraints for entitlement to scheme benefits.

Prohibition on production capacity enhancement for units using plastic waste now mandated under amended foreign trade procedures.
Amendment prohibits enhancement of production capacity for industrial units that utilize plastic waste or scrap by modifying Sub para 5(ii) of Appendix 14 I C in the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I, made under the delegated powers of the Foreign Trade Policy 2004-2009 to prevent authorization of capacity increases where plastic waste/scrap is used.

CENVAT Credit Rules govern credit claims; customs endorsement of bills of entry for credit is dispensed with.
Endorsement of Bills of Entry for availment of credit under prior MODVAT provisions is discontinued; CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 govern the procedure and documents for claiming credit, and the practice of Customs officer endorsement on Bills of Entry for MODVAT/CENVAT purposes is dispensed with.

Tax treatment for SEZ trading clarified; tax benefits limited to re export of imported goods, domestic sourcing allowed with undertaking.
SEZ trading units are permitted to carry out all forms of trading activity, but income tax benefits are excluded for trading except trading consisting of re export of imported goods; interim permission to source from the domestic area is allowed if the unit cites this circular and submits an undertaking that no income tax benefits will be claimed for trading other than re export of imported goods.

Export Obligation crediting: Exports under EPCG and specified duty exemption schemes can discharge EPCG obligations.
The Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I is amended to replace a reference in Paragraph 5.7.2 with Paragraph 5.4(iv) of the Foreign Trade Policy, and Paragraph 5.7.5 is revised to state that exports or deemed exports made under the EPCG Scheme or under Duty Exemption and Remission Schemes (Chapter 4) in respect of the same manufactured export product shall be counted towards discharge of the export obligation under the EPCG Scheme.

Dematerialisation requirement: securities with dual depository connectivity may shift from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement upon meeting holdings threshold.
Shifting trading from the Trade-for-Trade Segment to Rolling Settlement is permitted for companies with connectivity to both depositories if at least 50% of non-promoter holdings are in demat form, certified by the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, where no separate RTA exists, by a practising Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant, and if there are no other grounds for continuation of Trade-for-Trade trading; stock exchanges must report actions taken in the Monthly Development Report.

Advance Rulings expanded to include new applicant classes and additional questions on origin and tax liability.
The Advance Rulings scheme has been amended to broaden applicant eligibility-including joint ventures and notified residents such as importers under the India-Singapore CECA-and to expand permissible questions to include determination of origin under Customs Tariff rules and determination of liability to pay excise duty and service tax under their respective statutory provisions.

Cenvat credit documentation requirements: purchaser must ensure critical document details before claiming input credit.
Proposed amendment would replace the impractical reasonable steps requirement in rule 9(3) with a mandate that the purchaser/receiver ensure specified critical details are present on the document before claiming CENVAT credit, namely duty/service tax particulars, description and value of goods or taxable service, name and address of the factory/warehouse or provider of input service, and the purchaser/receiver's name.

DEPB rate correction increases graphite product rate and confirms earlier effective date for compressors' DEPB entitlement.
Amendments to the Schedule of DEPB rates correct the DEPB rate for graphite products at Sr. No. 331 to 7% effective 26.05.2005, and make the 7% DEPB rate with a value cap of Rs. 1120 per piece for hermetically sealed compressors at Sr. No. 588 effective from 21.03.2005, pursuant to powers under the Foreign Trade Policy and Handbook of Procedures.

Export obligation for spice value add imports revised to a short fixed timeframe; ports, authorisations and agencies updated.
Amendments revise authorisations, delete the phrase "DFIA for annual requirement" and an application fee entry, substitute a paragraph cross reference, add specified seaports, airports, ICDs and LCSs to authorised lists, require that imports of spices for value addition meet the export obligation within a fixed short timeframe, and add an agency to the Appendix for issuance of non preferential Certificates of Origin.

Registration for testing permitted: R&D-imported vehicles may be registered under CMVR for limited endurance and evaluation tests.
The prohibition on registration and road use for vehicles imported for R&D applies only to passenger use; for limited testing purposes such as endurance and evaluation tests, the imported vehicle may be registered in accordance with the Central Motor Vehicles Rules.

Wealth tax scrutiny guidelines require examining income tax scrutiny files for undisclosed wealth and issuing appropriate notices.
The Board directs that Income Tax cases under current scrutiny be examined from a wealth tax perspective and, where appropriate, formal wealth tax notices under the relevant provisions be issued; senior reviewing authorities may, suo motu or on information from lower offices, direct the Assessing Officer to take up cases for wealth tax scrutiny to address non filing or under reporting.

Deduction under section 80HHC: duty drawback under updated Drawback Rules qualifies for deduction when statutory conditions met.
Deduction under section 80HHC includes export benefits such as duty drawback granted under the Customs and Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules, 1995 because Rule 18 of the 1995 Rules effects repeals and savings of the 1971 Rules and Section 8 of the General Clauses Act directs that references to repealed provisions be read as references to re-enacted provisions; deduction is allowed subject to satisfaction of other conditions and applies from assessment year 1996-97 onward.

Recognition of Overseas Corporate Bodies as lenders prohibited; banks must not treat derecognised OCBs as eligible ECB lenders.
OCBs were derecognised as an eligible class of investor and therefore cannot be treated as recognised lenders for external commercial borrowing; borrowings from or loans to OCBs are impermissible, outstanding facilities were not to be renewed and no interest accrues after the due date; Authorised Dealer banks must notify constituents and ensure compliance with this statutory direction.