Customs audit verification of electronic shipping bills ensures declared drawback and export endorsements match physical EGMs, prompting corrective action.
Measures require verification of electronic Shipping Bills against physical EGMs and forwarding copies daily to Audit to create a continuous audit trail. Designated Appraisers and Internal Audit officers shall selectively verify declarations such as Drawback and related endorsements to ensure correct sanctioning. Selective test audits of system-processed shipping bills will confirm actual exportation pending deployment of an Export Audit Module. Audit is post-clearance; drawback sanctions proceed but irregularities discovered must be reported to the authorized Drawback or Export officers and recorded in a prescribed register for monitoring.

Promoter capital gains must be examined and taxed where disinvestment occurs amid company defaults on government dues.
Promoter sales in telecom companies facing defaults on Government dues must be examined for capital gains tax liability; licence-fee deductions claimed by the company are admissible only if actually paid and may be disallowed where unpaid, with Assessing Officers directed to take appropriate action to bring the income to tax.

Export ban on fresh onions clarified: processed, dried and preserved forms excluded while limited varietal and agency exports permitted.
Overall export ban continues to apply to fresh and chilled onions (ITCHS No.07031001) despite limited authorised exports of certain varieties through designated agencies; processed forms including provisionally preserved onions (ITCHS No.07111000), dried onions (ITCHS No.07122000), and onions preserved by vinegar/acetic acid (ITCHS 20012000) are not subject to the ban.

De-licensing of bulk drugs permits manufacture without industrial licence, requires IEM filing; recombinant DNA products remain licenced.
De-licensing removes industrial licensing and public-sector reservation for Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Tetracycline, Oxytetracycline and Folic Acid, while products made by re-combinant DNA technology, in vivo nucleic acid active principles, and specific cell- or tissue-targeted formulations remain under compulsory licensing. Entrepreneurs must file an Industrial Entrepreneurs' Memorandum with the Secretariat for Industrial Assistance; LOI holders need only file Part B of the IEM at commencement of commercial production but may file an initial IEM if variations to LOI or licence conditions are contemplated.

Custodian appointment under Customs Act secures custody and handling obligations for imported and export containerised cargo at the ICD.
M/s. Container Corporation of India Ltd., Chennai is appointed as the custodian of imported and transhipped containerised goods at Inland Container Depot, Madurai, and of export cargo for stuffing, accountal, customs examination, transportation and safe delivery of customs-sealed containers at gateway ports, with custody continuing until clearance, warehousing or transshipment under the Customs statutory framework.

Customs area designation clarifies the Inland Container Depot's territorial limits and administrative jurisdiction under statutory authority.
Specification designates the Inland Container Depot at Madurai as a Customs Area, identifying the CONCOR complex lands, sheds and office building comprising specified survey parcels at Koodal Nagar, Thathaneri Village and fixing territorial boundaries by reference to adjacent railway lines, neighbouring survey parcels, Southern Railways ownership and the approach road; declared under Section 8 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Counter receipt prohibition enables OTCEI-listed companies to issue physical share certificates and alters share transfer form use.
Two notifications amend company rules to stop issuance of counter receipts for OTCEI-traded securities and to facilitate use of physical share certificates, preserving Form 7BB as the application for share transfer while counter receipts remain tradable. A third notification introduces new rules and two forms: a nomination form for transfer on death and a declaration of solvency form for companies undertaking share buy-back.

Exportability of onion within assorted vegetables allowed by air despite general export restriction, subject to other applicable laws.
Export of onion as a component of assorted vegetables is permitted by air in limited quantity per consignment to all permissible destinations despite the general restriction on onion exports; this allowance arises from the ITC(HS) schedule entry and remains subject to any other law or regulation in force.

Modvat credit relief for minor procedural lapses permitted when duty-paid inputs are used and proper invoice details exist.
The Assistant Commissioner may allow Modvat credit despite minor procedural lapses if satisfied inputs or capital goods have suffered duty and are used or intended for manufacture; the officer must record reasons and make enquiries about duty-paid status at the supplier's end. Before issuing Show Cause Notices for procedural defects, enquiries must confirm invoice contains description, assessable value, and receiving factory/warehouse details and that the requisite declaration is filed; absent satisfaction, normal adjudication follows and pending cases should be disposed accordingly.

DEPB eligibility for madeups from processed fabrics clarified; treated yarn dyed fabrics qualify for export benefits under scheme.
Madeups produced from fabrics that at yarn or fabric stage have undergone specified finishing operations (e.g., bleaching, mercerising, dyeing, printing, waterproofing, shrink proofing, singeing, padding, backfilling, shearing, brushing/raising, hydro extraction) are to be treated as processed fabric and shall be eligible for the DEPB rates applicable to the relevant textile product entries.

Certificate requirement for customs duty exemption: Deputy Secretary or countersigned project head certificate enables exemption for UN project imports.
Goods imported by the United Nations or international organisations for execution of approved projects are exempt from customs and related duties upon production of a prescribed certificate; this certificate may be issued by the Deputy Secretary of the coordinating Ministry or by the agency's executive head when countersigned by an officer not below Deputy Secretary. Goods procured locally for further manufacture and export to neighbouring countries may similarly be cleared duty free under the export notification upon presentation of the required certificate, even if the project is not executed in India.

Pass Book Scheme credit deadlines require authorities to finalise claims and set utilisation cutoff; unused credit lapses.
Designated authorities administering the Pass Book Scheme and the Commissioner of Customs must finalise claims and grant admissible credits by the March 1999 deadline; credits so granted may be utilised only up to the June 1999 utilisation cutoff, and any unutilised credit shall lapse.

DEPB admissibility: made ups from yarn dyed fabrics undergoing excisable processing qualify as processed cotton made ups for DEPB rates.
Fabrics woven from dyed yarn that undergo operations such as bleaching, mercerising, dyeing, printing, water proofing, shrink proofing, organdie processing or stentering before export are to be treated as processed fabrics liable to Central Excise duty; made ups from such fabrics qualify for DEPB rates applicable to processed cotton made ups other than grey. Preparatory operations exempted from Central Excise do not change this classification where the exemption applies. The Board directs issuance of a public notice to inform trade of this position.

Discharge of payee on account-payee refund cheques removed where MICR mechanised processing is used, conventional forms unchanged.
Requirement for the payee's signature as discharge on the reverse of account-payee income-tax refund cheques is removed where refund cheques are issued after introduction of MICR mechanised processing; conventional non-MICR refund orders remain subject to the existing discharge requirement under the prevailing system.

Notified port status for Advance Licences affirmed; Jalandhar to be treated under paragraph 7.19 enabling licence issuance.
Jalandhar is declared a notified port for the purpose of Advance Licence issuance and should be treated as included under paragraph 7.19 of the Hand Book of Procedures (Vol.1). Although not listed for the DEPB scheme under Customs notification 34/97, Customs notification no. 94/97 includes Jalandhar for Advance Licences; accordingly, the port may be treated as a notified port for issuance of Advance Licences, clarifying the prior omission and aligning practice under the Handbook.

Authority to issue show cause notices affirmed for intelligence officers; adjudication remains with jurisdictional customs commissioners.
DRI officers, having been notified and appointed to specified customs ranks, are authorised to conduct investigations and issue show cause notices on completion of those investigations, subject to any limitations under section 5(1) of the Customs Act; however, adjudication of such notices remains with the concerned jurisdictional customs Commissioners, Additional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners or Assistant Commissioners, and departments must issue standing orders to communicate this instruction.

Jurisdiction of Settlement Commission: block-period assessments from search proceedings fall within its scope, prompting withdrawal of challenges.
The instruction clarifies that the statutory definition of case in section 245A(b) includes block-period assessments made in search cases under Chapter XIV-B, thereby placing such block assessments within the jurisdiction of the Settlement Commission; pending special leave petitions challenging that jurisdiction are to be withdrawn and officers instructed to notify staff.

Budget-day removal restrictions require permission and declarations; Commissioner may grant limited relaxations for specified categories of goods.
Enforcement of Rules 173G(2), 223B and 224 requires suspension of the Self Removal Procedure after the cut-off, mandatory advance applications for Budget Day clearances, and hand-delivered or telegram declarations of last invoice number and closing stock to the Range Superintendent and proper officer; non-compliance invokes penal action under rule 223B. Commissioners may permit provisional applications and grant limited relaxations in specified categories, subject to reporting and Central Government approval, and removals after the Budget Day cutoff require permission and undertakings to pay any enhanced duty.

Denomination of Special Import Licences requires values in local currency and a freely convertible currency, defaulting to a major convertible.
Values on Special Import Licences must be shown in Indian Rupees and a freely convertible currency; if the applicant elects a currency that election governs, otherwise a widely accepted freely convertible currency must be used. Banking authorities shall debit licences already used at the exchange rate on the actual date of import. Licences indicated only in Indian Rupees with no or partial import must be recalled by licensing authorities and reissued with values in a freely convertible currency, with Trade Notices issued as necessary.

Credit card data collection required: city wise submission to tax investigators for targeted scheme implementation and limited disclosure.
Credit card issuers must centrally supply city wise names, addresses and PAN/GIR numbers to designated tax investigators on a periodic basis; those investigators will disseminate city wise returns to regional investigation units, individual account particulars may be requested separately, and data collection serves implementation of the one by six scheme with communications that do not disclose identification as credit card holders.