Unauthenticated news circulation must be prevented by intermediaries through internal controls and compliance officer approval.
Intermediaries must implement internal codes of conduct and controls to prevent employees from circulating rumours or unverified market information; all market-related communications must be forwarded only after review and approval by the intermediary's Compliance Officer, with restricted or supervised access to blogs/chat forums, maintenance of usage logs as records, and training and checks to ensure compliance. Stock Exchanges and Depositories must amend bye-laws, notify participants, disseminate the circular and report implementation to SEBI. The measures are issued under SEBI's regulatory powers to protect investors and regulate markets and are effective immediately.

FTWZ storage and trading rules clarified; transitional contracts given temporary validity, full compliance required thereafter.
Units in FTWZ within sector-specific SEZs may store goods for zone development, unit setup, manufacturing, export or domestic sale of goods and services or finished products of units in that sector; the amended instruction must be followed in letter and spirit and, after the transitional period, all cases and pre-existing contracts are to be regulated by the amended instruction.

Radioactive contamination testing: additional accredited laboratories approved to screen food imports from Japan before customs clearance.
Monitoring of food imports from Japan for radioactive contamination requires use of accredited testing facilities; two additional laboratories have been granted accreditation to test food items imported from Japan and are to be used alongside existing accredited facilities for sampling, testing and customs screening as part of import compliance procedures.

Business Exhibition Service: venue and installation abroad not taxable; stall rental to Indian exhibitors not export without convertible currency.
Organising an overseas business exhibition involves hiring foreign premises and arranging stall installation-services performed entirely outside India and not taxable under the Taxation of Services (Provided from Outside India & Received in India) Rules-while renting stalls to Indian exhibitors is a service provided within India and does not qualify as export because consideration is not received in convertible foreign currency; this clarification is limited until 28 February 2011 due to a later exemption notification.

Majority of non promoter holdings in dematerialized form enables shift from trade for trade to rolling settlement, certificate required.
Securities of companies that have established connectivity with both depositories may be shifted from Trade for Trade Settlement to Rolling Settlement if at least half of other-than-promoter holdings are dematerialized, supported by a certificate from the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, if no RTA exists, from a practising Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant, and provided there are no other grounds for continuing Trade for Trade Settlement; stock exchanges must report actions in Monthly/Quarterly Development Reports to SEBI.

Project import reporting: mandatory quarterly progress reports and amended registration requirements enable monitoring and risk of de registration.
Projects registered for assessment under CTH 98.01 must be registered for a specified period; reconciliation statements and plant site verification reports with supporting documents are to be submitted within three months of that period's expiry for contract finalisation. An amended Annexure A is prescribed for registration. Beneficiaries must file a prescribed Quarterly Progress Report, with self certified Bills of Entry, reporting CIF values, import and installation status and bill of entry details; quarters run from April each financial year and reports are due within seven days of the month following each quarter. Repeated non submission may lead to de registration.

Centralized Bond Management enables a single bond account across ports for IPR interdictions, requiring BRN and IPR Cell notice.
A web enabled Centralized Bond Management module under ARTS creates a single running Centralized Bond Account with a Bond Registration Number (BRN) usable at all Customs locations for IPR interdiction proceedings. Rights holders with valid UPRNs may migrate by submitting the prescribed centralized bond and security; multiple UPRNs in the same name can be linked to one BRN. Credits (bonds/bank guarantees), debits, and partial re credits are recorded and trigger auto emails. Use of the BRN for interdiction requires written instruction to the IPR Cell and maintenance of sufficient balance, with top ups or supplementary bonds available at the BRN location.

Online transmission requirement for export authorizations mandates EDI filing and automated Customs communication for specified ports.
Directive requires online transmission of DES (Advance Authorization), EPCG and DEPB at seven newly designated ICES/Customs locations effective 21 March 2011. It mandates EDI-mode filing of DEPB applications for shipping bills from those ports issued on or after the date, and requires Regional Authorities to communicate on-line all authorizations for DES, EPCG and DEPB issued on or after that date to Customs.

Online transmission of trade licences: DGFT licences auto-populated in Customs EDI, must be quoted on Shipping Bills and Bills of Entry.
Online transmission of DES and EPCG licences from DGFT to Customs via ICES 1.5 is effective at the port from 21.03.2011; DGFT licences issued on or after 1 March 2009 will be automatically available in Customs EDI. Exporters and importers must quote the DGFT file/licence number on Shipping Bills and Bills of Entry respectively. Transitional rules require substitution of manual registration numbers with the DGFT file/licence number for licences issued after 1 March 2009 but before implementation. The prior manual registration procedure remains for licences issued up to the pre-implementation cut-off.

Bond registration requirement: Fresh transit and transhipment bonds required for container movement; bank guarantees may be reused.
Shipping agents, shipping lines and Main Line Operators must register fresh Container Bonds for multiple debits under ICES Version 1.5; existing debited bonds will be reaccredited manually and previously submitted bank guarantees remain usable. For movement to CFSs, acceptable bonds are Transit Bond (TR) or General Bond (GB); for movement to ICDs, Transhipment Bond (TP) is required. Both 1st party and 3rd party bonds are permitted, with a one-time authority required from the 3rd party. Carrier agents/MLOs must open fresh PLA accounts for transhipment fee debits and bond rates remain as previously prescribed.

Line of Credit conditions require majority Indian-origin supplies, specified disbursement periods, documentation and FEMA-based regulatory compliance.
The Exim Bank's Line of Credit to EBID finances exports of eligible Indian goods, services, machinery, equipment and consultancy to specified West African member countries, conditioning finance on Foreign Trade Policy eligibility, at least 85 per cent Indian-origin supply, up to 15 per cent external procurement for non-consultancy items, mandatory declaration on prescribed export forms, prohibition of agency commission under the facility except from exporter resources or EEFC balances subject to remittance rules, and procedural implementation through AD Category-I banks under FEMA while preserving other statutory permissions.

Export product description change under Foreign Trade Policy narrows covered steel items and reduces specific input norm quantities.
Modification revises SION C-514 to replace a broad range of non-alloy steel products with Non-Alloy Steel Ingots/Blooms/Billets/Slabs as the export description and adjusts quantitative import input norms: eligible input categories remain but specified input quantities are reduced, with detailed conditional allowances and exclusions tied to manufacturing routes and export product form.

Customs EDI switchover suspends registration and issuance of Release Advices, advising importers/exporters to refrain from transfers.
Implementation of Customs EDI System version 1.5 requires temporary suspension of registration of Incoming Release Advices and suspension of issuance of Release Advice for licences registered at JNCH until the new version is initialized; importers, exporters and CHAs must not transfer or seek issuance of RAs to or from JNCH during the suspension, and RA/TRA staff must comply while reporting any implementation difficulties to the Commissioner.

Classification of software licenses: paper licenses are documents of title while PUK cards are printed matter, affecting customs valuation and indirect tax treatment.
Paper licenses conveying the right to use software are classifiable as documents of title and should be placed under the tariff item for documents conveying the right to use IT software; PUK cards are printed matter. Packaged software with affixed retail sale price is liable to excise duty/CVD on the combined retail price (software plus license) and exempt from service tax under the IT software category; where RSP is not required and valuation follows section 4 rules, excise duty/CVD excludes the value representing the right to use, which remains subject to service tax.

Radioactive contamination monitoring: Japanese food imports require FSSAI-authorized BRIT testing and No Objection Certificate before clearance.
FSSAI must have authorised officers sample and arrange BRIT testing of food imports from Japan for radioactive contamination, and Customs clearance at ports, airports, ICDs/CFSs and land customs stations is to be granted only after FSSAI issues a No Objection Certificate; a Public Notice and Standing Order should be issued for guidance.

Labeling requirements: Imported food must carry prescribed label particulars and meet minimum remaining shelf life at import.
Imported food articles must satisfy labeling requirements verified by authorized officers at inspection, with labels showing product name, ingredient list in descending order, vegetarian/non vegetarian declaration, manufacturer and importer addresses, net weight or volume, batch/lot/code number, manufacturing month and year, a Best Before indication (or equivalent expressed in months), and nutritional information. Imported food must also retain at least sixty percent of its original shelf life at importation unless exempted by competent authority; trade parties must comply and report implementation difficulties to the Commissioner of Customs (Import).

Drawback claims procedure streamlined: mandatory documentation, deficiency cure, registration and verification ensure timely processing.
Prescribes a streamlined procedure for processing drawback claims under Section 74 by specifying mandatory documentary requirements, intake and preliminary scrutiny steps, issuance of Deficiency Memos and acknowledgements, registration upon compliance, time-bar consequences for failure to cure deficiencies, and post-registration verification including NPC/NOC or recovery-cell checks; allows substituted documents in genuine cases and sealed handover of NOC requests for outstation Customs Houses, with immediate effect and annexed templates for deficiency memo and acknowledgement.

Securitized debt instruments now require standardized listing, detailed pool/tranche reporting, and mandatory Actual/Actual convention.
SEBI's Listing Agreement mandates that SPDEs seeking listing must provide recurring pool , tranche and selected loan level disclosures (monthly statements within seven days), ensure timely payments and maintenance of credit enhancement, designate a Compliance Officer, facilitate dematerialisation and demat credit within two working days, deposit a security for public issues (1% with 50% cash subject to cap), and follow Actual/Actual day count convention; Exchanges may approve relaxations with SEBI approval and may take action for non compliance.

Filing of Bill of Entry required for duty-exempt display and demonstration imports even where no customs duty is payable.
The notice directs that a Bill of Entry must be filed in terms of Section 46 for all imports cleared under Notification No 3/89 Customs (goods for display or demonstration), even where no customs duty is payable under that notification, and asks that implementation difficulties be reported to the issuing office.

Carnet de Passages duty-free import requires documented re-export and submission of shipping documentation for customs closure.
Vehicles temporarily imported duty free under the Carnet de Passages en Douane must be re-exported within carnet validity with Volet d'Entree and Volet de Sortie properly endorsed; Form X and the Carnet book are required on import, and re-export must be supported by a shipping bill and submission of shipping bill copy, bill of lading, mate receipt and original Volet de Sortie to the Carnet Section at the Unaccompanied Baggage Centre for centralized monitoring and file closure.