Exporters: IGST refund claims now subject to risk based verification with prescribed submission and escalation timelines.
Refund claims supported by alleged ITC obtained through fake invoices will be held in abeyance and exporters subject to risk based selection must submit detailed information in Annexure A. Jurisdictional CGST offices shall complete verification within fourteen working days of receipt, with escalation to the Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner if not completed and a subsequent seven working day target for resolution; pending refunds over one month may be raised as grievances for committee review.

Shipping Bill Data Requirements mandate origin codes, standard unit quantities, PTA status, cess details and mandatory invoice IRN upload.
From 15 February 2020 Shipping Bills must include State and District of Origin codes, a Standard Unit Quantity Code with actual quantity, a Preferential/FTA code (or NCPTI if not applicable), and separate GST Compensation Cess details. Export invoices must be uploaded in e-Sanchit and the invoice Image Reference Number with the appropriate document code (380000 for Invoice, 331000 for Invoice cum Packing List) declared in the Shipping Bill.

Imported food testing: must use only FSSAI notified laboratories for sample analysis, and customs to enforce confidentiality.
Imported food samples must be analysed only in FSSAI notified laboratories; customs Authorised Officers at the designated 150 PoEs shall ensure use of those labs. FSSAI has published a consolidated list of 183 NABL accredited notified laboratories and 18 referral laboratories with accreditation validity, testing scope and contact details. The notification supersedes prior authorisations and is implemented with a transition period; lists are maintained and updated on the FSSAI website. Repeated use of the same lab for analysis should be avoided where possible to maintain confidentiality.

Registered Exporter compliance: exporters must submit regular origin statements and respond to verification or face REX annulment.
Exporters under the EU GSP REX self certification system must submit fortnightly statements of Statements on Origin and respond to EU verification requests within prescribed time limits or face annulment of their REX number. A Statement on Origin can be issued retrospectively from the date of the registration application once the REX number is allotted, but cannot be issued before the REX number exists in the EU system.

Social Welfare Surcharge on imports must be paid in cash; duty credit scrips cannot discharge the surcharge going forward.
Social Welfare Surcharge (SWS) is a customs duty on imported goods, calculated on the aggregate of duties, taxes and cesses, and is additional to other customs charges. Duty credit scrips under export incentive schemes are a mode of payment for Basic Customs Duty and Additional Customs Duty but do not envisage debit of SWS. Following judicial clarification that SWS is not exempt, SWS must be paid in cash on future imports, while past debits of SWS in duty credit scrips will be accepted as duly collected revenue.

Brand declaration requirements: specify each coffee brand and variant separately to secure correct customs valuation and checks.
Importers and customs brokers must specify the Brand (or declare explicitly as unbranded) and each variant/quality of instant coffee as intrinsic parts of the description when filing the Bill of Entry; different brands and qualities must be itemised separately because valuation varies by brand and specification. Assessing groups must verify brand and type before assessment and Bills of Entry with incomplete details will be subjected to First Check examination. This Public Notice is to be treated as a Standing Order for officers and staff.

HS code harmonisation: MEIS Appendix amended to reclassify mobile phone headings, aligning export classification under updated HS entries.
Amendment revises Appendix 3B Table 2 of the MEIS to reallocate specified ITC HS 2017 codes and descriptions to new mobile phone headings, aligning the MEIS tariff entries with updated HS notifications and applying prospectively to exports from the stated effective date.

Social Welfare Surcharge cannot be debited through duty credit scrips and must be paid in cash, past debits retained.
Social Welfare Surcharge (SWS) is an additional customs duty calculated on aggregate duties, taxes and cesses on imported goods and is not an exemption covered by the Foreign Trade Policy or related exemption notifications. Duty credit scrips under export incentive schemes function as a mode of payment for specified customs and excise duties, not as a waiver of other levies; accordingly SWS cannot be debited through such scrips and must be paid in cash. Past debits of SWS to duty credit scrips will be accepted and no cash recoveries will be insisted for those cases.

Transhipment permission for carrier operations enabling regulated air cargo movement subject to bond and regulatory compliance.
Permission is granted to M/S. InterGlobe Aviation Ltd to act as carrier and customs cargo service provider for the transhipment of import and export cargo by air between Air Cargo Complex, Mumbai and seven destination customs stations, subject to the company's export and import bonds and bank guarantee and to compliance with Chapter VIII of the Customs Act, the Goods Imported (Conditions of Transshipment) Regulations, 1995, the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009, relevant CBIC circulars and public notices; the permission is valid only while the required bond/bank guarantee remain in force, noted until 09.12.2020.

Import declaration accuracy: Correct, detailed descriptions required to determine customs valuation for glass beads, including coatings and shape.
Import declarations must contain clear, explicit descriptions and all material specifications of glass beads to determine correct customs valuation. Declarations should state whether beads are branded or unbranded; faceted or otherwise; specific or assorted in shape, size and colour; and whether any surface coatings or treatments are present. These particulars must be included in the Bill of Entry and import documents, and any implementation difficulties should be reported to the customs office.

Extension of time for FORM GST TRAN-1 submissions due to portal technical difficulties, allowing recommended registrants to file late.
Extension of time is provided for submission of FORM GST TRAN-1 for a class of registered persons unable to file by the due date because of technical difficulties on the common portal. The Commissioner, relying on rule-based powers and Council recommendations, supersedes the prior order insofar as inconsistent and fixes a new cut-off for submission for those cases recommended by the Council while preserving actions or omissions before supersession.

Designated income-tax authority to share taxpayer data with market regulator under an information-exchange framework for market surveillance purposes.
Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) is designated to furnish taxpayer-related information to the securities market regulator via request-based, suo moto and automatic exchanges, including PAN/KYC, financial particulars, Form 61A and TDS/TCS data; disclosures require an opinion of necessity for the regulator's functions and are governed by a Memorandum of Understanding detailing modalities, confidentiality, data preservation and timelines.

Certificate of Origin authorization added - Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Centre and branches now authorized to issue non preferential certificates.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has added Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Centre and its two branches to S.No. 9 (Karnataka) of Appendix 2E of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015 2020, authorising that agency to issue Certificate of Origin Non Preferential; the amendment is made under paragraph 2.04 and continues earlier administrative recognition referenced in Public Notice No.11/2009 2014 dated 07.05.2013.

Sanction of prosecution: prescribed internal routing and approval channels for Group A customs officer prosecution proposals.
Sanction of prosecution for Group 'A' customs officers where the Prevention of Corruption Act is not invoked shall be processed by the Commissioner (Investigation Customs) and the Commissioner (GST Investigation) through the Member in charge of the Zone; proposals from DRI/DGGSTI shall be routed through Member (Investigation), CBIC. Cases involving the Prevention of Corruption Act must be routed to the Directorate General of Vigilance. Chief Commissioners and Director Generals must circulate these guidelines and report difficulties to the Board.

Paperless LPCO upload requirement: beneficiaries barred from self-upload; PGAs must upload authorisations and ensure ICEGATE email registration.
Implementation of PGA eSANCHIT mandates electronic uploading of digitally signed LPCOs by PGAs; three additional PGAs are enabled and beneficiaries will be deactivated from uploading previously issued LPCOs from the cut off. PGAs must upload LPCOs issued in the 15 days before the cut off and may upload earlier LPCOs. Communication and IRN transmission will use ICEGATE registered email addresses, with simplified auto registration based on GST email ids for limited eSANCHIT functions. Customs formations must publicise this requirement and assist beneficiaries with correct ICEGATE email registration.

Authorization under Rule 86A permits specified state tax officers to exercise duties within their territorial jurisdiction.
Authorization under Rule 86A delegates duties under that rule to Senior Joint Commissioner of State Tax, Joint Commissioner of State Tax, Deputy Commissioner of State Tax and Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, subject to exercise only within their respective territorial jurisdiction; the order notes the authorization is effective from 26.12.2019 and is issued by the Commissioner, State Tax, West Bengal.

Exporters: follow SOP, submit Annexure A for withheld IGST refunds; CGST verification within 14 working days.
The SOP requires that refunds suspected of fraudulent IGST monetisation be kept in abeyance, with selected exporters' consignments subject to 100% examination and verification driven by data analytics. Exporters must submit the Annexure A dataset and documents to jurisdictional CGST authorities; verification is to be completed within 14 working days, with escalation to the Pr. Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner and a further seven working days for resolution. Annexure A lists detailed GST, transactional, financial and documentary evidence; Annexure B provides escalation email contacts.

All Industry Rates revision for duty drawback updates tariff-specific rates and claim suffixes, affecting multiple export sectors.
Revision of All Industry Rates (AIR) assigns tariff-specific AIRs with applicable caps and requires exporters to suffix tariff items with 'B' to claim standard AIRs and 'D' where an alternative lower AIR applies for apparel produced under the Special Advance Authorization Scheme. The revision adjusts rates across multiple sectors due to changes in duties, import input prices, export FOB values and import intensity, introduces new tariff items, revises certain descriptions, deletes drawback entries linked to Section 65 units, and modifies caps for selected motor vehicle-related items.

Shipping bill data requirement: include district, SQC, PTA/FTA details and cess to improve export data quality.
Exporters must furnish additional mandatory fields in the Shipping Bill including State and District of Origin, Standard Unit Quantity Code (SQC), applicable Preferential/Free Trade Agreement particulars, and GST Compensation Cess to improve export data quality and enable monitoring of exports under PTAs; implementation issues are to be reported to the Additional Commissioner (Air Cargo Export).

Shipping bills must list state/district of origin, SQC, PTA status and GST compensation cess; invoices require IRN uploads.
From 15.02.2020, each Shipping Bill item must mandatorily declare State and District of Origin (using prescribed codes), Standard Unit Quantity Code and quantity, Preferential/FTA status using prescribed codes (or a non preference code if none), and GST Compensation Cess amount in the Single Window Table; invoices must be uploaded to e Sanchit with document codes and IRNs; GSTIN declaration is mandatory for GST registered persons.