Coastal carriage exemptions streamline customs formalities while mandating coastal manifests and marking for domestic coastal shipments.
Coastal vessels carrying exclusively domestic coastal goods are exempted from specified Customs Act formalities, with a new requirement that coastal arrival and departure manifests be prepared in duplicate and submitted to the proper officer before arrival and departure when operating at EXIM berths. Containers and non containerised consignments must be marked "For Coastal Carriage Only," containers sealed with tamper proof one time seals, and no routine examination of coastal goods is required. The relaxations apply to Indian vessels and eligible foreign vessels under the Ministry of Shipping policy, subject to safeguards including random preventive checks and separate berthing where both coastal and foreign traffic exist.

Certificate of Origin (Non Preferential) authorisation: new agencies added to FTP appendix to issue origin certificates.
Authorisation under the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020 formally enlists specified agencies to issue Certificate of Origin (Non-Preferential). The Public Notice adds the named bodies to Appendix 2E, specifying their serial placements by state, and thereby authorises them to perform non preferential origin certification under the FTP administrative framework.

Custodianship of premises granted for perishable handling, subject to notified conditions and commissioner concurrence.
Custodianship is granted to M/s Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited for the Perishable Handling Centre ''AISATS Cool Port'' as an additional premises under the existing Air Cargo Complex custodian arrangement, subject to the conditions of Notification No. 23/2008 and the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009, with alterations to buildings or plans requiring the Commissioner of Customs' concurrence and the custodianship being co-terminus with the existing notified custodianship.

Licensing of special warehouses governs storage for duty free, ship, airline and diplomatic stores with transitional licensing requirements.
Insertion of Section 58A creates a licensing regime for special warehouses storing dutiable goods for duty free shops, ship stores, airline stores and diplomatic stores; Board notifications and regulations specify eligible end uses. Existing licensees may operate under customs lock during a limited transitional period but must apply under the Special Warehouse Licensing Regulation within the prescribed window to continue storage beyond that period. Duty free shops in customs areas are treated as points of sale, not warehouses; city and airport warehouses that can be customs locked qualify for licensing. Recovery of costs may be by merchant over time or cost recovery as determined locally.

One-time-lock requirement mandates serialised bottle seals endorsed on entry and transport documents to permit warehouse deposit.
Containers or closed conveyances removed from a customs station for deposit into a warehouse must be affixed by the proper officer with a serially numbered one-time-lock bottle seal; the OTL number and date/time of affixation must be endorsed on the bill of entry and transport document. Warehouse keepers inspect seals and permit unloading only if seals are intact. Customs stations must record the OTL number, bill of entry, truck/container number, date/time and the affixing officer's details. The Commissioner may exempt movements where the nature or transport of goods makes sealing impracticable.

Triple duty bond requirement now mandates bond for warehoused imports, covering movement and accounting obligations.
An importer must execute a triple duty bond at the customs station of import for goods cleared into a warehouse, the bond remaining valid until goods are cleared for home consumption or exported. The bond covers movement from the import station to the warehouse, transfers between warehouses, and the due accounting of goods while stored. The prescribed bond formats have been finalized and supersede earlier bond forms.

Zonal arrangement for VAT administration reclassifies municipal wards into twelve zones including e commerce and special categories.
The circular implements a zonal arrangement for VAT administration by classifying municipal wards into twelve administrative zones, including designated categories for E commerce, KCS, and a Special Zone; it supersedes the prior circular of 04.05.2016 and shall commence with effect from 03.06.2016.

Solvency certificate requirement: importers must furnish bank solvency equal to stated maximum duty when applying for private bonded warehouse license.
Applicants for private bonded warehouse licences must furnish a solvency certificate from a scheduled bank equivalent to the maximum customs duty they declare will be involved on goods stored at any one time. Central, State and Union Territory administrations and their undertakings are exempt. EoUs, EHTP and STPI units are exempt because their security arrangements are governed by the Foreign Trade Policy. Solvency requirements for AEOs and ACPs are governed by their respective circulars.

Custodianship of perishable cargo facility granted to Air India SATS Cool Port, subject to existing customs notification and regulations.
Custodianship of the AISATS Cool Port is granted to M/s Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd. as an additional annex to the notified Air Cargo Complex, subject to the conditions of Notification No. 23/2008 and the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009; custodianship is co-terminus with the earlier notification (valid to 31.03.2021) and the custodian must not alter plans, boundaries or buildings without the Commissioner of Customs' concurrence.

Indirect tax dispute resolution: declaration to designated authority suspends appeals while declarant deposits specified sums and obtains discharge.
Indirect Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme permits a party in appeal to file a declaration with a designated authority appointed by the Commissioner; prescribed forms govern declaration, acknowledgement, deposit reporting and issuance of a discharge order. An acknowledgement by the designated authority suspends appeal proceedings for the prescribed period, and upon issuance and verification of the discharge order the Commissioner removes the appeal from pendency as disposed, without precedential effect. Commissioners must publicize the scheme and communicate designated authority details to the Directorate of Legal Affairs.

Interest on warehoused goods: payment deferred until ex-bonding; bank guarantees replace pre-extension payment requirement for extensions.
Following the requirement to furnish a bank guarantee as security for deferred duty and interest, the Board withdraws the need to collect interest or issue a demand before permitting extensions of the warehousing period; any interest payable shall be paid at the time of ex-bonding of the goods, while previously granted industry-specific exemptions remain operative and implementation difficulties may be reported to the Board.

Warehouse code requirement mandates use of individual registered warehouse codes for electronic filings, enabling record-based controls.
Amendments to Chapter IX and related notifications create a regime replacing physical escorting with record-based controls, requiring transitional compliance to remove customs locks, use of serially numbered one-time-locks for movements, distinct licensing for special warehouses storing notified goods, mandated sample-drawing and recordkeeping by warehouse keepers, computerization of inventory records, and removal of the ICES default warehouse code in favor of individual registered warehouse codes for electronic filings.

Standard unit quantity code compliance required; waivers and procedural adjustments permitted to address trade incompatibilities.
A single Unit Quantity Code (UQC) per tariff item must be declared in Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills, with comprehensive descriptions to improve EDI data quality and prevent mis-declaration and undervaluation. Where UQC implementation creates genuine difficulties such as in MRP assessments or conflicts with trade practice, delegated waiver powers are provided to Group AC/DCs or ACS/DCs (Shed) with Additional Commissioner concurrence; RMS cases requiring UQC change must be returned to the assessment group and trade must declare correctly at the first instance.

Designated authority under Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme assigns jurisdictional commissioners to act as authority for taxpayer declarations.
The Scheme allows a declarant to resolve appeals pending before Commissioners of Income Tax (Appeals) concerning disputed tax and specified tax. Principal Chief Commissioners must notify the designated authority, namely the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Income Tax exercising statutory jurisdiction over the declarant; notifications must include all Principal Commissioners and Commissioners for TDS and Exemptions in the region and compliance reported to the Board.

Restriction on redemption: temporary limits during systemic market illiquidity with exemptions for small redemptions and board approval.
Restriction on redemption may be imposed only for market-wide illiquidity, market failures, exchange disruptions, or exceptional operational force majeure despite adequate disaster recovery. Such restriction requires specific approval of AMC Boards and Trustees, immediate intimation to SEBI, prominent disclosure in scheme documents, and is limited to a period not exceeding 10 working days in any 90 day period. Small redemption requests are exempted from restriction and larger redemptions must be partially processed up to the exempted amount. AMCs must maintain internal liquidity management and cannot use restriction for issuer-specific illiquidity or poor investment decisions.

Clearance restriction for precious stones and metals: mandated transshipment to Bharat Diamond Bourse under specified procedures.
Import consignments of diamonds, precious stones, precious metals, semi-precious stones, pearls, jewellery and industrial diamonds shall not be cleared at Air Cargo Complex, Sahar and must be cleared at the Precious Cargo Customs Clearance Centre (PCCCC) at the Bharat Diamond Bourse after prescribed procedures. Exceptions allow voluminous precious metal alloys exceeding 24 x 24 x 24 inches or 30 kg to be cleared at ACC with valuation assistance. Gold and dore bars remain eligible for clearance at ACC. Consignments must be declared as transshipment cargo to BDB, escorted to MMTC strong room, transferred under preventive escort to PCCCC, and improper filings at ACC will be transferred for adjudication.

Enactment of Finance Act makes Budget 2016-17 amendments effective from assent, including specified service tax notifications.
Enactment of the Finance Act (28 of 2016) occurred on presidential assent dated 14 May 2016 and the Act has been published in the Gazette. Certain Union Budget 2016-17 amendments are effective from that assent date and include notification Nos. 13/2016 ST and 14/2016 ST and specified entries in notification Nos. 9/2016 ST and 10/2016 ST dated 1 March 2016.

Extension of filing deadlines for corporate e forms and LLP annual returns with waiver of additional fees allowed.
The Ministry authorised a one time administrative concession extending the period during which a waiver of additional fees applies to company e forms due in the specified filing window and moved the final filing date so companies may file electronically without additional fees. Separately, the filing deadline for LLP annual return (Form 11) for the stated financial year was extended to a later final date, allowing LLPs to submit Form 11 without payment of additional fees.

Custodian Delivery Order endorsement removed, allowing custodians to issue gate passes and effect delivery without officer stamping.
Endorsement and stamping on the Custodian's Delivery Order at Container Freight Stations is dispensed with; officers at CFSs are directed not to require or place signatures/stamps on delivery orders issued by custodians once an Out of Charge order has been given, permitting custodians to issue gate passes and effect delivery without further endorsement by Customs staff.

Ex-bond bill of entry must be filed on ICES and verified via ICEGATE before warehouse removal.
Ex-bond bills of entry for clearance of warehoused goods must be filed on ICES and will be assessed by the customs station of import. The importer or owner must present the assessed bill and the proper officer's clearance order to the jurisdictional bond officer, who shall verify particulars on ICEGATE and, if matched, permit removal by affixing a dated signature; on mismatch the bond officer shall withhold removal and escalate to the Deputy or Assistant Commissioner for resolution with the customs station of import.