Section 65 operations in public bonded warehouses allowed to continue temporarily, easing disruption to trade.
The Board authorises continuation of Section 65 manufacturing or other operations in public bonded warehouses, but only for operators who had such permission as of Circular 38/2018, and only up to 31 January 2019; ordinarily Section 65 operations are to be undertaken in private bonded warehouses licensed under Section 58, and the Board may be approached for clarifications.

Export obligation enforcement: failure to submit EODC triggers duty plus interest recovery and bond/BG enforcement.
Importers/license holders must submit EODC or proof of export obligation fulfillment within prescribed periods; failing which proportional duties and applicable interest on the unfulfilled obligation are immediately payable and recoverable. Field formations shall issue a simple notice and may keep cases in abeyance only where the licence holder shows a pending DGFT application with no action due on their part. Otherwise recovery proceeds under bond terms and Section 142, including encashment of bonds/BG, detention and sale of goods, and other recovery measures, while confiscation and penalty proceedings may also be initiated where warranted.

Self-contained minutes requirements to record items, HS codes, quantities, UOM and FOB/CIF values for transparency and reuse.
Minutes of Norms Committees must be self-contained and include export and import items with ITS(HS) codes where feasible, list quantities, unit of measure and FOB/CIF values instead of stating "as applied for," and, for any amendments to ad-hoc norms, reproduce complete details rather than only the amended portion to ensure transparency and enable reuse for advance authorisations.

Change of name in Beneficial Owner account allowed with affidavit, newspaper publications and KYC; depositories to implement safeguards.
Change of name in a Beneficial Owner (BO) account for individuals, where official gazette publication is not available, is allowed subject to submission of a request letter, a sworn affidavit before a Notary Public/Magistrate of First Class/Executive Magistrate stating reason and address, paper publication in one local and one national newspaper, and KYC in the changed name; DPs shall collect self attested copies, verify with originals and retain records, and depositories must implement the provisions within three months, maintain an audit trail, amend relevant rules and notify DPs.

Tax reimbursement for charitable food distribution: procedural framework for eligible institutions to claim central GST assistance.
Reimbursement of central tax and the Central Government's share of integrated tax is available under the Seva Bhoj Yojna to eligible charitable/religious institutions for listed raw food items used solely for free food distribution. Institutions must enrol with the Ministry of Culture, obtain a SBY-UIN from the jurisdictional nodal Central Tax officer for each State/UT, submit quarterly claims in FORM SBY-03 with supplier invoices bearing the enrolment numbers and a Chartered Accountant's certificate, and comply with prescribed eligibility, documentation, PFMS disbursal, reporting and audit requirements.

Ratified norms validity extended; other applicants may use those norms to obtain advance authorizations during their validity.
Norms ratified by any Norms Committee on or after 01.04.2015 for Advance Authorizations under paragraph 4.07 shall be valid for the remainder of the Foreign Trade Policy period or for three years from ratification, whichever is later, and, since the Norms Committee decisions are published as minutes on the DGFT website, other applicants for Advance Authorization are eligible to apply for and obtain authorizations based on those ratified norms on a repeat basis during their validity.

Advance Authorisation revalidation: second six month revalidation permitted to align imports with fulfilled export obligation via online form.
Regional Authorities may grant a first six month revalidation of an Advance Authorisation and a further second six month revalidation from the expiry of the first where required to make imports proportionate to export obligation already fulfilled; both revalidation requests must be filed online in ANF 4D. The change amends the Handbook of Procedures under powers conferred by the Foreign Trade Policy to provide the second six month revalidation facility for original authorisation holders.

Annual return deadline extended for affected GST period to accommodate electronic filing system delays by government order.
The Order declares that the annual return for the period from 1st July, 2017 to 31st March, 2018 shall be furnished on or before 31st March, 2019, inserting an Explanation into section 44 to extend the statutory filing timeline because the electronic return system was not yet operational, and it is deemed to have come into force from 11th December, 2018.

FDI in e commerce limited to marketplace model under automatic route; inventory based FDI prohibited and strict control conditions imposed.
The policy permits 100% FDI under the automatic route only in marketplace models and prohibits FDI in inventory based e commerce; e commerce entities must operate on a B2B basis, not B2C. Marketplace entities must not own or control vendor inventory (control is deemed if over 25% of a vendor's purchases are from the marketplace or its group), must not influence sale prices, must provide vendor services on an arm's length, fair and non discriminatory basis, and must ensure payments conform with Reserve Bank guidelines. Entities with equity participation by the marketplace or its group cannot sell on the same platform.

Country-by-Country Reporting deadline extended for certain constituent entities to alleviate genuine filing hardship caused by reporting accounting year alignment.
The Board extended the timeframe for furnishing Country-by-Country Reports by constituent entities, adopting a twelve-month standard period from the end of the reporting accounting year and a six-month period where a systemic failure in the parent's jurisdiction is notified; as a one-time administrative measure, the Board extended the filing deadline for constituent entities for reporting accounting years ending up to February 28, 2018, to March 31, 2019, to address genuine hardship caused by calendar-year reporting and lack of exchange arrangements.

Taxation of long-term capital gains: new concessional regime applies to specified equity transfers, replacing prior exemption.
Finance Act, 2018 prescribes the income tax rate structure and surcharge/cess regime, withdraws the general exemption for specified long term capital gains and introduces a concessional tax regime with consequential valuation and computation rules, expands the domestic nexus for taxing non resident business profits by aligning "business connection" with modified PE concepts and by creating a "Significant Economic Presence" test for digital and other prescribed transactions, and makes multiple targeted amendments to dividend taxation, stock to capital conversion, insolvency linked loss carry forwards, deductions, reporting, withholding and assessment procedures.

Cancellation of GST registration: officers must accept complete REG-16 applications promptly while safeguarding tax liabilities and ledger reversals.
Applications for cancellation of GST registration in FORM GST REG-16 must include specified particulars and appear on the jurisdictional officer's dashboard; proper officers should accept complete applications promptly and issue FORM GST REG-19 with the effective date sought (not earlier than application date). Incomplete applications or where the transferee entity is unregistered require written notice of discrepancy and a seven working day reply period before possible rejection; satisfactory replies permit cancellation. Cancellation does not extinguish liabilities and requires filing of final return in FORM GSTR-10 and settlement of input/output tax on stocks by debiting electronic credit or cash ledger, with ledger balances becoming unavailable from the effective cancellation date except to discharge liabilities up to final return filing.

Disposal of unclaimed cargo: statutory notice, NOC and regulatory clearances, valuation and e-auction leading to release on payment.
Custodians must list uncleared imports over thirty days, notify importers under Section 48, prepare inventories, obtain Customs NOC and any regulatory clearances or testing, value lots through approved valuers, and conduct e-auctions with Customs oversight; post-auction duties are assessed and goods released on payment, with sale proceeds disbursed under Section 150 and provisions for destruction where consignments are unfit.

AEO programme digitization enables online filing and processing of AEO TI applications while manual filings remain available temporarily.
AEO Programme digitization implements an online filing and processing mechanism for AEO TI applications through a new web portal; applicants must register, log in, complete the application form and upload required annexures. Manual filing will continue concurrently for a transitional period while stakeholders migrate to the digital platform. The notice also aligns certification validity with review and onsite post-security compliance assessment cycles, allows ad hoc reviews if compliance concerns arise, and directs reporting of implementation difficulties to designated Customs client relationship officers.

Customs Brokers Examination to move online in 2019; candidates must submit photos and contact details by deadline.
Written examinations for customs broker licensing will be held online from 2019 and administered by the designated customs training academy; Commissioners must forward candidate information to the academy by 31.12.2018, and the 47 eligible candidates must submit two passport-size photos (JPG/JPEG/PNG, 20-60 KB), mobile numbers and e mail addresses to the CBLR Section at Tuticorin by 27.12.2018.

Goods registration online via ICEGATE enabled for eligible BEs after duty payment and arrival, with system error alerts.
Importers, customs brokers and other stakeholders may apply for goods registration online via ICEGATE for eligible BEs after applicable duties are paid and goods have arrived; ICEGATE will display specific errors if a BE is ineligible or not ready, and stakeholders should report any difficulties to the Joint Commissioner (EDI).

Discontinuance of anti-dumping duty ends levy on viscous filament yarn; stakeholders must be informed promptly.
Discontinuance of anti-dumping duty on imports of viscous filament yarn from the People's Republic of China is announced after the Designated Authority concluded the duty, in force for a decade, has fulfilled its purpose; a judicial interim direction requires respondents to inform importers and exporters of the pendency of the challenge to those findings, and this notice conveys that direction to all concerned parties.

Exception to electronic filing allows manual Form 13 submissions for NRIs and residents, temporary relief for TDS/TCS applications.
Exercising powers under section 119(1), the Board temporarily permits manual submission of Form No. 13 by non-resident Indians unable to register on TRACES and by resident applicants, allowing filing before the TDS officer or at ASK Centers until the specified cut-off dates, as an exception to the rule-mandated electronic filing requirement for lower or nil TDS/TCS applications under Section 197 and Section 206C(9).

Tax Audit Report upload procedure on VYAS Assessment Module requires online filing, viewing, and mandatory compliance by assessing authorities.
VYAS Assessment Module procedure is prescribed for uploading and viewing Tax Audit Reports through valid login credentials, selection of the assessment file upload menu, entry of TIN, choice of assessment year, browsing and saving the file, and use of the Register R5A/R5A entry to access the "View Tax Audit Report" and download functions where a report is available against the TIN. Tax Audit Reports for FY 2016-17 that had been prepared and sent manually are required to be uploaded on the module by 31.12.2018, and all future audit reports are to be uploaded online through the module.

Definition of raw sugar clarified as specific HS classifications for preferential TRQ export to the USA.
The term raw cane sugar is defined for TRQ purposes as all kinds of raw cane sugar having HS Code 170113 and 170114 at six digit level, replacing the generic reference to "raw sugar" in the allocation procedure, and thereby notifying those six digit HS classifications as the operative product description for preferential export under the Tariff Rate Quota to the USA.