Single Window NOC Module: confine PGA regulatory checks to the into-bond stage, allow temporary release pending NOC decision.
Regulatory checks by PGAs shall be completed at the into bond stage for Bills of Entry for warehousing so that ex-bond clearance does not trigger duplicate PGA referrals; where immediate PGA clearance is not practicable, goods may be allowed temporary release under the statutory facility permitting release pending final PGA decision until the outstanding NOC is decided.

Dedicated taxpayer services structure centralises oversight and monitoring, redesignating leadership to manage grievances and e services.
A dedicated administrative vertical for taxpayer services is established in CBDT: Member (Revenue) is redesignated Member (Revenue and Tax Payer Services) and will oversee delivery and monitoring. Principal DGIT (Administration) is redesignated Principal DGIT (Administration and Tax Payer Services) and will supervise two new national directorates - Tax Payer Services-I (grievance oversight, monitoring, Citizens' Charter, TRP scheme) and Tax Payer Services-II (E services education, E service grievances, systems coordination, National Call Centre). Field formations are restructured with re designated Commissioners and nodal officers responsible for time bound service delivery and monthly grievance reporting.

Taxpayer services vertical set up to centralize oversight, designate new roles, and split functions between grievance and e service directorates.
A dedicated Tax Payer Services vertical is established in CBDT with Member (Revenue) re designated as Member (Revenue and Tax Payer Services) overseeing it; Pr. DGIT (Administration) is re designated to supervise delivery and monitoring. Two directorates-Tax Payer Services I and Tax Payer Services II-are created with defined functions: TPS I for grievance oversight, Aayakar Seva Kendra coordination, field monitoring, Citizens' Charter review and TRP monitoring; TPS II for e services education, e grievance handling, coordination with Systems and CPCs, National Call Centre support and e service reporting. Field offices are restructured similarly with designated officers responsible for time bound service delivery, grievance reporting and escalation, and staffing to be met within sanctioned strength.

Buy-back treated as capital gains; authorities directed not to recharacterise pre-existing buy-backs as dividend for tax purposes.
Consideration received on buy-back of a company's own shares between 01.04.2000 and 31.05.2013 is to be taxed as capital gains and not as dividend, pursuant to the deeming provision treating such receipts as capital gains and the exclusion of buy-back payments from the definition of dividend; tax authorities are directed not to issue fresh assessment/reassessment or TDS non-deduction notices for such pre-01.06.2013 buy-backs and to complete pending assessments in line with this position.

Grievance redress: PG Call Centre to obtain outbound feedback and mandate routine official reviews to improve disposal quality.
A PG Call Centre shall place outbound calls to the last official in the grievance disposal chain and obtain citizen feedback on quality of redress. Administrative officers at multiple levels are required to perform regular reviews of disposed and pending grievances to assess timeliness and quality, with the objective of removing root causes and improving overall grievance redress by CBEC and its offices.

Unclaimed mutual fund amounts allowed in dedicated liquid plans; enhanced disclosure and payout rules secure claimant principal and earned income.
Unclaimed redemption and dividend amounts may be invested in a separate Liquid or Money Market Mutual Fund plan without exit load and with TER capped at fifty basis points. Mutual Funds and AMFI must publish lists of investors with unclaimed amounts on their websites (accessible upon proper credentials) and disclose prevailing values in periodic account statements. Claims within three years receive principal plus income earned; claims after three years receive principal plus income only up to the end of the third year, with subsequent income directed to investor education. Simple and performing schemes explicitly include retirement benefit and liquid/money market schemes.

Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016: mandatory KYC/CDD, digital/V CIP onboarding, CKYCR uploads, risk based monitoring and sanctions screening.
Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016 mandates board approved KYC/AML/CFT policies for all RBI regulated entities, prescribes definitions, CDD/CIP requirements including beneficial owner identification, a risk based approach with customer risk categorisation and periodic KYC updation, and authorises Digital KYC, Aadhaar e KYC and V CIP subject to technical and security standards. REs must upload KYC records to CKYCR, retain transaction/identification records, file STR/CTR with FIU IND, screen daily against sanctions lists and implement wire transfer information requirements, with enhanced due diligence for high risk customers and specified procedures for small accounts and simplified onboarding.

Know Your Customer rules: mandatory risk based CDD, digital/V CIP onboarding, CKYCR uploads, sanctions screening and FIU reporting.
Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016 requires Reserve Bank regulated entities to implement Board approved KYC policies comprising Customer Acceptance Policy, Risk Management, Customer Identification Procedures and transaction monitoring; mandates documented ML/TF risk assessments and a Risk Based Approach, prescribes Customer Due Diligence for individuals and legal entities including Aadhaar/PAN/OVDs and beneficial owner identification, sets rules for non face to face onboarding (OTP e KYC and V CIP) with technical and audit standards, requires periodic KYC updation, CKYCR upload of KYC records, reporting to FIU IND, wire transfer traceability, and daily sanctions screening and freezing obligations under UAPA and WMD Act procedures.

Central Public Information Officer designations are revised, with appeals routed to the designated Joint Commissioner under information law.
Central Public Information Officer designation for the Airport and Administration Commissionerate is revised by assigning Assistant Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and the Chief Accounts Officer as Central Public Information Officers for their respective charges. Persons aggrieved by a Central Public Information Officer may submit a first appeal to the Joint Commissioner of Customs (Airport and Administration) under the Right to Information appellate mechanism. Implementation-related difficulties may be brought to the notice of the Principal Commissioner of Customs.

Special Valuation Branch investigations proceed with provisional assessments; no routine extra duty deposits unless importer fails to comply.
SVBs investigate related party and other value influencing transactions; they function under jurisdictional Chief Commissioners with DGoV support. Assessments referred to SVBs are provisional but no routine Extra Duty Deposit will be required; failure to provide documents within 60 days permits a 5% security (cash or bank guarantee) for up to three months with one 60 day extension. Importers must submit an initial questionnaire (Annexure A) at filing and fuller documentation (Annexure B) within 60 days; SVBs should issue an Investigation Report within two months (with escalation for extensions). Investigation Reports, not appealable SVB orders, inform finalization of provisional assessments and any further adjudication.

Import quota allocation under Indo Sri Lanka FTA now applies to each financial year, replacing single year aggregate.
Amendment replaces the aggregate quantity description in Annexure 1 of Appendix 2A from availability "during 2015 16" to availability "during each financial year," making Column 4 denote the annual aggregate quantity available for import under the Indo Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement for the specified ITC (HS) codes.

Partnership residency under DTAA: treaty benefits apply where partnership income is taxed as resident in that contracting state.
The India UK DTAA amendment removed the exclusion of UK partnership firms and provides that for partnerships, estates or trusts the term "resident of a Contracting State" applies only to the extent the income is subject to tax in that State as the income of a resident, either in the hands of the entity or in the hands of its partners or beneficiaries. The Central Board clarifies the DTAA applies to a partnership resident of either India or the UK only to that extent.

Electronic Delivery Orders to streamline customs clearance and enable e-invoicing and e-payments while retaining verification safeguards.
Introduction of electronic Delivery Orders to replace paper Delivery Orders aims to simplify Customs clearance and reduce transaction time and costs. Custodians, shipping lines and consol agents must have technical capacity to receive and generate electronic Delivery Orders and are encouraged to adopt electronic invoicing and e-payment to avoid in-person visits. Existing Customs procedures-verification, obtaining out-of-charge, and issuance of gate passes-remain unchanged. Manual Delivery Orders are permitted for specified categories and temporarily when electronic transfer fails. Stakeholders are invited to report implementation difficulties and suggestions.

Customs Single Window expansion enables electronic NOC and lab referrals, streamlining agency clearances and document upload.
The Single Window expansion implements an ICES-based No Objection Certificate module to identify Bills of Entry requiring agency clearance and redirect them to agency officers who will record online determinations (Release, Out of Scope, Reject, Withhold NOC, or Provisional NOC). Customs will rely on agencies' online entries and will grant Out of Charge only after agencies enter Scope or Provisional NOC for all items. A Lab Module will permit online Test Memo generation, sample tracking, and laboratory reporting to support agency testing and recommendations; directories mapping tariff heads and locations to agencies will be managed by Local Systems Managers.

Duplicate PAN identification: update requests undergo RCC duplicity checks and are marked for surrender or forced update.
Core field PAN update requests from service providers are subject to mandatory RCC review, during which RCC may seek reconfirmation or documentation; upon RCC approval the request is queued for an automated duplicity check. If identified duplicates are found to belong to the same person, RCC marks the request duplicate and service providers must re-verify-confirmed duplicates prompt direction to approach the assessing officer for surrender, whereas non-duplicates may be resent with a force-flag for automatic update.

EDD Challan generation role expanded to SVB and EDI appraisers to centralize processing and reduce delays.
EDD payment challan generation is authorized for Special Valuation Branch (SVB) and EDI appraisers in addition to Group Appraisers. This centralized arrangement allows SVB and EDI to generate EDD challans irrespective of the assessing Group to address delays caused by Group Appraisers exiting the Appraising Menu during B/E assessment, thereby streamlining processing and reducing dwell time.

SEZ approvals and co-developer conditions: extensions granted, co-developer limits affirmed, and duty-free benefits restricted for nonessential infrastructure.
The Board extended multiple formal approvals and LoPs subject to implementation timelines and standard SEZ Act and Rules. Co-developer approvals require standard conditions, generally limited to 30-year renewable leases, and tax treatment of lease-related receipts is subject to Assessing Officer scrutiny. Several co-developer proposals were approved with defined scopes; others were rejected where applicants acted as contractors or proposed infrastructure not necessary for SEZs. Duty-free CAPEX and O&M benefits were disallowed for additional facilities serving the Domestic Tariff Area. Rule 74A does not apply where units remain going concerns after restructuring; ownership transfers assessed case by case.

Standard Input Output Norms update: new norms for malted milk food exports set input composition and packaging rules.
SION E-133 establishes input output norms for "Malted Milk Food," specifying allowed input items and their quantities per 1.00 kg of export product, including malted barley/wheat flour, relevant milk products, optional cocoa components for chocolate flavour, cane sugar, permitted food additives approved for the export product, and packaging materials governed by the applicable packing material policy.

Custody of cargo: KSIE appointed custodian at air cargo complex, subject to handling regulations and operational obligations.
M/S Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd. is appointed Customs Cargo Service Provider at the Air Cargo Complex, Karipur, Calicut as custodian of import and export cargo under the Customs Act and Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009. KSIE must provide specified infrastructure, security, storage segregation, electronic connectivity and furnished office accommodation; maintain records; restrict removal of goods except on written permission; obtain insurance; execute required bonds for transit; publish charge schedules; indemnify Customs for loss or damage; and comply with Commissioner directions and regulatory amendments.

Payment of refund/rebate through e-payment: sanctioned amounts credited via NEFT/RTGS to beneficiary bank accounts after bank-certified authorization.
Sanctioned refund/rebate payments will be made by electronic transfer (NEFT/RTGS) after claimants submit a bank certified one time authorization (Annexure A). The refund authority forwards a signed consolidated statement (Annexure B), a consolidated cheque and an electronic copy to the authorized bank, which credits beneficiary accounts after deducting RBI prescribed charges. Banks must generate UTRs and periodic scrolls; the sanctioning authority forwards UTR reports monthly to the PAO for reconciliation and discrepancy reporting.