Sealing of export packages must be approved by the Collector to prevent tampering while accommodating trade practices and local conditions.
Sealing of export packages must prevent tampering and damage during transit, and the Collector of Central Excise shall approve the manner and method of affixing seals for classes or individual assessees, taking into account trade practice, sealing technology and local conditions while balancing revenue protection with exporters' facilitation and encouraging modern sealing methods.

Consent requirement under SICA: fiscal concessions to be decided case-by-case; central government to convey consent through DGIT Admn as nodal agency.
Circulars Nos. 523 and 576 are withdrawn because they did not address the statutory consent requirement under the Sick Industrial Companies Act; fiscal concessions or financial assistance for rehabilitation must now be considered on individual merits and consent or denial will be conveyed by the Central Government. Prior cases decided under the withdrawn circulars need not be reopened. The Director-General of Income-tax (Admn.) is designated as the nodal coordinating office for communication between the tax administration and industrial reconstruction authorities.

Embroidery machine classification: 'Tajima' machines ruled non-vertical, altering tariff treatment for embroidered fabrics.
The Board examined whether the 'Tajima' embroidery machine is a vertical type-since vertical classification would affect tariff treatment-and, after consulting field formations and technical opinions that the fabric moves horizontally while needles operate vertically, concluded that the 'Tajima' machine is not a vertical type and instructed field formations and trade accordingly.

Excise exemption: processed khadi and polyvastra entitled to nil basic excise duty where chapter-wide exemptions apply.
Where full exemption is provided to processed fabrics under the relevant chapters, polyvastra and processed khadi cloth remain entitled to the nil rate of basic excise duty; the prior specific exemption was otiose and its Budgetary withdrawal should not justify denial of the nil rate to these fabrics.

Manufacture from specified pulp: concessional excise applies when pulp-to-paper processing occurs within the same factory.
Concessional central excise rates under Notifications Nos. 22/94-C.E., 23/94-C.E. and 24/94-C.E. apply where the processes converting pulp into paper, paperboard or articles occur in the same factory from which goods are cleared; manufacturers must prove the goods were manufactured in that factory from pulp of the required composition. The factory need not itself manufacture the pulp from raw materials, and purchased or imported pulp of the specified composition is acceptable. Independent converters who do not process pulp are excluded.

Assessment scrutiny selection: mandatory scrutiny for searches, reassessments and high-risk refunds; sample checks and exclusions specified.
Parameters require compulsory scrutiny for assessments arising from search, seizure and survey, reassessments and set-aside assessments, high-risk refund claims, and cases recommended by the Investigation Wing. Sample scrutiny applies by income bands with specified selection percentages and exclusions for certain resident individuals and modest year-on-year increases subject to provisos. Sampling uses rotational selection for higher bands and a random-start method for lower bands; samples are drawn from prior-year filings unless workload necessitates current returns. Non-filers must be issued notices and, if they file, are selected under the same criteria.

Deductibility of statutory levies: JPC levies not allowable as deductions from assessable value under excise law.
Following legal advice, the Central Board of Excise and Customs determined that levies collected by the Joint Plant Committee-Steel Development Fund, Engineering Goods Export Assistance Fund, and JPC cess-do not qualify as other taxes deductible under Section 4(4)(d)(ii) of the Central Excises & Salt Act, 1944 for computing the assessable value of steel products, and directed checks for similar cesses and reporting on compliance.

Withdrawal of prior tariff instructions: legacy First Schedule guidances rescinded and replaced by Harmonised Commodity Classification guidance.
The Board rescinded all instructions, guidelines and tariff advices issued under the erstwhile First Schedule to the Central Excises & Salt Act, 1944, on the basis that the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 adopts the Harmonised Commodity Description with Section and Chapter Notes and that legacy pronouncements are not relevant to the reformed tariff; trade notices and departmental instructions will be issued to inform stakeholders.

MODVAT credit disallowed where depreciation claimed on the duty component; notify excise to withdraw credit.
A MODVAT mechanism allows credit of duty on capital goods to offset excise on final products provided the manufacturer does not claim depreciation under Section 32 for the portion of cost representing that duty; a declaration to the Assistant Collector is required. The Board instructs that if depreciation is claimed on the duty component after credit was availed, Central Excise authorities must be notified to withdraw the credit.

Small scale exemption: units with home consumption clearances within threshold need not register or use AR4/AR4A export procedure.
Registration under Central Excise is not required where the aggregate value of clearances for home consumption falls within the small scale exemption threshold; export clearances are not to be clubbed with home consumption clearances for eligibility. Qualifying units must file the prescribed declaration under the exemption notification but need not obtain registration or follow the AR 4/AR 4A export procedure.

Concessional customs duty rule applies, reduced customs duties used to compute excise on DTA clearances from EOUs.
Excise on DTA clearances from 100% EOU/EPZ units is computed by reference to customs duties on like imports, except that 50% of each basic and auxiliary customs duty is the effective chargeable amount under the exemption notifications. For determining additional customs duty under the Customs Tariff Act, the Section 14 customs value must be increased by these concessional basic and auxiliary duties, and additional duty is then computed on that augmented value. The Board instructs field formations to follow the Method A example for assessment.

Temporary importation of containers limited by re-export condition and bond amounts capped at duty liability.
Temporary importation of containers is exempt from Customs duty if re-exported within six months and other notification conditions are met; clearance may proceed without individual Bills of Entry if identification particulars and a bond (specific or general) are provided, with bond amounts not exceeding the Customs duty leviable and extensions of the six-month period allowed only for justifiable reasons and not routinely.

Jewellery seizure limits under search provisions: specified personal thresholds and discretionary exclusions govern seizure during income-tax searches.
Guidelines require that during income-tax searches only gold jewellery exceeding the gross weight declared by a wealth-tax assessee be seized, while persons not assessed to wealth-tax are to have specified personal jewellery thresholds excluded from seizure; authorised officers must prepare a detailed inventory for assessment and may, considering family status and community customs, exclude larger quantities subject to reporting to the authorising Director/Commissioner.

Interest calculation under section 47: the statutory short payment period starts from assessment finalisation after vessel entry.
Where a Bill of Entry is assessed before the vessel's entry inward, the operative date for calculating the interest period under section 47 is the date on which assessment is completed upon submission of the Bill of Entry to the Customs House after entry inward has been granted to the vessel; the short payment period for interest is computed from that date of finalisation of assessment.

Accounting of scrap of metals clarified: daily consolidated RG-1 entries, flexible bonded storage, and valuation by predominance.
Consolidated RG-1 entries for waste and scrap must be made at the end of each day; shift accounts are unnecessary. Multiple factory storage locations may be treated as bonded store rooms where a single junk yard is not available. Storage loss is to be handled under existing instructions with remission of duty allowed within those parameters. Recycling and captive consumption are subject to applicable duty rules. Assorted scrap valuation and classification must follow Note 5 of Section XV, using the predominance-by-weight principle.

Prosecution initiation procedures require adjudicating and jurisdictional collectors to independently assess and record fitness before proceeding.
When one Adjudicating Officer handles cases for multiple factories under different Collectorates, the Adjudicating Collector must record a finding on fitness to prosecute, then send the file or parallel file to each jurisdictional Collector; each jurisdictional Collector must independently examine the record, record reasons for their view on prosecutorial fitness, and forward their opinion together with the Adjudicating Officer's finding to the Principal Collector. Where prosecution is proposed at the assessee's registered office headquarters, case records and Principal Collectors' opinions should be forwarded to the Principal Collector nearest that Head Office.

Invoice-based assessment: advance serial-number intimation and computerised invoice authentication required, with separate invoices for split consignments.
Assessees must intimate invoice serial numbers in advance (by post or other means) covering projected periods, with revisions if exhausted; computerised invoices may print serial numbers at printing and be authenticated before assignment of date and time of removal, provided computer stationery bears an identification or distinctive mark linking it to the issuer. Split consignments require separate invoices for each lot and provisional assessment; transfers for non-sale movements must be followed by an assessee-issued invoice acceptable for Modvat, explaining pricing differences and complying with annexure details.

Registering authority designation: Rubber Board to issue RCMC for natural rubber; CAPEXCIL retains role for other rubber products.
The Rubber Board is designated as the Registering authority for issuance of RCMCs to exporters of different grades of natural rubber, while CAPEXCIL shall continue as the Registering authority for all other rubber products; this clarification supplements an earlier REP circular on the subject.

SEBI approval requirement for asset management companies: AMCs must obtain memorandum and articles clearance before company registration.
Registrars of Companies should not insist on prior regulatory approval for incorporation of intermediaries like merchant bankers, registrars to an issue, investment advisers and portfolio managers; however, asset management companies must obtain clearance of their draft memorandum and articles of association from the regulator under the mutual fund framework before being registered by the Registrar of Companies, and prior departmental guidance on AMCs continues to apply.

Interest on deferred excise dues must be charged per existing instructions unless a clear court stay prevents recovery.
Instalment payments of Central Excise dues remain subject to recovery of interest on the outstanding principal as prescribed in the Board's prior instructions, including the specified basis and compounding, and such interest should be collected unless there is a clear court stay preventing recovery.