Delegation of status grant to Development Commissioners streamlines EOU/EPZ/SEZ approvals and clarifies procurement and jewellery supply rules.
Authority to grant or renew EOU/EPZ/SEZ status is delegated to the Development Commissioner except where export FOB clubbing of a parent company is involved; AROs may be granted to procure indigenous inputs or obtain goods from EOU/EPZ/EHTP/STP/SEZ units with customs/central excise entries reducing import licence validity; gem and jewellery units may re-export imports, export domestically procured goods, and supply unsuitable/broken stones to DTA against GEM/REP on payment of duty; Development Commissioners may fix six-month ad hoc wastage norms pending BOA regularisation.

Exemption from RCMC for woollen products and facilitation of AROs and back-to-back L/Cs for intermediate supplies.
RCMC obligation is removed for exports of shoddy and woollen products and wool-dominant blends across classifications. An ARO may be issued with or after an Advance Licence for Physical Exports, Intermediate Supplies, Deemed Exports or DFRC and will be co-terminus with the Advance Licence. Advance Licence holders, except DFRC holders, may obtain inland back-to-back LCs in favour of indigenous suppliers. Negotiation of documents certified under confirmed irrevocable LCs will be accepted as proof of export without insistence on export proceeds realization.

Procurement certificate issuance simplified: Superintendents and Range Officers may issue certificates to textile and chemical export units subject to safeguards.
Procurement certificates for import clearance in textile and chemical export units will be issued by Superintendents and CT-3 certificates by Range Officers, subject to a clean track record. Assistant Commissioners/Deputy Commissioners may delegate issuance powers, refer doubtful cases to Commissioners, and require post-facto approval for Range Officer-issued certificates. Existing safeguards and prior monitoring instructions remain applicable and the earlier circular is modified accordingly.

Permission for job work by export units requires application, sample retention, identity verification, and bank guarantees to protect duty interests.
EOUs and EPZ/STP/EHTP/SEZ units require application to the jurisdictional Assistant/Deputy Commissioner with details of the job-worker, processing activities, and justification; permission for job-work may be granted normally for one year and shall not be refused solely because the job-worker lacks Central Excise registration. Safeguards include sample retention and identity verification on return, bank guarantees to cover duty forgone for raw removals and partial guarantees for semi-processed removals with exemptions for status holders of good record, mandatory return within thirty days subject to limited extensions, and expeditious verification of job-worker premises by authorities.

Duty-free import entitlement for footwear embellishments clarified to cover shoe uppers and parts when notification conditions satisfied.
Duty free import of embellishment items listed in Sr. No. 167A of Customs Notification No. 21/2002, as amended, extends to shoe uppers and other parts of leather footwear exported by the leather footwear sub sector when such items are imported for use in the export product and all other notification conditions are satisfied; a Public Notice and Standing Order are to be issued for guidance.

Tariff rate quota allocation procedure: eligible agencies must apply for specified imports by deadline, with allocation by EFC.
Procedure for TRQ imports prescribes eligible agencies by tariff item, requires submission of the prescribed application and supporting documents to the Exim Facilitation Committee at DGFT, adherence to fee procedures in the Handbook of Procedures, and completion of imports before the specified cut-off date. Maize remains under State Trading Regime with option for designated agencies to receive import licences if not importing through the Food Corporation. The EFC, chaired by the Director General, will allocate quotas; failure to import within the stipulated period leads to two year ineligibility for the same item's quota.

Straight Through Processing adoption requires market participants to implement ISO 15022 messaging and electronic contract notes for automated settlement.
Mandate requires market participants to implement Straight Through Processing by adopting the ISO 15022 messaging standard, electronising contract notes, and establishing connectivity among custodians, exchanges, depositories and intermediaries to enable end-to-end electronic trade processing, reduce manual intervention and operational risk, and support shorter settlement cycles.

Two-way fungibility of ADRs/GDRs requires custodians to submit monthly non-breach certificates and standardized reports.
Custodians must submit a monthly certificate under clause e) confirming non-breach of sectoral caps and a clause q) monthly report in prescribed format, in both hard and soft copy, by the 10th of each month; the report must record company-level ADR/GDR data including issuance, redemptions, reissues, outstanding instruments, inward remittances and unsold shares from conversions.

Standard Input Output Norms updated: amendments add and substitute SION entries, specifying import-item allocations for exports.
Amendments revise the Standard Input Output Norms in the Handbook of Procedures, Vol.2 by substituting, deleting and adding SION entries. The Director General prescribes updated input-output ratios, alternative import options, component lists and packing/consumable allowances for specified export items across Chemicals, Engineering and Miscellaneous product groups as set out in Annexures A-D, and mandates net-to-net importation with accountability where indicated.

Foreign Currency Accounts: SEZ units allowed to open and maintain accounts with authorised dealers in India.
SEZ units are permitted to open, hold and maintain a Foreign Currency Account with an authorised dealer in India under conditions in the amended FEMA regulations; authorised dealers must notify constituents. The circular also deletes the prior special provision for EEFC accounts of SEZ units and issues directions under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Scrutiny selection policy for non-corporate business assesses mandates expanded case selection and monitored completion within prescribed timelines.
Jurisdictional ranges must select additional top non-corporate business assesses for scrutiny, with assessing officers choosing cases in consultation with range leadership; selections supplement prior selections and are subject to monitoring by Commissioners and cadre-controlling offices, with a requirement to complete a substantial portion of assessments within the current financial year to facilitate revenue collection.

Interest on delayed refunds: statutory interest must be paid automatically when refunds or rebates are sanctioned late.
Statutory interest is payable automatically when a refund or rebate claim is sanctioned beyond the prescribed three month period; officers must grant interest at the notified rate without awaiting superior or appellate directions, and Commissioners must fix responsibility and implement monitoring to ensure timely disposal and compliance with the interest payment provision.

Textual amendment clarifies wording in a prior circular by substituting a specified phrase to correct paragraph two.
Corrigendum issues a textual amendment to Circular No.657/48/2002-CX, directing that the words "though there is" in the last sentence of paragraph two be substituted with "the," as promulgated in Circular No.669/60/2002-CX dated 1 October 2002, solely to correct the wording of the prior instruction.

Export Promotion Scheme processing requires EDI registration of licences, bonds, and certificates before electronic Bills of Entry are accepted.
Bills of Entry claiming exemptions under Export Promotion Schemes and conditional notifications must be processed through the ICES(Imports) EDI system with prior registration of the pertinent import licence, Release Advice, bond, bank guarantee or required certificates. The system maintains ledgers for licence face value and item-wise quantities, automatically debits bonds and licences upon electronic filing, rejects incomplete or inconsistent licence data, and enables assessing officers to verify originals, assess electronically, audit and approve entries; debits reverse automatically if notification benefits are denied.

Turnover fee computation clarified: auditor certification or successive years averaging determines fees; PSU bonds defined, mutual funds excluded.
For years lacking authentic exchange turnover figures, audited total turnover in the prescribed format will be accepted; absent such certificate, the average total turnover of the immediate two succeeding financial years for which the exchange has full data will be used. Members using the averaging method are not eligible for concessional fee rates requiring certified break ups. Exchanges and auditors must use the revised certification formats and certify that turnover under PSU bonds/government securities conforms to the circular's PSU definition; mutual fund units are excluded from concessional treatment.

Risk management system: mutual funds must implement independent risk functions, contingency plans and insurance obligations.
Mutual funds must adopt an enterprise-wide Risk Management System covering fund management, operations, customer service, marketing and other business risks. Key mandatory elements include an independent risk management function, tested disaster recovery and business contingency plans enabling critical "Day 1" operations, and insurance against third party errors and omissions; custodians and R&T agents must have parallel arrangements. Boards of AMCs and trustees must oversee implementation, review progress, report to SEBI, and incorporate the system into internal audit for ongoing verification.

PAN-based 15-digit registration number required on TR-6; returns lacking it will not be accepted after November
Assessees will receive a 15-digit PAN-based Registration Number (including temporary system-generated numbers) effective 1 October 2002 and must be informed in the first week of October so they can quote it on the TR-6 challan. Chief Commissioners must prioritise notifying assessees and alert field staff to advise that returns without the new 15-digit Registration Number will not be accepted for returns filed from November 2002 onwards.

Reversion to private company status: subsidiaries of foreign corporates may revert upon application; Registrar must update certificate.
The amendment nullifies the earlier deemed public effect for subsidiaries of foreign body corporates, restoring statutory private company status where applicable. Companies must apply to the Registrar to amend their certificate of incorporation, and the Registrar is required to substitute "private limited" for "public limited" and complete corrections within four weeks. No time limit is prescribed for seeking reversion; companies that do not apply are deemed to have chosen to remain public, and the former exemption used when foreign bodies held all shares is no longer required.

Undertaking in lieu of Income Tax No Objection Certificate allows remittance after an accountant's certificate and declaration.
An undertaking in duplicate addressed to the Assessing Officer, accompanied by a certificate from an independent accountant, may be accepted in lieu of an Income Tax clearance Certificate or No Objection Certificate to permit foreign exchange remittances; the Reserve Bank will forward a copy to the Assessing Officer. NRIs/PIOs without NRO accounts and without taxable Indian income may remit on a simple declaration as prescribed.

Remittance of current income: non taxable NRIs may remit with a declaration; tax compliance evidence required otherwise.
NRIs/PIOs without taxable income and not maintaining NRO accounts need not furnish a Chartered Accountant's certificate for remittance of current income; Authorised Dealers may accept a duplicate declaration that the remitter is not a taxpayer in India and retain it for tax authorities. Current income may be credited to NRE accounts only when the dealer is satisfied it represents current income and that income tax has been deducted/paid/provided for; the CA certificate or tax declaration requirement applies otherwise. Maturity proceeds of NRNR deposits should be credited to NRE accounts and may be repatriated if the accountholder lacks an NRE account.