Duty drawback: exporters may use RLA attested shipping bill photocopies to support drawback claims with Customs.
Paragraph 7.41 permits adjustment of additional customs duty on DEPB inputs as MODVAT credit or Duty Drawback. Because original EP copies of Shipping Bills are retained by the Regional Licensing Authority when DEPB is claimed, exporters may request RLA attested photocopies bearing an endorsement that originals are retained. Those RLA attested photocopies shall be returned to exporters and may be used to file Duty Drawback claims with Customs, providing a procedural means to reconcile DEPB documentation retention and Customs evidentiary requirements.

Exemption from Bank Guarantee extended to registered manufacturer exporters of specified nil duty textile goods under DEEC and EPCG schemes.
Manufacturer exporters registered with Central Excise under Rule 174(1) and producing goods chargeable to nil central excise duty referenced in the textile/apparel chapters become eligible for exemption from Bank Guarantee under Board Circular No. 71/98 Cus, provided they satisfy the conditions of that circular; administrative instructions require issuing standing orders and public notices and forwarding copies to the Drawback wing and the Directorate General for coordination.

Annual Advance Licensing Scheme enables duty free input imports for export manufacture, conditioned on S.I.O. norms and export obligation.
Annual Advance Licensing Scheme issues Annual Advance Licences to eligible manufacturers and qualifying merchant exporters for duty free import of inputs for specified export product groups that have standard input output norms. Licences require registration at the port, detailed entry of imported inputs in part C of the DEEC Book by Customs, and debit entries in the Licence and Part D of DEEC before clearance. Imported inputs must be used only in manufacture of the export product, are non transferable, and export discharge is verified by DEEC endorsements and export documentation; failure to discharge triggers recovery with interest.

Service Tax reconciliation: computerised challan matching required to ensure correct headwise accounting and verification.
Computerised reconciliation of Service Tax receipts under Major Head 044 requires duplicate TR-6 challans to be entered sub-heading wise at divisional computer cells, transmitted to Headquarters for compilation into 044 statements, and verified by Range Officers. Payments must be made and recorded using the prescribed Major/Minor/Sub-head accounting codes and Sl. Code so amounts are posted to the correct head of account; assessees must complete challans with required identifiers and verifying officers must certify and return verified statements to the designated accounts authority.

Taxable value inclusion of surcharges on telephone bills expands the service tax base and must be levied accordingly.
Service tax on telephone connections must be calculated on the gross total amount charged to the subscriber; surcharges collected for delayed payment are part of the taxable value. Consequently, service tax is to be levied on the gross bill, so payment after the pay-by date requires tax to be charged on the bill amount (exclusive of service tax) plus the surcharge.

Export import licensing amendments: permit Special Imprest and conditional Advance Licences, allow DEPB revalidation and cap capital goods imports.
Licensing changes permit issuance of Special Imprest Licences to main or sub contractors under paragraph 7.5; Advance Licences may be granted to exporters without prior licences for CIF values up to their recent average FOB subject to 100% bank guarantees and without requiring confirmed irrevocable letters of credit; supplies by Indian sub contractors qualify for deemed export benefits when the sub contractor is identified in the contract and payment certificates are issued in the prescribed form. DEPBs registered at Aircargo Complex, Varanasi are revalidated for twelve months; appendices, agency listings and miscellaneous corrigenda are amended accordingly.

Export canalization of niger seeds: exclusive agency, quota allocation, permit and fee regime including reporting obligations.
Export regulation for Niger seeds designates TRIFED as the sole canalizing agency to declare a minimum export price, nominate Associate Shippers to export or register exporters, and allocate quotas. Registered exporters pay a registration fee to Associate Shippers; the fee is shared with TRIFED except for one destination. TRIFED's share is for tribal/farmer welfare and Associate Shippers must use their share for export quality infrastructure. Weekly, fortnightly and half yearly reporting obligations govern export contracts, quantities, FOB values and fund utilization.

Excise duty exemption for eligible Northeast manufacturers enables duty refunds via PLA, with users retaining modvat credit.
Exemption applies to goods from eligible North East industrial units that are either new or have undertaken substantial expansion ( 25%) effective on or after the notified cut-off; Notification 32/99 confines eligibility to units within specified industrial areas while Notification 33/99 covers the whole region. Exemptions run for up to ten years measured from the unit's production commencement or the notified date. Duty relief is effected by monthly PLA refunds (provisional payments allowed pending verification); refunds exclude modvat-paid duty, and modvat rules were amended to preserve input credit for downstream users.

Standard Input Output Norms amendment updates import input norms and adds sectoral entries affecting chemical, engineering, plastic and textile exports.
Administrative Public Notice amends Standard Input Output Norms in the Handbook of Procedures Vol.2 by substituting, deleting and adding SION entries across Chemicals, Engineering, Plastics, Textiles, Leather and other sectors. It revises export descriptions, specifies import inputs and alternative inputs with quantities, adds product specific notes and conditions (including net to net accounting and declarations like coating weight), and introduces new Sl.No. entries to govern input allowances and compliance for export licensing.

DEPB rate eligibility tied to aquaculture sourcing declarations; false declarations require repayment with interest and indemnity.
Exporters of the covered marine products for the stated earlier period must submit to the licensing authority a declaration that exports were sourced from aquaculture farms/ponds with specific location and address. The licensing authority will perform random ex post verification of 10% of declarations after DEPB issuance. If a declaration proves incorrect, the exporter must return the DEPB with interest calculated from the DEPB date to repayment and provide an indemnity bond. The enhanced DEPB rate applies where the product description matches the earlier public notice even if it differs from the later notice.

AR3A amendment procedure allows submission of a fresh amended or split AR3A referencing the original for rewarehousing.
When amending or splitting an AR3A, the initiating unit must submit a fresh AR3A that references and encloses a copy of the original; both the amended/split AR3A and the original copy must be sent to the rewarehousing destination so the officer in charge can record the actual quantity warehoused, make necessary entries in the fresh AR3A, and return the document to the supplier.

Inclusion of used aircraft and helicopters in import policy extends regulatory coverage to second hand airframes for import.
The Director General of Foreign Trade, exercising powers under paragraph 4.11 of the Export and Import Policy, 1997-2002, amends an earlier public notice by adding an Explanation that the expression "aircraft and helicopters" shall be deemed to include used and second hand aircraft and helicopters, thereby bringing such pre owned airframes and rotary wing aircraft within the scope of the existing import regulation.

Export controls for high performance digital computers updated; licensing required for computers or parallelising software that breach the performance threshold.
Amendment reclassifies "Parallel processing Super Computers" as "Digital Computers and Software," covering (i) digital computers exceeding a specified Composite Theoretical Performance (CTP) threshold and (ii) software or interconnection schemes that parallelise computers to exceed that CTP. The CTP is to be calculated under a separately notified scheme; individual computers at or below the threshold do not require an export licence unless supplied with parallelising software or interconnections. The definition includes various advanced processor types and certain image enhancement equipment, excluding integral medical imaging adjuncts.

Prompt compliance with audit references required to ensure timely responses and avoid departmental embarrassment and criticism.
Field formations must promptly furnish comments, data and information requested by the Directorate of Income Tax (Audit) for time bound responses to external audit and parliamentary oversight bodies; Chief Commissioners and Directors General must ensure regional offices prioritise such references, provide material in the appropriate form and transmit replies expeditiously to avoid departmental embarrassment and adverse criticism.

Special Imprest and Intermediate Licences prohibited for exports lacking fixed norms; existing licences must be surrendered immediately.
Issuance of Special Imprest and Intermediate Licences is prohibited for export products without fixed norms; all such licences issued from 1 April 1999 to the notice date must be immediately surrendered to the issuing office.

EPCG debonding permitted for EOUs with second hand capital goods under specified Exim Policy and procedure.
EPCG debonding may be permitted as a one time option for EOU, EPZ, EHTP or STP units that had imported second hand capital goods, notwithstanding the general exclusion of second hand imports under the Exim Policy, provided debonding is allowed in accordance with paragraph 9.27 of the Exim Policy and paragraph 6.7 of the Handbook of Procedures and subject to the concerned Development Commissioner's approval.

Export registration requirement for shellac and lac updated; sample export procedures and sandalwood export deadline also revised under trade policy.
Amendments to Schedule 2 Appendix I of the ITC(HS) Classification under the Export-Import Policy 1997-2002 require registration for export of shellac and all forms of lac with the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. or the Shellac Export Promotion Council, delete the entry at S.No.17(I), clarify that export of samples is governed by paragraph 4.32 of the Handbook of Procedure, and extend the cutoff date specified for sandalwood export conditions in Public Notice No.26/97-2002 while leaving other conditions unchanged.

Kar Vivad Samadhan settlement absolves customs duty and grants immunity from customs prosecution; it excludes relief from trade law actions.
Settlement under the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme relieves the licence holder solely of customs duty liability and grants immunity from prosecution under the Customs Act, 1962; it does not bar or otherwise affect actions by the foreign trade regulator under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, Exim Policy, or Handbook of Procedures, and licence holders remain subject to DGFT proceedings including regularisation.

Central Excise Computerization: manual revenue reports to be replaced by electronic RT-12 data, with commissionerate compliance required.
Directive requires discontinuation of manual revenue reports and replacement by outputs derived from RT-12 electronic data. Commissionerates must consolidate assessee profiles captured under ECCMAST and generate budget head wise statements from RT-12 basic data using the SERMON package as a preparatory step, reporting implementation difficulties to the Board and Directorate of Systems.

Tenure requirements for internal audit personnel: inspectors must have adequate service experience and special-pay posts have fixed tenure.
Personnel selected for audit duties must have sufficient knowledge of Central Excise rules and procedures; executive staff appointed as Inspectors should have a minimum of five years' service in that cadre, preferably in a Range, and the tenure of an incumbent receiving special pay is three years, with the Board directing strict adherence to these guidelines.