Amendment to SEZ Board minutes: deletion of attendee reference; LoP renewal denied for dormancy and unmet export obligations.
Amendment to the Board of Approval minutes deletes a reference to a representative being heard and confirms that the unit is dormant, has not discharged prescribed export obligations, and that the Board rejected the request for renewal of the Letter of Permission.

Advance ruling timelines: stricter departmental representation and complete reports to secure timely pronouncement and coordination.
Advance rulings under section 245R must be delivered within the prescribed timeframe; jurisdictional authorities are required to submit complete, approved reports addressing all issues, include supporting documents, and identify the field officer who will represent the case. Interim reports must be filed if full information is unavailable. Adjournments are limited to unavoidable circumstances and must be notified in advance, while paper books must be submitted per Board timelines. Senior officers must monitor compliance and escalate instances of non-cooperation.

Permission for export through inland container depots expanded to additional ICDs; sampling and CLRI testing unchanged.
Permission for export of Finished Leather, Wet Blue and EI Tanned Leather is extended to additional inland container depots, and the existing procedures for drawal of samples and testing and certification by the Central Leather Research Institute continue to apply.

Extension of VAT return filing deadline granted; tax payment procedures unchanged and digital signature filers exempted from hard-copy filing.
The circular extends the last date for filing second-quarter VAT returns for 2015-16 to 16/11/2015 for online or hard-copy submission of the prescribed return forms with annexures, while maintaining the existing obligation to pay tax under the VAT statute; dealers filing with a digital signature are not required to submit a hard copy of the digitally signed return.

Relaxation of additional fees for company e form filings extended, easing late filing penalties for AOC 4 and MGT 7.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs temporarily relaxed the requirement to pay additional fee for filings of AOC-4 and AOC-4 XBRL and similarly relaxed additional fees for MGT-7 e-forms where applicable; the relief applies to forms filed within the extended filing period and was issued with approval of the competent authority as a continuation of an earlier circular.

PAN camp inauguration via video conference: officials requested to participate to facilitate PAN application reception at remote locations.
Inauguration of PAN camps for receipt of PAN applications at remote locations will be conducted via video conference by the Finance Minister; senior income tax officials are directed to attend at their respective offices and local Principal Commissioners/Commissioners (including appellate officers posted locally) may also participate to facilitate PAN application acceptance and outreach.

Services Exports from India Scheme extension extends applicable reward period for listed services and preserves other terms.
Amendment to Note 1 of Appendix 3D of Public Notice No. 3/2015-20 extends the period during which the services and notified reward rates under the Services Exports from India Scheme apply, and specifies that the list of services and rates is subject to review from the revised review commencement date; all other contents of the Public Notice remain unchanged.

Taxpayer Service Centre established to provide single-window grievance handling with on site acknowledgements and Commissioner monitoring.
Establishment of a Tax Payer Service Centre in Hyderabad-II Commissionerate as a single-window for receiving and handling taxpayer queries, complaints and grievances, issuing unique on-the-spot acknowledgement numbers, operating temporarily from Room No. 714, Technical Section, Kendriya Shulk Bhavan (6th Floor) with a listed telephone contact and two designated tax facilitator officers, and with disposal of matters monitored at the Commissioner's level for redressal.

Container scanning requirement: selected import containers must undergo mandatory X ray screening and prescribed hold and examination procedures.
A dedicated Container Scanning Division (CSD) will operate a fixed X ray facility at Mumbai Port where import containers selected by the IGM based Targeting Module must report for mandatory scanning. Containers are check in verified, scanned, and classified as SCANNED CLEAN or SCANNED SUSPICIOUS on EIR or Gate Pass; suspicious consignments are placed on CSD HOLD and examined under DC/Docks or CSD supervision with CSD NOC required before clearance. CFSs must endorse and communicate scanning status and comply with release and downtime protocols.

Arrest guidelines under Customs law limit arrests to exceptional high value or specified item smuggling cases and require reporting.
The circular restricts arrest under the Customs Act to exceptional situations by prescribing value based triggers for categories such as unauthorized importation in baggage, outright smuggling of high value or restricted items, importation appraising cases involving wilful mis declaration or concealment, and fraudulent availment of drawback or duty exemptions; FOB/CIF valuation points apply for import/export appraising cases. It exempts certain sensitive items (counterfeit currency, arms, explosives, antiques, art treasures, wildlife and endangered species) from the value thresholds, permitting arrest on the facts and circumstances irrespective of value.

Thresholds for prosecution: evidence-based initiation and strict mens rea assessment guide criminal proceedings under customs law.
The circular establishes a framework for launching prosecution under the Customs Act, 1962: prosecutions may target natural and legal persons for specified offences but require evidence of guilty knowledge/mens rea; threshold categories and exceptions are defined for smuggling, appraising/commercial frauds and export mis-declaration; compounding and narcotics provisions are addressed; timing and sanctioning authorities are prescribed; and procedural controls-investigation reports, evidence custody, prosecution registers, dedicated Prosecution Cells, monitoring and liaison with enforcement agencies-are mandated to ensure timely, evidence-based prosecution decisions.

Digital signature requirement mandates electronic filing of customs documents by importers, exporters and brokers, replacing physical signatures.
The circular mandates digital signature authentication for electronic submission of core customs documents by importers, exporters, customs brokers, shipping lines and airlines; where documents are digitally signed, customs will not require physical signatures. Accredited Client Programme registrants already faced digital-signature requirements for Bills of Entry, and the circular expands mandatory electronic filing while allowing individual importers or exporters the option to file certain declarations without a digital signature. Chief Commissioners are directed to instruct staff, publicize the change, and report implementation difficulties to the Board.

Arrest threshold revised for central excise and service tax, prosecution now requires substantial evasion before action.
The circular sets a consolidated monetary threshold for prosecution and arrest in Central Excise and Service Tax matters: prosecution may be initiated, and arrests effected for specified offences under the Central Excise Act and the Finance Act (Service Tax), only where the evasion of duty or misuse of Cenvat Credit equals or exceeds the revised monetary limit; earlier circulars are amended accordingly and implementation issues may be reported to the Board.

Monetary threshold for arrest in excise and service tax cases raised; arrests allowed only where evasion meets revised statutory threshold.
Arrests and prosecutions for evasion of Central Excise duty, Service Tax or misuse of Cenvat Credit under the specified clauses of Section 9 of the Central Excise Act and Section 89 of the Finance Act are to be initiated only when the monetary evasion meets the revised prescribed threshold; earlier circulars are amended and implementation difficulties should be reported to the Board.

Prosecution threshold: require mens rea and substantial evasion or habitual offending, with prior sanction before filing complaint.
Prosecution may be launched only where evidence establishes mens rea and ordinarily where evasion or misuse meets a substantial threshold; habitual evaders may be prosecuted irrespective of that threshold. Sanction for prosecution must be obtained from specified senior authorities, with DGCEI cases requiring Director General sanction. Adjudicating authorities should indicate fitness for prosecution; prosecution proposals must follow a prescribed investigation report format, be filed promptly after sanction, tracked in prosecution registers, and supervised to avoid undue delay. Withdrawals, compounding offers, and appeals are governed by stated procedures.

Prosecution threshold: guidelines require substantial evasion, proven mens rea, and sanctioned filing before initiating criminal proceedings.
The circular prescribes a consolidated framework for launching prosecution under the Central Excise Act and the Finance Act for service tax: companies and responsible officers may be prosecuted; prosecution is normally limited to substantial evasion or misuse and to habitual evaders; prosecution requires evidence establishing mens rea and should not be used for mere technical disputes; sanction from senior authorities is mandatory; investigation reports in prescribed format and prompt filing after sanction are required; monitoring, registers, withdrawal procedures and compounding are prescribed.

Risk management for regional commodity exchanges mandates standardized margin collection, approved collateral types and daily mark to market cash settlement.
Mandates risk management standards for Regional Commodity Derivatives Exchanges: maintain exposure free member deposits, levy minimum ordinary margins of 4%, and permit delivery period and additional margins based on evaluation. Ad hoc margins must be objective, non discriminatory and transparent. Ordinary margins are computed at individual client level across maturities, member margins aggregated across clients, with proprietary positions treated as client positions. All margins must be collected before the next trading day; insufficient collateral prevents position increases. Acceptable collateral is cash, pledged bank fixed deposits and bank guarantees. Daily cash mark to market settlement based on the Exchange's Daily Settlement Price is required.

FLA return filing requirement: LLPs with inward or outward FDI must file annual return with RBI using prescribed format.
LLPs that received or made foreign direct investment must submit the Annual Return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets to the Reserve Bank of India annually by July 15 in the format prescribed for companies; LLPs should use 'A99999AA9999LLP999999' as the CIN placeholder.

Exemption scope for wind-operated electricity generator components now includes towers, blades and nacelles under notification.
The circular directs that the exemption in serial no. 332 of Notification No. 12/2012-Central Excise covers specified WOEG elements: towers; nacelles including gearbox, generator, yaw components, couplings, brake hydraulics, sensors and covers; rotors including blades, hub, nosecone, main shaft and bearings; and wind turbine/nacelle controllers and control cables. It instructs field formations to treat these as exempt and to seek MNRE opinion via the Board for parts not listed, with unresolved issues to be referred through the Chief Commissioner.

Email-based communication in income-tax assessments enables paperless correspondence and e-hearing with taxpayer consent in pilot.
A pilot will use email-based communication to conduct paperless assessment proceedings in five non-corporate charges, identifying up to 100 cases per charge selected on AIR/CIB leads or 26AS mismatches. Taxpayer consent is required before inclusion, and departmental officers will correspond via official e-mail IDs to taxpayers' e-mail addresses in returns. The project aims to handle most scrutiny processing electronically for smaller or limited-issue cases and necessitates a standardized user-friendly platform for seamless exchanges.