Settlement Commission reforms restrict settlement scope, fix disposal timelines and require payment of accepted duties with interest.
Amendments restrict Settlement Commission access to cases pending before the adjudicating authority, bar applications where matters are referred back for fresh adjudication, and permit three member Benches under the Chairman. Applicants may settle only admitted short levy issues and must deposit the accepted additional duty with interest; minimum settlement amounts are increased. Time limits for disposal and payment are fixed, settlements cannot be reopened post cutoff, and the Commission is barred from granting immunity from prosecution under other penal laws or from exempting payment of interest.

Telecommunication service definition consolidated; other amendments add late filing fees, cost audit extension and review committees.
Telecommunication related services are consolidated under a single telecommunication service by omitting separate sub clauses for telephone, pager, leased circuits, telegraph, telex and facsimile; existing classifications remain until separate notification. Other amendments introduce a period linked late fee for delayed returns, extend cost audit and savings protections to service tax, authorize Board review committees for adjudication, permit one year removal of difficulty orders for implementing taxable services, and clarify that a joint venture applicant must include at least one non resident.

Service tax exemption threshold increased, widening relief for small service providers; Export of Services Rules amendment corrected procedural provision.
Increase in the service tax exemption threshold expands relief to smaller service providers, effective from the notified commencement date; and Sub rule (2) of Rule 3 of the Export of Services Rules, 2005 has been substituted by notification, correcting the export of services regulatory provision effective from its notified commencement date.

Dispensing with verification of DEPBs at EDI ports streamlines export documentation once implemented by customs authorities.
Dispensing with verification of DEPBs at EDI ports: a circular provides that physical verification of DEPB scrips will be discontinued at EDI-enabled ports once the Commissioner of Customs, in consultation with the Directorate General of Systems, fixes the date of implementation; non-EDI ports will continue with the existing verification procedure until further administrative instruction.

Customs security deposit requirement relaxed; foreign and coastal vessels no longer required to furnish deposits.
An administrative circular dispenses with the practice of collecting statutory security deposits from foreign-going and coastal vessels, withdrawing earlier instructions that prescribed fixed and one-time deposits and thereby removing the necessity for those vessels to furnish the previously required security deposits for export clearance.

Service tax on statutory fees: compulsory levies by public authorities not taxable, but non statutory services remain taxable.
Activities performed by sovereign or public authorities under statutory provisions are statutory obligations; fees charged for those duties are compulsory levies deposited into the government treasury and do not constitute taxable services, so service tax is not leviable. If an authority provides non statutory services for consideration that is not a statutory levy, such services may be taxable. The Board's circulars guide classification but do not substitute for legislative exemption; a general exemption notification is the appropriate mechanism to exempt statutory fees.

Additional statement requirement for pan masala manufacturers: disclose suppliers, purchases, buyers, sales details and dispatch address.
Manufacture of pan masala requires an additional statement filed with the monthly return summarizing purchase invoices identifying suppliers of betel nut, tobacco and packing material with quantities purchased, and summarizing sales invoices with buyers' names and addresses and the description, quantity and value of goods sold; if goods are not sold from the factory, the dispatch premises address must also be provided.