SEZ approvals include formal and in principle permissions and co developer endorsements for new SEZ projects and employment generation.
The BOA recommended two Formal Approvals and one In Principle Approval for SEZ projects: an IT/EH/SW incl/ITES SEZ in West Bengal by M/s Shyam Steel Industries Ltd.; Genome Valley Biotech SEZ in Andhra Pradesh by M/s APIIC; and a Multi Services SEZ in Tamil Nadu by M/s Limitless Properties Limited (in principle). The Board also approved two proposals for grant of co developer status, effecting developer recognition for joint SEZ development.

Mutual administrative assistance in customs fosters structured information exchange and capacity enhancement to tackle valuation and related offences.
The MOU creates a structured mechanism for sharing information and intelligence to prevent, detect, investigate and combat customs offences, subject to each administration's national laws, competence and available resources, and includes provisions for capacity enhancement through cooperation on enforcement techniques, technologies, policy and best practices, together with a Service Level Framework to ensure time bound, expeditious responses to requests.

Packaging and bottling of liquor classified as manufacture under excise law, excluding them from service tax liability.
Packaging and bottling of liquor are within the scope of manufacture for purposes of the Central Excise Act when read with the exclusionary provision in the Finance Act, and therefore are not to be treated as a distinct service subject to service tax where those operations are functionally integral to producing the consumable excisable product.

Value of SIM cards treated as part of telecommunication service, making their value subject to service tax.
The court determined that a SIM card is a computer chip essential to receiving mobile telephone service, lacking intrinsic utility apart from enabling connection, and accordingly the value of SIM cards supplied to subscribers forms part of the taxable value of telecommunication service for the purpose of service tax under the Finance Act, 1994.

Import ban lifting on live bird products following diplomatic assurances of contained avian influenza and resumed regulated trade.
Lifting of an import ban on live bird products from India followed diplomatic engagement after a localized avian influenza outbreak; Oman rescinded its blanket prohibition by ministerial decree after being informed that infections were contained, and imports were restored subject to applicable sanitary and regulatory requirements.

Discounts from media not taxable as service value; advertising agencies not liable for service tax on such incentives.
The tribunal held that discounts or incentives from media to advertising agencies are not part of the taxable value of service because the agency did not receive the amount from the media; only amounts received from the client constitute taxable consideration. Accordingly, demands for additional service tax, interest and penalties based on including the media discount in the agency's gross value were set aside. A later amendment to the statutory definition of advertising agency services may affect this position.

Preferential Trade Agreement grants reciprocal tariff concessions between India and Mercosur across multiple industrial and agricultural product lines.
The Preferential Trade Agreement between India and MERCOSUR, effective 1 June 2009, implements reciprocal tariff concessions negotiated under a 2003 Framework and the 2004 PTA with 2005 annexes. Concessions range from ten percent to full elimination across designated tariff lines, covering sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, machinery, electrical equipment, food and meat products, textiles, leather, plastics and rubber; the PTA uses listed margins of preference to operationalise staged market access commitments.

SEZ approvals: Board granted formal and in-principle clearances for new SEZs and co-developer statuses across sectors.
The Board of Approval recommended eight Formal Approvals and two In-Principle Approvals for SEZs across biotech, IT/ITES, multi-product and multi-services sectors, identified specific developers and sites for formalisation, and approved four co-developer proposals.