Concessional duty rates for specified food and beverage preparations amended; new exemption requires packaging declaration and brand and production limits.
The notification amends the Central Excise tariff by inserting new tariff entries and substituting revised duty rates for specified food and beverage subheadings, including entries for pre-mixes, milk products with nuts, tender coconut water and betel-nut-containing preparations. It also adds a new Annexure condition making concessional treatment conditional on the unit not producing other pan masala on the same premises, not using a brand name used for specified headings, and declaring the percentage of betel nut on packaging.

Excise duty rate reduction caps effective duties on specified tariff items by prescribing ad valorem exemptions.
Grants exemptions that cap excise duty on listed tariff items at the ad valorem rates specified in the Table, using section 5A(1) of the Central Excise Act to exempt duty in excess of those rates; the Table identifies Chapters, headings and tariff items with specified reduced rates and records particular exceptions and supplemental levies where applicable.

Excise exemption narrowing: peripheral processing excluded, affecting units in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh under amended notifications
Amendments substitute "Uttarakhand" for "Uttranchal" and add a paragraph excluding from the notifications' excise exemption goods subjected only to specified peripheral operations-preservation, cleaning, packing or repacking in a unit container, labeling or re-labelling, sorting, declaration or alteration of retail sale price-where such goods have not undergone any other process amounting to manufacture in the States of Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh.

Compounded levy per packing machine permits monthly duty payment based on pouch retail price bands and conditions.
An optional compounded levy allows pan masala and gutkha manufacturers packing in pouch filling machines to pay a fixed monthly duty per packing machine at rates tied to the pouch retail sale price; multiple tracks/lines are individual machines. No CENVAT credit is allowed and payments must be in cash. Permission is obtained by application (deemed granted if not decided in two working days), duty is paid before each month with intimation, additions/removals require officer supervision and removed/sealed machines remain chargeable; defaults attract duty recalculation, confiscation and penalties.

Excise exemption for naval fuels conditioned on supplier registration, recordkeeping and monthly reconciliation, with duty for unaccounted supplies.
Amends the Central Excise notification by exempting fuels under Chapter Heading 2710 when manufactured and supplied by Indian Oil Corporation Limited, or procured by IOCL from another manufacturer and supplied, as stores for consumption on board Indian Navy or Coast Guard vessels, subject to IOCL obtaining registration with the jurisdictional Assistant/Deputy Commissioner, maintaining records of receipt and supply, submitting monthly reconciliation statements and proving supplies to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional central excise officer; non-compliance attracts payment of excise duty on unaccounted fuels with interest.

Effective Rate of Duty: agricultural grade zinc sulphate used as a micronutrient now attracts nil duty under amended notification.
The Government amends Notification No. 4/2006-Central Excise by inserting S.No. 51A to list tariff heading 2833 29 for agricultural grade zinc sulphate ordinarily used as a micronutrient, specifying an effective rate of duty of Nil under Notification No. 36/2007-Central Excise dated 9 October 2007.

Effective rate of duty set to nil for brooms of twigs by amendment to central excise notification.
The Central Government, exercising powers under section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, inserts a new tariff entry S.No.75B to Notification No. 6/2006 Central Excise for brooms "consisting of twigs or other vegetable materials, bound together, with or without handles" and prescribes a nil effective rate of duty for that entry by Notification No. 35/2007 Central Excise dated 20 September 2007.

Effective rate of duty: new tariff entries add central excise liability for certain plaster and related pharmaceutical goods.
The Central Government, exercising statutory authority, amends the principal excise notification by inserting two new table entries: 62B (tariff heading 3005 90 40 - "All goods") and 62C (tariff heading 3005 90 90 - "Plaster of paris (pharmaceutical grade)"), each assigned an effective rate of duty of 8 percent by Notification No. 34/2007-Central Excise dated 2nd August 2007.

Effective Rate of Duty adjustment: specified edible fats and oils excluding crude palm stearin now attract nil duty.
Notification No. 33/2007 substitutes the S.No.9 entry in the Table of notification No. 3/2006 Central Excise to cover tariff headings 1507-1515 and declares that all goods other than crude palm stearin within those headings shall have a nil effective rate of duty.

Excise duty exemption for specified engines permits duty-free intra unit transfer for power tiller manufacture, subject to compliance.
Exempts excise duty on internal combustion engines of Chapter 84 manufactured at the maker's Kalamassery unit and cleared to its Kanjikode unit for manufacture of power tillers of heading 8432, provided the manufacturer follows the Central Excise (Removal of Goods at Concessional rate of Duty for Manufacture of Excisable Goods) Rules, 2001.

Effective Rate of Duty amended to Nil for recorded smart cards and recorded proximity cards and tags under new tariff entries.
Notification No. 31/2007 inserts two tariff entries, S.No. 22A and 22B, covering recorded smart cards and recorded proximity cards and tags under Chapter 85 subheadings, and prescribes an effective rate of duty of Nil for those entries.

Central excise exemption for defence programme supplies requires a Programme Director certificate before clearance, with a time limit.
Exemption added for machinery, equipment, instruments, components, spares, jigs, fixtures, dies, tools, accessories, computer software, raw materials and consumables supplied to the Long Range Surface to Air Missile Programme of the Ministry of Defence, conditional on production, before clearance, of a certificate from the Programme Director that the goods are intended for the Programme; the exemption is time limited and ceases to have effect on or after the stated expiry date.

SION-based usage norms revised, allowing self-declared/ad hoc inputs and clarifying deemed import treatment for EOUs and STP units.
The notification permits non-capital goods to be treated as used for export production or home-consumption clearance if proven to the officer within a prescribed period or extended for sufficient cause; where no SION exists, waste, scrap and remnants up to two percent are allowed, and units may use self-declared norms pending ad hoc fixation by the Development Commissioner and must align with Board of Approval norms within the prescribed adjustment period. It also clarifies that certain supplies from EOUs, STP and EHTP units and specified deemed exports are to be treated as imported goods.

Effective rate of duty amended: new Nil-duty entries and a tariff-code substitution alter classifications and rates.
Notification amends three Central Excise notifications by inserting tariff item 2202 90 30 for flavoured milk of animal origin at Nil duty; inserting tariff heading 5607 90 for goods of jute or other textile bast fibres of heading 5303 at Nil duty; and substituting the description at S. No. 17 to add tariff code 8523 51 00 alongside 8471 70 and 8473 30, under the power conferred by section 5A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Exemption extension for cement and steel in tsunami-affected housing extends statutory relief period under Central Excise notification amendment.
The notification amends Notification No. 32/2005-Central Excise by substituting the figures, letters and word in paragraph 5 to extend the period during which cement and steel used in construction of houses in specified tsunami-affected areas are exempt from central excise. The amendment is made under sub-section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, read with section 91 and section 93 of the Finance (No.2) Act, 2004, and records prior publication and earlier amendment details.

Net Foreign Exchange criteria allow one-time debonding under Advance Authorization on duty payment for exiting user industries.
Amendment permits a one-time clearance or debonding of goods under Advance Authorization for an exiting user industry that meets positive NFE criteria in Para 6.18(g) of the Foreign Trade Policy, subject to payment of applicable duty. It also defines NFE as Net Foreign Exchange Earnings per Para 6.5 of the Foreign Trade Policy and Para 6.10.1 of the Handbook of Procedure, to be calculated as explained in Annexure-I to Appendix 14-I-G of the Handbook of Procedure, volume 1.

Rescission of central excise notification: government revokes earlier exemption notification while preserving prior actions taken.
The Central Government, invoking powers under the Central Excise Act and the Finance Act, rescinds Notification No. 18/2007 (published as G.S.R. 147(E)) issued on the 1st March, 2007 by issuing Notification No. 25/2007; the rescission is subject to a savings clause preserving acts or omissions done before the rescission.

Central excise tariff amendments expand duty classifications and add conditional nil-duty provisions for aircraft and aviation uses.
The notification amends Notification No. 6/2006 by adding tariff entries and duty rates, including insertion of polysulphone membranes to an ultra-filtration entry, adding refrigerated motor vehicles and certain chapter entries with specified duties, and inserting nil-duty entries for aircraft and aircraft parts subject to new Annexure conditions. The Annexure conditions grant nil duty where aircraft are procured for approved flying training or by approved non-scheduled operators and used exclusively for those purposes, or where goods are procured for servicing, repair or maintenance of such aircraft, with definitions for "operator" and non-scheduled services.

Effective rate of duty on packaged cement revised to introduce distinct per tonne and retail price linked ad valorem bands.
Substitutes the S.No.1A tariff entry to classify packaged cement into two retail price bands, prescribing a specific per tonne duty for the lower band and an ad valorem duty linked to retail sale price for the higher band, applicable to goods cleared in packaged form; also replaces the column(3) description at another serial number with a broadened "All goods" entry.

Effective Rate of Duty amendment revises specified tariff entries, altering duty descriptions and substituting certain entries to nil.
Amends the tariff table in Notification No.3/2006-Central Excise by substituting specified entries: S.No.18A column (3) is replaced with a higher fixed amount; S.No.28 and S.No.30 column (4) are substituted with Nil; and S.No.37 and S.No.38 column (4) are substituted with specified rates per thousand, thereby altering the effective rates of duty for those tariff entries.