Excise exemption narrowed: tobacco and pan masala excluded from notified relief for northeastern states under tariff headings.
Amendments to notifications 32/99-CE and 33/99-CE substitute their opening paragraphs to exclude from the enumerated exemptions any goods falling under Chapter 24 or heading No.21.06 of the First or Second Schedules to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, thereby narrowing the scope of the previously notified relief for the north-eastern states.

Diplomatic exemptions: excise duty waived for goods supplied for official use subject to reciprocity certificate and compliance conditions.
Goods supplied for the official use of foreign diplomatic or consular missions in India are exempt from excise duty subject to conditions: production of a Protocol Division certificate confirming entitlement based on reciprocity and an undertaking by the head of mission or authorised officer to furnish, within three months (or extended period permitted), a certificate that the goods have been put to use, to refrain from sale or disposal for three years, and to pay duty applicable at clearance if the use-certification requirement is not met.

Deeming of powered textile processing as non-powered for exemption clarifies which cotton fabric operations qualify for duty relief.
The amendment substitutes the Explanation to serial No. 9 to provide that cotton fabrics subjected to specified operations with the aid of power shall be deemed to have been processed without the aid of power or steam for the Additional Duty (in lieu of Sales Tax) exemption. Specified operations are: lifting to overhead tanks/emptying in underground tanks or handling chemicals (acids, chlorine, caustic soda); mixing and stirring of dyes, kerosene, caustic soda, gum paste and emulsion by stirrer; and colour fixation by passing steam or applying sodium silicate.

Kerosene exemption for manufacture of linear alkyl benzene: duty relief subject to return and warehouse clearance conditions.
Exemption provides duty relief for kerosene received by a factory from a refinery for manufacture of linear alkyl benzene or heavy alkylate and returned to the refinery or its approved warehouse. The quantity consumed is calculated by deducting from kerosene received the mineral oil of the same heading generated in manufacture and returned to the refinery or an approved warehouse. The Commissioner must permit clearance to the warehouse and may impose conditions regarding accountal of kerosene and payment of duty.

Jurisdictional reallocation: Commissioner of Central Excise, Mangalore assigned Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts under Central Excise Rules.
The Central Government amended the Central Excise Rules to assign Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts of Karnataka to the Commissioner of Central Excise, Mangalore, omitting the prior district references and inserting a new entry to record that territorial allocation, together with corresponding insertions in related rule provisions to include the Commissioner of Central Excise, Mangalore among enumerated officers.

Electronic records maintenance permitted with prescribed printout and binding conditions; authority may prohibit for recorded reasons.
Rule 226A permits electronic maintenance or generation of prescribed records, returns, invoices and documents in computer-readable format subject to three mandatory conditions: monthly printouts of each record and document; retention of printouts and invoice copies in bound folders; and each page bearing a running serial number and the name and address of the person. The Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner may, for reasons recorded in writing, prohibit electronic maintenance or generation under this procedure.

Exemption from excise duty for cooperative and bought-leaf tea factories subject to undertakings, reporting and duty liability on breach.
Exempts tea under sub-heading 0902.00 from excise duty where cleared by cooperative or bought-leaf factories, contingent on filing undertakings with the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner that supplier holdings do not exceed ten hectares (and for bought-leaf factories that at least two-thirds of green leaf is from such growers), submission of prescribed statements of accounts as proof of compliance, and liability to pay duty for any period where the undertaking is not satisfied; effective from 10th December, 1999 and later rescinded.

Application to High Court under section 35H: prescribed forms and filing requirements for references from the Appellate Tribunal.
Rule 218 is substituted to require applications under section 35H(1) to be made in Form No. E.A.-6 and memoranda of cross-objections under section 35H(3) in Form No. E.A.-7, each filed in quadruplicate. Where filed by persons other than the Commissioner of Central Excise, the forms and verification must be signed as specified in rule 213. Appendix I is amended to list Series Nos. 93 and 94 for E.A.-6 and E.A.-7 and specimen forms set out required particulars, enclosures, verification, signature blocks and filing notes, including fee payment by demand draft to the High Court Registrar.

Jurisdictional boundary changes in excise rules alter administrative areas and remove specified procedural rules and form series.
The amendment revises territorial entries in rule 2(4) to substitute and exclude specified localities, omits rules 83 to 92 thereby removing the provisions on maintenance of accounts by sugar units, and deletes specified Central Excise form series from Appendix I under both the List of Central Excise Forms and the Specimen Forms.

Excise duty exemption conditions tightened for goods to listed international organisation financed projects, requiring specified organisational or Deputy Secretary certification.
Amendment requires certification for excise duty exemption on goods linked to projects financed by listed international organisations: either a certificate from the listed organisation confirming necessity and Government approval where goods are supplied to the organisation for an approved project, or a certificate from an officer not below Deputy Secretary in the finance department confirming necessity and Government approval where goods are supplied to an approved project financed by a listed organisation; exemptions confined to organisations named in the Annexure.

Settlement of cases procedure: rules prescribe application form, disclosure, provisional attachment and copy fees for central excise settlements.
The amendment creates a statutory Settlement of Cases framework: applications must use Form SC(E)-1, filed in quintuplicate with a prescribed fee and verified annexures; the Settlement Commission may disclose application material to the Commissioner, and transmit annexures upon ordering continuation; provisional attachment procedures require the Commissioner to effect attachment, prepare inventories and circulate them; fees for obtaining copies of reports are prescribed.

Amendment to Central Excise exemption: substitution expands Explanation to include Special Force alongside Special Services Bureau.
The Central Government, exercising the power under sub section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, amends Notification No.62/95 Central Excise by substituting, in the Explanation, the words "Special Services Bureau" with the words "Special Services Bureau, Special Force", as effected by Notification No.39/99 CE dated 23 September 1999.

Designation of Revenue Officers as Central Excise Officers appoints laboratory chemical examiners and assistants as Central Excise Officers.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, under rule 4 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, appoints specified laboratory personnel as Central Excise Officers for the purposes of rule 56, sub rule 6 of rule 83, rule 85 and rule 197, superseding the earlier notification. Designated posts include the Director of the Central Revenue Control Laboratory, Joint Directors, Chemical Examiners (Grade I and II), Assistant Chemical Examiners and Chemical Assistants at the Central Revenue Control Laboratory, New Delhi, and Customs House Laboratories at Calcutta, Chennai, Mumbai, Okha, Cochin, Kandla and Digboi.

Duty bounds on DTA sales: duty limited between excise on like goods and statutory proviso cap.
Notification No.38/99 amends earlier EOUs/EHTP/STP notifications by substituting a broader reference to levy under the Customs Act or any other law and by prescribing that duty on DTA sales shall not be less than the excise on like goods produced outside the notified units and shall not exceed the excise duty chargeable under the relevant statutory proviso.

Excise duty exemption on donated computer systems permits duty-free transfer from export-oriented units to specified public institutions subject to conditions.
Indigenously procured computers and specified peripherals donated after two years by EOUs, STP, EHTP and EPZ units to recognized non-commercial educational institutions, registered charitable hospitals, public libraries, public-funded research and development establishments, or government organisations are exempt from the whole of excise duty, subject to donor certification of donee status and donee undertaking to follow prescribed transport procedures and to refrain from commercial use or disposal without permission for five years.

Amendment to job work exemptions: substitution of tariff headings clarifies which goods qualify for central excise concession.
Amendment revises sub clause (a) of specified job work exemption notifications by substituting prior wording with an explicit provision that goods falling under specified heading and sub heading numbers in the Schedule shall be included for the purposes of the exemption, thereby modifying two notifications dated 11 April 1994 to align the exemption with enumerated tariff classifications.

Excise duty non-recovery on carded wool affirmed where prior practice omitted levy, relieving liability for that period.
Government directed that excise duty on carded wool ('lefa') intended for hand-spun yarn, classified under the Central Excise Tariff, shall not be required to be paid in respect of instances during the relevant historical period where a prevailing practice resulted in non-levy of duty, the direction being issued pursuant to statutory excise powers.

Penalty for outstanding duty now requires the greater of the duty due or a prescribed minimum monetary amount.
The amendment substitutes clause (ii) of rule 96ZQ(5) to require a penalty equal to the amount of duty outstanding at the end of such month or a minimum monetary amount, whichever is greater, thereby establishing a minimum penalty floor for outstanding duty liabilities under the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

Deemed Processing Without Power: specified powered operations on cotton fabrics are treated as non-powered for excise exemption.
Notification substitutes the Explanation to the cotton fabrics exemption entry, providing that cotton fabrics subjected to any one or more specified processes with the aid of power shall be deemed to have been processed without the aid of power or steam. The specified processes include lifting to or emptying in tanks and handling certain chemicals; mixing and stirring of dyes, kerosene, caustic soda, gum paste and emulsions by stirrer; and colour fixation by passing steam or applying sodium silicate.

Excise relief: no recovery of duty for castings cleared under an established non levy practice during the relevant period.
The Central Government, invoking Section 11-C, directed that excise duty payable under section 3 on castings cleared for manufacture of toka machines but for an established practice of non levy shall not be required to be paid in respect of such castings on which duty was not levied during the period commencing 1 March 1994 and ending 8 October 1997.