Interest under section 11AA fixed for Central Excise, superseding prior notification and effective from April.
Fixes the rate of interest at fifteen per cent per annum for purposes of section 11AA of the Central Excise Act, 1944, superseding the 2011 notification insofar as it relates to the interest rate, and states that the notification comes into force on the first day of April, 2016.

Time limit for refund of CENVAT Credit set for service exporters; applications must follow prescribed filing timelines and documentation.
Amends Notification No. 27/2012 to require applications in Form A with specified documents for CENVAT Credit refunds on exported services to be filed: manufacturers pursuant to the Central Excise Act time limit; service providers within a prescribed period from receipt of payment in convertible foreign exchange when service preceded payment, or from invoice issuance where payment was received in advance.

Municipal waste power project exemption: relief contingent on agreement with urban local body for long-term waste processing.
Amendment adds a proviso that exempts power generation projects based on municipal and urban waste from the specified condition if the manufacturer satisfies the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise that there is a valid agreement with the urban local body for processing municipal solid waste for not less than ten years from the date of project commissioning.

Rescission of exemption notification ends prior central excise exemption while preserving actions taken before rescission.
Notification No. 13/2016 dated 1 March 2016 rescinds Notification No. 62/91-Central Excises dated 25 July 1991 by exercise of the executive rescission power in the public interest, terminating the earlier exemption for future effect while preserving things done or omitted to be done before the rescission.

CENVAT credit amendments revise eligibility, apportionment and distribution, imposing detailed attribution, reporting and compliance requirements.
Amendments revise CENVAT credit eligibility, utilisation and distribution: expanding eligible capital goods and uses, removing certain exclusions, disallowing credit for Infrastructure Cess, prescribing spreading of credit for assignment of natural resource usage, extending registration validity, and creating a multi-option regime for attribution between exempted and non-exempted outputs with monthly provisional calculations, annual reconciliation, interest on shortfalls, reporting obligations, and special provisions for input service distributors, outsourced manufacturing units and manufacturer warehouses.

Retail Sale Price based assessment revised to change abatement rates for specified excisable goods under Central Excise rules.
The notification amends the principal abatement schedule under the Central Excise Act by substituting entries for tariff headings 3401 and 3402 with specified abatement figures, substituting the abatement entry at another serial number, inserting new serial entries for tariff heading 7607 and for wrist wearable devices under heading 8517 62 with their respective abatements, and replacing the description "Parts, components and assemblies" with "Parts, components, accessories and assemblies" for the indicated serial entries.

Amendment to central excise notification updates tariff entries and duty rates, expanding exemptions and concessional duties.
Amendment to notification No. 12/2012 revises the Central Excise Table and Lists by substituting, inserting and omitting serial entries and tariff descriptions to effect budgetary changes: it prescribes concessional rates for micronutrients, nil duty for certain fertilizer mixtures supplied by registered co operative societies and for ready mix concrete manufactured at construction sites, adjusts duty percentages for specified precious metal and other goods, and adds industry specific entries for lithium ion batteries, mobile handset components, ship repair inputs, rotor blade inputs and related inputs listed in a new List 9A.

Exemption of central excise on media with recorded IT software allowed when manufacturer declares software value and service tax registration.
Exempts central excise duty on media with recorded Information Technology Software under Chapter 85 to the extent equal to the value of the software portion leviable to service tax; manufacturers must furnish the prescribed Annexure I declaration of the software value to the jurisdictional Commissioner and the person liable for service tax must be registered and undertake to pay service tax on that declared value.

Tariff value amendment increases prescribed tariff values for non-knitted apparel under the Central Excise notification.
Notification No. 11/2016 amends Notification No. 20/2001-Central Excise (N.T.) by substituting the figures in the opening paragraph to increase the prescribed tariff values for articles of apparel and clothing accessories not knitted or crocheted, issued under powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Packing machine capacity determination amended to prescribe monthly pouch capacities and expedited re-determination and payment timelines.
The amendment substitutes rule 5 to prescribe monthly deemed pouch production per operating packing machine based on retail price bands and machine maximum packing speeds, treats each track/line of a multi-track machine as a separate machine for capacity calculation, mandates re-determination of annual capacity by the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner within three working days of commencement, fixes the monthly duty payment deadline for March 2016, and revises FORM-2 to set out duty break-up and columns for CENVAT credit and cash payment.

Central excise exemption amendment narrows exempted goods, omitting a prior entry and excluding foil containers, parts and cookers.
Amendment revises the exemption schedule of an existing central excise notification by omitting one serial entry from the tariff table and substituting the entry for another serial so that the exempted description reads: "All goods other than disposable aluminium foil containers, parts and pressure cookers," thereby narrowing the scope of the exemption as a budgetary modification under the enabling power of the Central Excise Act.

Brand labelled goods with retail sale price above prescribed threshold lose miscellaneous exemption under amended central excise notification.
Inserts a new exemption entry applying to goods classifiable in Chapters 61, 62 and 63 (excluding laminated jute bags) limited to goods bearing or sold under a brand name and meeting a specified retail sale price threshold, thereby amending the Table of exemptions in Notification No.1/2011-Central Excise.

Duty apportionment ratios for pan masala updated to specify allocation across excise, additional excise, and calamity duty.
Substitutes item (iv) of FORM 2 in the Pan Masala Packing Machines Rules, 2008 to prescribe a detailed duty apportionment framework requiring separate allocation ratios and reporting of amounts for Central Excise Duty, Additional Duty of Excise, National Calamity Contingent Duty, Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess for pan masala and pan masala containing tobacco.

Interest on provisional excise assessments clarified: delayed payments attract interest from the day after the due date until paid.
The amendments revise commencement dates and clarify that an assessee is liable to pay interest on amounts under provisional assessment not paid by the due date, with interest running from the day after the due date until actual payment; an illustrative example demonstrates interest calculation for staggered payments and final assessment. Eligibility thresholds for small manufacturer concessions under rule 8 are redefined for specified jewellery and other manufacturers. Terminology is changed to "Annual Return," provisions extended to export-oriented units, revised-return windows are prescribed and treated as the "relevant date" for recovery, and certain attestation and procedural provisions are omitted or updated.

Exemption for first clearances of specified jewellery limited by aggregate caps and restricted input and capital goods credit usage.
The amendment adds an exemption from whole excise duty for first clearances of certain jewellery under chapter 7113, excluding most silver jewellery but including specified studded silver, subject to an aggregate annual value cap and a transitional lower cap for March. It bars manufacturers availing the exemption from claiming input duty credit or capital goods credit for affected clearances, excludes inputs used for goods bearing another person's brand where ineligible, and adjusts aggregate-clearance and branded-goods limitations, while treating clearances for home consumption to include exports to Bhutan.

Exemption for cotton goods clarified: branded high priced cotton products excluded from central excise relief.
Substitutes the entry for serial number 7 in Notification No.7/2012 to exempt all goods of cotton not containing any other textile material, while excluding goods bearing or sold under a brand name that meet the specified retail sale price (RSP) threshold. An explanation clarifies that such cotton goods include items made from pure cotton fabrics even if they incorporate non cotton sewing threads, cords, labels, elastic tapes, zip fasteners or similar items used for stitching, fastening, holding or adornment.

Rescission of notification under Central Excise Act withdraws prior notification's effect, subject to pre-existing actions preserved.
The Central Government, invoking its authority under the Central Excise Act, rescinded Notification No. 9/2012-Central Excise (N.T.), dated 17 March 2012, withdrawing that notification in the public interest while preserving a savings provision that leaves intact things done or omitted before the rescission.

Exemption for jewellery manufacturing expanded to include silver jewellery studded with specified gemstones, relieving certain factories from listed conditions.
Amendment inserts a new sub-clause providing that every manufacturing factory or premises engaged in the manufacture or production of articles of jewellery, other than articles of silver jewellery but inclusive of silver jewellery studded with diamond, ruby, emerald or sapphire and falling under the relevant tariff classification, shall be exempted from sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of clause (8) of the principal notification.

Exemption disapplication for expanded gold and silver producers: existing units that expand or install new plant lose area-based exemption.
The amendment inserts a uniform provision into the listed notifications that the exemption shall not apply to an industrial unit existing on 1st March, 2016 which undertakes substantial expansion or installs fresh plant, machinery or capital goods for production of gold or silver and commences commercial production from such expanded capacity or new plant on or after 1st March, 2016.

Exemption exclusion for refined gold and silver production limits exemptions for new or expanded units commencing after March 1, 2016.
Amendments to notifications 56/2002, 57/2002, 20/2007 and 01/2010 insert that the exemption shall not apply to (a) new industrial units producing refined gold or silver commencing commercial production on or after 1 March 2016, and (b) existing units as on 1 March 2016 that substantially expand or install fresh plant, machinery or capital goods for such production and commence commercial production from the expanded capacity or new assets on or after 1 March 2016.