Excise duty exemption for export oriented unit procurements, subject to bond, use, accountal and NFE compliance.
Exemption from the whole of excise duty is provided for specified goods procured for use by EOUs, STP and EHTP units for manufacture, packaging, development or job work for export, contingent on direct procurement from manufacturer/warehouse, specified use, maintenance of accounts, execution of a bond with customs/central excise authorities, compliance with Foreign Trade Policy, and achievement of positive Net Foreign Exchange; breaches or failure to use or to meet NFE result in duty and interest liability and other prescribed consequences.

Excise duty exemption for cement used in relief work extended by government under statutory power, amending prior notification.
Extension of excise duty exemption for cement supplied for relief work in Gujarat by substituting the expiry date in paragraph 2 of Notification No. 16/2001-Central Excise; the Central Government exercises powers under section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 to amend the principal notification and continue the exemption for the specified cement used in relief operations.

Central Excise exemption amendment broadens covered persons and removes proviso and Explanation in the notification rules.
The amendment to Notification No. 36/2001-Central Excise (N.T.) substitutes the words "every manufacturer" with "every person, other than the said person referred to in sub-rule (1) of rule 12B of the Central Excise Rules, 2002," in the opening paragraph, clause (1)(ii), and omits the proviso and the Explanation, thereby redefining the class of persons covered by the exemption under the notification.

CENVAT credit entitlement for textile inputs expanded to allow immediate and transitional credit for job-worked and stock inputs.
Amendments permit immediate CENVAT credit on inputs for specified yarns, fabrics and readymade garments when inputs are received by a principal for job-worked manufacture, protect job workers from denial of credit where goods are cleared without duty under rule 12B, allow endorsed documents from exempt or nil-rated activities to support credit despite changes in goods description, and introduce Rule 9A enabling transitional credit on inputs and inputs contained in finished textile goods lying in stock or process subject to declaration, documentary evidence, or notified calculation methods.

Job work in textiles: registration, invoicing and duty liability clarified with proforma invoice and movement documentation options.
Amendments permit manufacturers of specified yarns, fabrics and readymade garments to remove goods under a proforma invoice (without duty details) provided a formal invoice is issued within five working days and both documents cross reference. Assessees availing value based exemptions or manufacturing specified textiles/garments must file quarterly production and removal returns. New Rule 12B governs job work: the owner (except EOUs/SEZs) must register, maintain accounts and pay duty unless the job worker elects to assume those obligations or acts as agent; movement of goods requires signed serially numbered documents and job worker acknowledgements, with owner liable for duty on loss before clearance.

Central excise exemption scope expanded to cover additional duty under Special Importance Act; First Schedule goods exempted, excluding matches.
The amendment substitutes the enabling authority reference to invoke the job work exemption, linking the Central Excise Act authority with the additional duty provisions of the Special Importance Act, and expands duty references to include both the Central Excise Tariff Schedules and the Special Importance Act additional duty. The Table entry is revised to exempt all goods falling under the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, other than matches, thereby clarifying the scope of qualifying goods for the exemption.

Additional duty of excise under provisional Finance Bill declaration treated as having force of law via notification amendment.
The Central Government, under sub rule (3) of rule 19 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002, amends Notification No. 43/2001 CE(N.T.) by inserting clause (e) into Explanation I to include the additional duty of excise levied under clause 149 of the Finance Bill, 2003, which, by virtue of a declaration under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931, has the force of law.

Definition of duty expanded to include additional excise duty under Finance Bill clause given force of law.
The Government, exercising sub-rule (3) of rule 19 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002, inserts Explanation III into Notification No.42/2001-Central Excise (N.T.) to provide that "Duty" includes the additional duty of excise levied under clause 149 of the Finance Bill, 2003, which clause has the force of law by declaration under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931.

Additional duty of excise inclusion under Finance Bill declared effective by provisional collection power; notification amends exemption scope.
The amendment adds an explicit explanatory sub-clause to Notification No. 41/2001-Central Excise(N.T.) treating the additional duty introduced by the Finance Bill as an additional duty of excise, and records that that Finance Bill provision has been given force of law by declaration under the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931, the change being made under rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002.

Rebate of additional excise duty on tea exports introduced, excluding Nepal and Bhutan, with duty given provisional legal force.
Amendment inserts a rebate for the whole of additional duty of excise paid on tea exported to any country except Nepal and Bhutan, and adds an explanation that the additional duty levied under the Finance Bill provision has the force of law by virtue of a Provisional Collection of Taxes Act declaration.

CENVAT credit utilisation now confined to specified additional excise duties for textiles, calamity levies, and related duties.
A new clause recognises the additional duty in clause 149 of the Finance Bill, 2003 as creditable; substituted sub-rule (6)(b) restricts CENVAT credit for specified additional duties to utilisation only for payment of those specified duties on final products or, where inputs are removed as such or partially processed, for payment on those inputs; an explanation permits credit of additional duty under the Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act to be utilised towards duties in the First or Second Schedule of the Central Excise Tariff Act.

CENVAT credit utilisation: credit may be applied against excise on final products, removed inputs or capital goods, and specified charges.
The amendment substitutes sub rule (3) of rule 3 to specify that CENVAT credit may be utilised for payment of excise duty on final products; an amount equal to credit on inputs if such inputs are removed as such or after partial processing; an amount equal to credit on capital goods if such capital goods are removed as such; and amounts under specified procedural provisions of the Central Excise Rules. It also renumbers the annexed form as Form 1 and inserts an additional form.

CENVAT credit entitlement clarified: payments treated as duty and inputs may be sent to job workers under conditions.
The amendment revises invoice requirements under rule 11(2) to require serial numbering and specified particulars, adds an Explanation to rule 16 treating payments under that sub rule as CENVAT credit equivalent to duty paid by the manufacturer, and inserts rule 16A allowing removal of inputs to job workers for specified purposes subject to conditions set by the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise.

Excise duty non levy for vending machine dispensed softy ice cream and beverages relieved for specified retrospective period.
The Central Government directed that the whole of the excise duty payable on softy ice cream and non alcoholic beverages dispensed through vending machines, which was not levied pursuant to an established practice, shall not be required to be paid in respect of such products for the retrospective period during which that practice operated.

No Excise Duty on certain bicycle parts where prior administrative practice resulted in non-levy, relieving past liability.
The government directed No Excise Duty be payable for a prior short period on bicycle parts where an established administrative practice resulted in non-levy of duty under the Central Excise framework, applying to parts within the relevant tariff headings and confined to transactions actually subject to that practice.

Excise duty concession for chassis used in battery-powered vehicle manufacture amended to revise tariff entries and annexure wording.
Notification No. 19/2003-CE amends Notification No. 6/2002-Central Excise by substituting table entries and ANNEXURE wording to adjust the excise duty concession for chassis for use in manufacturing battery-powered motor vehicles. It replaces the entry in column (4) against S. No. 210 with "-", substitutes "8%" in column (5) against S. No. 214 for specified items, and replaces the explicit ad valorem rate language in condition No. 51(a) with "leviable under the First Schedule and the Second Schedule".

Central excise amendment: replaces column entries with exempt marker for specified tariff serial numbers under notification.
The Central Government, invoking sub-section(1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, substitutes the entries in column (4) of the Table in Notification No. 6/2002-Central Excise with "-" against the specified serial numbers, thereby amending the presentation of exemptions in the principal notification.

Effective excise duty rates for medicinal and toilet preparations set, limiting levy to specified ad valorem rates.
Notification under rule 8 of the Medicinal and Toilet Preparations (Excise Duties) Rules, 1956 exempts dutiable goods listed in the Table from duty in excess of the rates specified. The Table assigns sixteen per cent ad valorem to most allopathic and narcotic-containing preparations and toilet preparations containing alcohol or narcotics, and assigns nil duty to indigenous medicinal preparations with self-generated alcohol that are not drinkable.

Rescission of excise notifications removes specified miscellaneous exemptions under Central Excise law, altering the statutory exemption framework.
The Central Government, exercising powers under sub section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 read with sub section (3) of section 3 of the Additional Duties of Excise Act, 1957, being satisfied it is necessary in the public interest, rescinds specified previous notifications (261/87, 10/98, 41/99, 13/2000, 10/2002 and 17/2002), thereby withdrawing the miscellaneous exemptions they had granted.

Central Excise notification amendments update product descriptions, exemption scope, duty references and ethanol blended petrol treatment.
Central Government directs textual and table amendments to multiple Central Excise notifications, substituting and expanding commodity descriptions, revising exemption conditions and definitions (including the meaning of rural area), updating cross references to other notifications and duty provisions, omitting and inserting serial entries, and inserting an operative tariff entry for ethanol blended petrol with compositional, standards and procedural requirements and an explanatory note on appropriate duties for the exemption.