Appointment of Commissioners: Board amends prior notifications to designate named officers to specified customs adjudicatory posts.
The Board, exercising powers under section 4(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 read with section 24 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, amends specified Customs (N.T.) notifications by substituting the previously named Commissioners or office descriptors with designated officers: chiefly appointing Shri H.K. Mittal, Commissioner of Central Excise (Adjudication), Delhi, substituting several Commissioner of Customs references; appointing Additional Director General (Vigilance), Mumbai in place of certain Kandla/Ahmedabad/Goa commissioner references; and substituting Commissioner of Central Excise (Adjudication), Bangalore for specified commissioner designations.

Adjudication authority appointments assign specified officers to conduct adjudication and investigation in listed customs matters.
The Board appoints the officers named in the Table to act as the designated adjudicating or investigating officers for the listed files and parties, pairing each case with the officer of record and the officer appointed to exercise adjudicatory or investigative authority. The notification reallocates responsibility by designating Central Excise adjudicators or Vigilance officers to act in specified customs matters, formally assigning them authority to carry out adjudication and investigation in the corresponding cases.

Invoice requirements relaxed for banking and financial service providers allowing varied documents to qualify as invoices when containing required information.
The amendment to Rule 4A permits providers of banking and other financial services, and offices acting as input service distributors for such providers, to treat any document by whatever name as an invoice, bill or challan even if not serially numbered or lacking the recipient's address, provided the document contains the other information required by the rule.

Exemption for interest on banking facilities: interest component excluded from service tax if shown separately in billing.
Exemption excludes the interest component charged by banks, financial institutions and any other person on overdraft facilities, cash credit and discounting of bills, bills of exchange or cheques from service tax under section 66, conditional on the interest or discount amount being shown separately in the invoice, bill or challan; the provision was amended to replace "commercial concern" with "any other person" and later rescinded by a subsequent notification.

Correction to service tax notification removes requirement for registration number, retaining only the address requirement field.
Corrigendum to Notification No. 11/2004-Service Tax replaces the phrase ", address and the registration number" with "and address" in the specified line of the original Gazette text, removing the prior requirement to include a registration number and leaving only the address requirement in that provision.

Supersession of Governing Board extended to continue Administrator's control pending elections and demutualization and corporatisation measures
SEBI ordered a three month extension of the supersession of the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange Governing Board from September 25, 2004, retaining Shri P.K. Ghosh, IAS (Retd.) as Administrator to exercise all powers and duties of the Governing Board while corrective measures, elections, demutualization and corporatisation are completed.

Automobiles classified as 'article or thing' under an income tax notification, altering their tax classification and treatment under the clause.
Notification designates automobiles, including automobile components as an article or thing for the purposes of the relevant clause, with the Central Board of Direct Taxes exercising its power to classify those goods within the sub section's regulatory scope for tax treatment.

Excise duty applicability expanded to specified textile entries on sale from EOU to DTA, value governed by valuation provision.
The notification revises the table in Notification No. 23/2003-Central Excise to replace prior serial entries with new entries 5, 5A, 6, 7 and 7A, specifying tariff headings for cotton and man-made fiber goods, their processing scope, the conditions under which duty becomes applicable in excess of thresholds in the First Schedule, and directing that value for duty determination be governed by the Act's valuation provision; it also omits clause (i) of Explanation I.

Renewal of recognition of a securities exchange granted subject to implementing inspection observations and rectifying deficiencies.
Renewal of recognition to OTC Exchange of India was granted for one year from 23 August 2004 to 22 August 2005 under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, subject to conditions. The Exchange must implement all unimplemented observations and rectify deficiencies identified in the regulator's inspection report, as communicated by letter dated 5 July 2004, and remain subject to any further prescribed or imposed conditions.

National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards constituted to advise the central government on formulation and adoption of accounting policies and standards.
Constitution of the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards to advise the Central Government on formulation and laying down of accounting policies and accounting standards for adoption by companies or classes of companies; lists Chairperson and institutional, regulatory and industry nominee members with a common terminal term of office and states the notification takes effect from publication in the Official Gazette.

Tax exemption notification recognises Indian Museum subject to conditions on income application, permitted investments, accounting and dissolution.
Notification under section 10(23C)(iv) notifies Indian Museum, Kolkata for assessment years 2003-04 to 2005-06 subject to conditions: income must be applied or accumulated wholly and exclusively to its objects; investments only in forms permitted by Section 11(5) except certain tangible voluntary contributions; business income excluded unless incidental and kept in separate books; regular filing of returns; and on dissolution surplus and assets must transfer to a charitable organisation with similar objectives.

Duty exemption for capital goods under EPCG subject to export obligation and bond, default triggers duty plus interest.
Exemption removes customs duty in excess of five percent and, if claimed, additional duty on capital goods, components and spares imported under a valid EPCG licence, subject to presentation of the licence, execution of a bond securing an export obligation fixed as a multiple of duty saved with block wise fulfilment periods, installation/use certification, and payment of proportional duty with interest where export obligations are not met; provisions for extensions, condonation, re export of defective goods, and waivers for force majeure are provided.

Duty entitlement passbook exemption allows specified imports to claim reduced customs duty when supported by prior DEPB credits.
Exemption from customs duty and additional duty is permitted for imports against a Duty Entitlement Pass Book issued under the Foreign Trade Policy, limited to amounts in excess of duties calculated at the notified standard and additional duty rates. Claiming exemption requires prior credit entries and production of the DEPB at import; insufficient DEPB credit precludes exemption. The DEPB is valid for a prescribed period and at specified ports and depots, transfers to non-holders are limited to specific non provisional credits, and additional duty treatment and offsetting with drawback or CENVAT credit are specified.

Excise exemption for raw, tanned or dressed fur skins introduced, making these goods nil-rated under the First Schedule.
Amendment adds S. No. 304 to Notification No. 6/2002, inserting an entry that exempts raw, tanned or dressed fur skins by rendering them nil-rated under the First Schedule, effected by the Central Government under its powers to amend the notification.

Temporary removal of export restrictions on sea shell handicrafts restores the prior export policy for a limited period.
Entries at Chapter 5, entry no. 41 (HS Codes 0508 00 20, 0508 00 30 and 0508 00 50) for sea shells and related handicrafts are to be treated as kept in abeyance, with the export policy that prevailed prior to the later Notifications to continue in force for six months from this Notification; action taken under powers of Section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act and relevant Foreign Trade Policy provisions.

Service tax exemption for aircraft operator carriage of export cargo: statutory relief granted, later rescinded by notification.
Exempts taxable services of an aircraft operator for transport of export cargo by aircraft from service tax liability under the Finance Act, granted by the Central Government as a public interest statutory exemption and later rescinded by subsequent notification.

Cenvat reference update: prior rule references now read as corresponding Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 provisions upon commencement.
The amendment renumbers Rule 16 as sub rule (1) and inserts sub rule (2) providing that references in any rule, notification, circular, instruction, standing order, trade notice or other order to the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2002 or the Service Tax Credit Rules, 2002 shall, on commencement, be construed as references to the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 and the corresponding provision thereof.

Tariff amendment inserts new entry for goods under specified heading imposing a central excise duty.
The Government amends the Central Excise notification by inserting a new S.No. 303 under tariff classification 89.08, covering all goods and specifying an excise duty rate of 12%, as a further modification to Notification No. 6/2002-Central Excise.

Fixation of tariff values for specified imported edible oils and brass scrap updates the customs valuation table.
The Board, under sub section (2) of Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962, amends Notification No.36/2001 Cus (N.T.) by substituting a new Table fixing tariff values (US$ per metric tonne) for specified imported goods: Crude Palm Oil 454; RBD Palm Oil 489; Others (Palm Oil) 471; Crude Palmolein 479; RBD Palmolein 497; Others (Palmolein) 488; Crude Soyabean Oil 565; Brass Scrap (all grades) 1495.

Concessional import duty for edible oils: edible oils taxed at reduced applied rates for basic and additional duty.
The notification amends specified customs exemption notifications to treat edible oils distinctly by applying half of the applied rate of duty and half of the applied rate of additional duty to imports of edible oils, and adds explanatory definitions that read applied rates as the First Schedule rates subject to existing notifications under the statutory notification power.