VAT exemption restrictions for Luxembourg purchases; higher invoice thresholds and no refunds on food or drink.
Amendment to the Sixth Schedule restricts VAT exemption/refund for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: official purchases qualify only when made against a single tax invoice meeting a prescribed minimum invoice limit; personal purchases by diplomats require a higher minimum invoice limit; and exemption/refund of VAT is not available for food items, drinks and meals.

Customs drawback rate revised for high-purity gold jewellery; tariff entry substituted to update per-gram drawback provision.
Substitution of tariff item 711301 in Chapter 71 revises the drawback provision for articles of jewellery and parts thereof made of gold, prescribing a drawback amount per gram of net gold content for jewellery meeting a high-purity standard and replacing the earlier entries in the Schedule under the Drawback Rules.

Customs exchange rates fixed for conversion of foreign currencies, setting distinct import and export rates for valuation purposes.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs determined exchange rates for conversion between specified foreign currencies and Indian rupees to be used for valuation of imported and exported goods, superseding the prior notification; two schedules list separate import and export rupee equivalents for listed currencies and a corrigendum corrected specific entries.

Establishment of Local Office to enforce investor protection and grievance redressal across Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.
The Board has established a Local Office at Chandigarh under administrative control of the Northern Regional Office at New Delhi to execute regulatory functions including investor protection, facilitation of investor grievance redressal, delivery of financial and investor education, and other assigned functions, with territorial responsibility covering the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the State of Punjab and the State of Haryana.

Certification requirement for investment advisers mandates NISM Level One certification, with CPFA holders temporarily exempt.
Investment Advisers and their associated persons offering investment advice must obtain NISM certification by passing the NISM-Series-X-A Investment Adviser (Level 1) examination; holders of the NISM Certified Personal Financial Advisor certification are exempt from Level One for the validity period of that certification. Those who pass Level One or hold CPFA must also obtain Level Two Investment Adviser certification from NISM for compliance with the Investment Advisers Regulations, with accredited organizations approved by NISM permitted as an alternative.

Subscription period limits for RGESS eligible mutual fund schemes shortened under SEBI amendment to initial offer timelines.
The regulations amend SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 by inserting provisos in regulations 34, 35 and 36 specifying that, for mutual fund schemes eligible under the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme, the periods applicable to the initial offer and subscription processes shall be limited to a short, prescribed interval measured from the closure of the initial subscription list.

Commodities Transaction Tax procedures: filing, payment and appeal formats mandated for recognised associations and returns.
These rules operationalise the Commodities Transaction Tax regime by defining key terms and agricultural commodities, prescribing rounding rules, mandating recognised associations to remit tax via specified banks with a challan, and requiring annual returns in Form No. 1 (with Schedules A and B) filed on paper or electronically by 30 June following the financial year. Returns must be signed by authorised officers; Assessing Officers issue Form No. 2 notices for demand; refunded amounts received on assessment must be returned to persons from whom tax was collected within thirty days; appeals proceed by Forms No. 3 and No. 4 under prescribed verification and fee procedures.

Commencement of Chapter VII: appointed to take effect under section 115(2) of Finance Act 2013.
The Central Government, exercising the power conferred by sub section (2) of section 115 of the Finance Act, 2013, appoints the 1st day of July, 2013 as the date on which Chapter VII of the Act shall come into force by ministry notification.

Exchange of tax information establishes mutual assistance on requests with procedural safeguards and confidentiality protections.
The Agreement requires competent authorities to exchange information foreseeably relevant to tax determination, assessment, collection, recovery, investigation or prosecution, using domestic information gathering measures to obtain bank, financial and ownership data, depositions and authenticated records where permitted, subject to limits when information is not held or controlled within the requested jurisdiction and proportionality for publicly traded entities; requests must demonstrate foreseeable relevance and the requested authority must acknowledge, notify deficiencies and report delays within specified periods.

Inclusion of Republic of Haiti in Least Developed Countries list extends customs exemption coverage under amended notification.
Amendment to Notification No. 96/2008-Customs inserts the Republic of Haiti into the Schedule of Least Developed Countries, adding it after serial number 30 as Sl. No. 31, effected under the powers of section 25(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 to update the list of countries eligible for treatment accorded to Least Developed Countries.

Re-export obligation waived for defective parts and spares: not mandatory if imported solely for root cause analysis and testing.
Goods or parts exported and later found defective may be imported for repair and subsequent re-export without an Authorisation and per customs notification; however, re-export shall not be mandatory for defective parts and spares imported exclusively by companies, firms or Original Equipment Manufacturers for the purposes of root cause analysis, testing and evaluation.

Online registration requirement: dealers must file Form DVAT-04 electronically and submit hard copy within three working days.
Dealers applying for registration under section 19 must submit Form DVAT-04 online and furnish a hard copy with supporting documents to the concerned ward within three working days of electronic filing. Concurrently, no security is required to be furnished by dealers for registration until further orders. These procedural and exemption measures take effect from 1 July 2013.

Prohibition on import of milk and milk products extended until further orders, maintaining import ban on Chinese-origin dairy goods.
The notification extends the prohibition on import of milk and milk products from China by amending ITC (HS) 2012, Schedule 1 (Import Policy). The ban explicitly covers chocolates and chocolate products, candies, confectionery and food preparations with milk or milk solids as an ingredient. The extension continues the import restriction for an additional period as provided in the notification or until further orders, maintaining the import controls on products of Chinese origin under the Foreign Trade Policy framework.

Export of edible oils: specified exemptions and branded pack exports permitted subject to a minimum export price.
The amendment preserves a general prohibition on edible oil exports while specifying exemptions: castor oil; coconut oil via all EDI ports and specified land customs; deemed exports to 100% EOUs for non edible goods; DTA to SEZ supplies for processed food subject to value addition norms; oils from minor forest produce under listed ITC(HS) codes; a limited annual allocation for organic edible oils under existing conditions; and branded consumer packs up to 5 kg permitted subject to a Minimum Export Price. Peanut butter remains outside the prohibition.

Good Dealer Scheme eligibility sets selection criteria and benefits for registered dealers under VAT program
The Good Dealer Scheme sets eligibility-no return defaults or adverse enforcement findings in the prior three years, specified tax growth thresholds, and no outstanding demands unless legally contested-and establishes annual selection procedures administered by ward and zonal officers.

Fixation of tariff values updates prescribed customs valuation benchmarks for specified imported commodities under statutory authority.
The Board, invoking section 14(2) of the Customs Act, substitutes TABLE-1 and TABLE-2 in Notification No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.) to prescribe revised tariff values: per metric tonne values for specified edible oils, oil fractions, crude soybean oil, brass scrap and poppy seeds in TABLE-1, and unit values for gold and silver where benefit of specified notification entries is availed in TABLE-2.

Exchange rate change for Danish kroner: new official import and export conversion rates take effect, altering customs valuation.
Amendment revises the customs schedule to substitute the Serial No. 4 entry, setting distinct rupee conversion rates for one unit of Danish Krone for imported goods and for export goods; the change alters the conversion basis used in customs valuation and takes effect on the stated effective date under the notifying authority's statutory powers.

Incremental growth entitlement: compute export growth per IEC in freely convertible currency, excluding specified export categories.
Amendment requires that incremental growth for computation of export entitlement under the Foreign Trade Policy be determined for each exporter by Importer Exporter Code (IEC) without combining or transferring export performance between IECs, measured in freely convertible currency to designated markets. It enumerates excluded categories for performance calculation, including imports or trans-shipment, exports from or to SEZ/EOU/EHTP/STPI/BTP/FTWZ and supplies to SEZ units, deemed exports, service and third party exports, precious metals and stones, ores and concentrates, cereals, sugar, crude petroleum and primary petroleum products, milk products, exports requiring authorisation (except SCOMET), meat products, specified market exports, and SEZ products exported through DTA units.

Export entitlement calculation tied to specific Foreign Trade Policy provisions and limited to per IEC incremental growth in convertible currency.
The amendment links entitlement to paragraph 3.14.2 or to exports to markets in paragraphs 3.14.4(e)/3.14.5(e) of the Foreign Trade Policy, and requires incremental growth for entitlement computation to be measured per IEC without combining group company exports or transfers, denominated in freely convertible currency. It also specifies categories of exports excluded from export performance and entitlement calculations, including trans-shipped imports, exports from SEZ/EOU/EHTP/STPI/BTP/FTWZ, deemed and service exports, third party exports, specified precious metals and stones and jewellery, ores, cereals, sugar, crude petroleum products, milk products, exports on behalf of others, supplies to SEZ units, items needing export authorization (except SCOMET), meat products, exports to certain markets, and SEZ products exported via DTA units.

Appellate authority designation authorizes specified officers to hear appeals against adjudicating authority orders under foreign trade law.
Central Government authorizes specified officers to act as Appellate Authority against orders of Adjudicating Authorities under the Foreign Trade Act, mapping each adjudicating designation to its appellate officer; Additional Director General appeals heard by a Bench of two Additional Director General officers constituted by the Director General; the notification supersedes earlier notifications.