Appointment of inland container depot: Falta SEZ authorised for unloading imported and loading exported goods.
The Board amends Notification No.12/97 CUSTOMS (N.T.) under clause (aa) of section 7(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 by inserting S.No.13 to designate West Bengal - FALTA Special Economic Zone - as an Inland Container Depot authorised for "Unloading of imported goods and loading of exported goods."

Delegation of registrar powers enables state registrars to exercise specified Central Registrar functions with defined exclusions and limits.
Delegation of powers under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act authorises State and UT Registrars to exercise specified Central Registrar functions for multi-state co-operative societies within their jurisdiction, subject to exclusion of National Co-operative Societies, compliance with directions from the Central Registrar, and confinement to societies whose governing bodies elected under the earlier statute continue beyond the three-year term.

Anti-dumping duty on Flexible Slabstock Polyol imports, calculated as the difference between a benchmark and landed value.
Provisional anti-dumping duty is imposed on imports of Flexible Slabstock Polyol (molecular weight 3000-4000) under heading 3907.20 from specified subject countries. The duty equals the difference between a stated US dollar benchmark per metric tonne and the landed value of the imports. The measure, issued under section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act read with the Anti-dumping Rules, is effective until 19 July 2004, payable in Indian currency; landed value and the applicable exchange rate for conversion are defined by reference to the Customs Act and periodic Government notifications.

Excise exemption for fabrics permits duty-free job-work processing when processed goods are returned to the manufacturer.
Exempts unprocessed fabrics cleared under the prior notification and subjected to job work outside the place of manufacture from whole excise duty, provided the processed fabrics are returned by the job worker to the manufacturer; job work is defined to mean plain roll calendaring or decatizing or both.

Excise exemption for specified textile fabrics: conditional duty relief for first clearances subject to annual aggregation rules and compliance.
The notification exempts specified unprocessed and minimally processed textile fabrics and certain yarn clearances for home consumption from central excise duty up to prescribed aggregate values, subject to aggregation across factories and manufacturers, duty payment if aggregate thresholds are exceeded, retention of yarn purchase records, an option to forgo the exemption for a financial year by paying normal duty, and exclusion of job work clearances from aggregation unless the goods are not returned.

Customs valuation: freight for movement to inland container depots excluded from transport cost for sea-imported containers.
Where goods are imported by sea stuffed in a container for clearance at an Inland Container Depot or Container Freight Station, the cost of freight incurred in moving the container from the port of entry to the ICD or CFS shall not be included in the cost of transport used for customs valuation.

Tariff amendment: insulated ware and vacuum flasks added to central excise notification with specified excise rate.
The Government amended Notification No. 6/2002-Central Excise by inserting Table entries for tariff headings 3923.10 or 3924.10 (Insulated ware) and 96.17 (Vacuum flasks), specifying the excise rate column entries for those goods under the notification.

Abatement for assessable value reduced for plastic insulated ware and vacuum flasks by government notification.
The Government, under sub sections (1) and (2) of section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, amends the Table in notification No.13/2002 Central Excise (N.T.) by substituting new entries in column (4) against the specified serial numbers, thereby changing the abatement applied in computing the assessable value for those listed goods.

Tax exemption approval under section 10(23G) granted to mobile infrastructure provider, subject to compliance and audit conditions.
Approval is granted to M/s Bharti Mobile Limited as an infrastructure undertaking for its cellular mobile projects, subject to compliance with the statutory provisions and rules on maintenance of books of account and audit; the Central Government may withdraw approval if the undertaking ceases infrastructure activity, fails to maintain or audit accounts, or fails to furnish the required audit report.

Capital goods import exemption conditions require an investment commitment or repayment of differential duty if unmet.
The notification substitutes S.No.30 to prescribe distinct concessional treatment for non edible oils with Free Fatty Acid of 20% or more, including a specific concession for oils used in soap manufacture, and inserts S.No.442 granting a concessional rate for listed inputs required for manufacture of machinery (including CNC systems, servo drives, precision spindles, ball screws, LM guideways, precision bearings and precision gauging systems). It also adds condition 95 requiring an undertaking or proof of a prescribed investment in plant and machinery within two years for initial units, or evidence of exceeding that investment threshold for substantial expansions, with repayment of differential duty on non compliance.

Excise exemption for specified computer components grants listed microprocessors and drives exemption from central excise duty.
The amendment inserts S.No. 261A in notification No. 6/2002-Central Excise to grant nil central excise duty on specified goods under headings 84.71 or 84.73, namely microprocessors for computers (other than motherboards), floppy disc drives, hard disc drives and CD-ROM drives, effected under the executive power of sub section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

Exemption under section 35AC approves specified institutions' projects for tax-deduction eligibility with capped deductible costs.
Approval under Section 35AC is granted for specified non-profit institutions and their listed projects, with each Table entry identifying the approved project or scheme, an estimated project cost and the maximum amount of that cost allowable as a deduction. The notification prescribes the assessment years during which each project qualifies for the deduction and notes that some amounts include corpus funds; it fixes eligibility, monetary ceilings and temporal limits for tax-deduction claims for the listed projects.

Import of Naphtha freed; prior power sector import restrictions withdrawn prospectively, other statutory provisions remain applicable.
Import of Naphtha is declared free by amendment to the ITC(HS) Licensing Notes. The notification withdraws previously applicable import provisions for Naphtha used in the power sector, with that withdrawal effective prospectively from the notification date, and states that other statutory provisions relevant to imports remain applicable.

Customs exemption amendment: inclusion of skeet and trap machines with acoustic release changes eligibility and affiliation conditions.
The amendment substitutes item (3) in the notification's Table to specify "Skeet or trap or double trap machine with acoustic release" and replaces clause (ii) in column (3), condition (a), to provide that the District Rifle Association qualifies when controlled by, or affiliated to, the State Rifle Association, thereby adjusting the exemption's product scope and affiliation-based eligibility.

Nomination rights expanded to include governments, local authorities, office-holders and religious or charitable trusts, altering mutual fund nomination scope.
The amendment broadens nomination under the Fourth Schedule to allow nomination in favour of the Central Government, State Government, a local authority, any person designated by virtue of his office, and a religious or charitable trust, and revises the instruction qualifying "trust" to exclude religious or charitable trusts from the prior reference before "society."

Tariff classification correction: notification replaces an incorrect tariff item with the correct customs classification in prior notification.
Corrigendum correcting the tariff classification entry in a prior customs notification: the Ministry of Finance directs that the previously cited tariff code be read as the corrected code at the precise location in the published notification, thereby amending the operative tariff reference used for customs administration.

Customs corrigendum corrects tariff description to stereotaxic microscope, amending the item description in an exemption notification.
The corrigendum to Notification No.21/2002-Cus. corrects a typographical error in the exemption schedule by replacing the description for the specified entry in List 28, item 88 with "STEREOTAXIC MICROSCOPE", thereby amending the textual description in the customs tariff notification without altering the substantive scope of the exemption.

Import classification change: cobalt powders restricted while import of virgin cobalt metal powder permitted under amended policy.
Amendment to the ITC(HS) Classification revises cobalt powders to a Restricted import policy while expressly providing that import of virgin cobalt metal powder is free, effected by notification under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act and the Export and Import Policy.

Research association approval - annual conditional reporting and audited accounts required to maintain tax exemption compliance
M/s Amala Cancer Research Centre is approved as an Association for purposes of clause (ii) of sub section (1) of section 35 of the Income tax Act, subject to maintaining separate research accounts, furnishing an annual scientific research return to the Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research by 31st May, and submitting audited annual accounts and audited Income & Expenditure Account for the research activities to designated tax and DSIR authorities by 31st October each year; renewal applications must be filed in triplicate through the tax authorities and directly to the Secretary, DSIR.

Section 35(1)(ii) approval requires separate research accounts and annual audited submissions to tax and science authorities.
Approval is granted to M/s Indian Cancer Society, Solapur as an Institution for purposes of Section 35(1)(ii) for 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2005, subject to conditions: maintain separate research accounts; file an annual scientific research return to the Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research by 31 May; and submit audited annual accounts and audited income and expenditure accounts for research to the Director General of Income Tax (Exemptions), the Secretary, DSIR, and the Commissioner/Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) by 31 October, in addition to filing the return of income. Apply in triplicate for renewal through the Commissioner/Director and send three copies to the Secretary, DSIR.