Customs duty exemption limits duty on specified machinery imports for fisheries, refrigeration components and industrial precipitators under tariff notification.
Notification under the Customs Act, 1962 exempts specified machinery and mechanical appliances from customs duty to the extent that duty exceeds the amount calculated at the prescribed reduced rate for listed tariff sub-headings; covered items include outboard motors for State Fisheries Corporations (for fishing boats), compressor component parts for refrigeration and air conditioning above 7.5 H.P., and industrial electrostatic precipitators, with the notification effective from the stated commencement date.

Project assessment under customs tariff notified for specified infrastructure and technology projects, enabling project-based import assessment.
Central Government notified specified infrastructure and technology projects for assessment under sub-item (6) of a tariff heading in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, citing economic development. The notification identifies diverse projects - ports, pipelines, water and sewerage, satellite and telecommunication systems, gas pipeline works, a sponge iron pilot plant and a national dairy project - and brings those projects within the tariff heading's project-assessment mechanism effective from the stated commencement date.

Customs duty exemption for listed cinematographic equipment limits import duty to a specified ad valorem rate on those goods.
Central Government exempts specified Chapter 90 goods on importation by limiting customs liability to the amount calculated at the ad valorem rate shown in the table; the exemption covers cinematographic laboratory machines (film printing, cleaning, reducers/enlargers, analysers, sound splicing punches), automatic film processors for printing, and cinematographic post production equipment (editing machines, rerecording/scoring/dubbing equipment, and sound mixing units).

Amendment to exemption notifications clarifies technical definitions of furnace oil, lubricating oil, steel products and strips.
Amendment to multiple customs exemption notifications adds or substitutes Explanations to clarify the scope of exempted goods by inserting technical definitions: furnace oil is defined by flash point, smoke point, carbon residue, colour and viscosity criteria; lubricating oil is defined by ordinary use for lubrication and exclusion of oils below a flash-point threshold; rolled ferrous products-sheets, plates and strips-are defined by product form and dimensional limits; and high carbon steel is defined by carbon and impurity content.

Imports against advance licence: First Schedule tariff headings revised, substituting and omitting entries and adding laboratory chemicals.
Amendment revises the First Schedule to the miscellaneous exemption notification for imports against advance licence, substituting the column 3 heading to "Chapter or Heading No. of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975," replacing numerous serial entries with updated chapter or heading references and commodity descriptions (with specified exclusions), omitting a listed group of serial entries, substituting several serial entries with expanded descriptions, inserting a new serial for laboratory chemicals, and prescribing the notification's date of coming into force.

Customs exemption caps duty on specified electrical machinery imports by fixing maximum ad valorem rates under delegated power.
Exemption notification caps customs duty on specified Chapter 85 electrical machinery imports by exempting the portion of duty exceeding the stated ad valorem rates for each listed item, enumerating affected goods including starting and ignition equipment for aircraft and tractors, certain wireless apparatus and components, paper capacitors, and pre-recorded cassettes for educational film strips.

Customs duty exemption for disabled importers subject to medical certification enabling import of essential assistive equipment.
Notification No. 105/86-Cus exempts specified assistive goods imported by a handicapped or disabled person for personal use from customs duty under the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and from additional duty under Section 3, subject to production of a certificate from an authorized medical officer confirming the disability and that the goods are essential to overcome it; listed goods include braille equipment, electronic aids, optical and environmental sensors, arithmetic and geometrical aids, measuring and drafting aids, specially adapted clocks and watches, orthopaedic appliances, wheelchairs, and artificial electronic larynx and spares.

Customs exemption for specified fertilisers ensures nil duty on imports subject to use-based conditions and for production of complex fertilizers.
Notification exempts specified Chapter 31 fertiliser goods from customs duty beyond a reduced rate by prescribing a Nil rate for listed items when imported, subject to entry-specific conditions: imports must be for use as manure or for production of complex fertilizer, may need to be in a form indicative of manurial use, and in some cases must be cleared and used solely as manure; the exemption operates only to the extent and under the limitations set out in the Table.

Customs amendment directives: widespread substitution of tariff headings and revisions to exemption notifications revise classification rules.
Central Government, exercising powers under the Customs Act, directs precise textual amendments to specified prior exemption notifications by substituting, omitting or inserting tariff chapter and heading references, revising Table entries and adding or altering Explanations to clarify classification terms; the instrument systematically updates listed notifications to reflect revised tariff nomenclature and definitions and comes into force on the date prescribed.

Auxiliary duty exemption for specified electrical machine parts on import when proven for initial setting up, limiting duty to the amount on complete articles.
Exemption from auxiliary customs duty is provided for specified parts imported for the initial setting up, assembly, or manufacture of certain electrical machinery, subject to exclusion of listed semiconductor devices and proof to the Assistant Collector that the parts are so required; the relief covers only the portion of auxiliary duty in excess of that calculated on the article when imported complete and is subject to the conditions of the governing notification.

Auxiliary duty exemption for parts used in initial setting up or assembly, subject to proof to customs and prescribed conditions.
Exempts from auxiliary duty parts (excluding certain semiconductor and related devices) imported for initial setting up, assembly or manufacture of specified articles, when proved to the Assistant Collector of Customs to be so required; exemption limited to the portion of auxiliary duty in excess of that leviable on the finished article and subject to conditions in the related government notification. The Schedule delineates eligible tariff headings and specified items covered by the exemption.

Auxiliary duty exemption limits excess customs duty on listed imported goods by prescribed capped rates, effective from the notification date.
Exempts listed imported goods from auxiliary customs duty to the extent that such duty exceeds the percentage rates specified in the annexed Table; the exemption applies to goods identified by First Schedule chapter, heading or sub heading entries and differentiates rates by commodity groups and by electrical or non electrical instrument counterparts, with the notification specifying its date of commencement.

Customs exemption for non optically worked optical glass caps payable duty at a specified ad valorem rate upon importation.
Exempts imports of optical glass and elements thereof that are not optically worked, falling in Chapter 70 of the Customs Tariff, from customs duty to the extent that such duty exceeds an amount calculated at a capped ad valorem rate; issued under Section 25(1) of the Customs Act and given an effective commencement date.

Warehousing station designation: Halol declared, enabling application of the customs warehousing regime and regulatory handling of goods.
Declaration under the Customs Act designates Halol in Panchmahal District, Gujarat as a warehousing station, bringing the location within the customs warehousing regime and subjecting it to the regulatory framework and handling procedures for declared warehousing stations.

Research institution approval granted with mandatory separate accounts, annual reporting, audited accounts, and advance renewal application.
Approval is granted to Shri Sohanlal Jain Vidya Prasarak Samiti, Faridabad, as an Institution under clause (iii) of sub-section (1) of section 35, effective for the stated period, subject to conditions: maintain a separate account for research receipts; file annual research activity returns by 30 April; submit audited accounts, income and expenditure statement and balance-sheet to the prescribed authority by 30 June and to the Commissioner; and apply for extension of approval at least three months before expiry.

Tariff amendment: Specified parts of Heading 84.62 now subject to enhanced customs duty and per part additional levy.
Amendment prescribes new duty treatment for Sub heading No. 3 of Heading 84.62: specified bearing parts and sub assemblies described by reference to items 1(a)-1(d) attract a composite charge of 150 percent ad valorem plus a differentiated fixed levy per part or sub assembly, while all other goods under the sub heading attract 150 percent ad valorem duty, replacing the prior table entry in the relevant customs notification.

Duty-free baggage allowance increased by amendment to the Baggage Rules, raising value thresholds and stay-based concessions.
The Baggage (Second Amendment) Rules, 1986, amend rule 3 of the Baggage Rules, 1978 to increase specified duty free value thresholds, provide higher allowances when the period of stay exceeds three days by substituting second sub clauses, and omit the former third sub clauses; parallel substitutions and deletions are made in clause (aa) of the proviso below clause (b). The rules commence on publication in the Official Gazette and are made under section 79(2) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Tax exemption notification for a charitable medical research institution confirms eligibility under the Income-tax charitable provision for specified years.
The Central Government, exercising its power under the Income-tax Act charitable-institution provision, notifies a medical research charitable institution as eligible under the exemption clause and confines that recognition to specified assessment years, thereby directing that the institution be treated within the scope of the charitable-exemption provision for the stated period.

Tax exemption notification under section 10(23C)(v) confirms Shri Durganna Committee's notified status for specified assessment years.
Notification designates "Shri Durganna Committee, Amritsar" as notified under section 10(23C)(v) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, recognising the entity for tax-exemption purposes and limiting that recognition to the assessment years 1985-86 through 1987-88.

Baggage transit rules amended to add Hyderabad and Cochin to named customs-station locations upon Gazette publication.
The 1986 amendment to the Baggage (Transit to Customs Stations) Regulations substitutes the phrase "or Trivandrum" wherever it appears in the 1967 Regulations with the expanded wording ",Trivandrum, Hyderabad or Cochin", thereby adding Hyderabad and Cochin to the list of named locations applicable to baggage transit at customs stations; the amendment is made by the Central Board of Excise and Customs under the Customs Act and comes into force on publication in the Official Gazette.