Addition of mandatory BIS standards for clinical thermometers makes specified IS references applicable to import classification and compliance.
An amendment inserts BIS specifications into Appendix III to Schedule 1 (Imports) of the ITC (HS) 2002-2007, mandating IS 3055 (Part 1): 1994 for solid stem clinical thermometers and IS 3055 (Part 2): 1988 for enclosed scale clinical thermometers, thereby making those BIS standards applicable to imports under the FTP import schedule.

Tax exemption recognition: Shri Ram Chandra Mission conditionally recognised for specified assessment years, subject to compliance and reporting requirements.
Central Government notifies Shri Ram Chandra Mission under clause (23C)(iv) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act for assessment years 2002-2003 to 2004-2005 subject to conditions: apply or accumulate income wholly and exclusively to its objects; restrict investments to forms specified in section 11(5) (excluding certain voluntary contributions in kind); exclude business profits unless business is incidental and separately accounted; file regular income-tax returns; and on dissolution transfer surplus and assets to a similar charitable organisation.

Tax exemption notification for a nonprofit: eligibility conditioned on exclusive application of income and strict compliance requirements.
Notification under clause (23C)(iv) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 designates India International Centre, New Delhi as eligible for exemption for assessment years 2003-2004 to 2005-2006 provided it applies or accumulates income solely for its objects, confines investments to permitted modes (save specified voluntary contributions), treats business income as non-exempt unless incidental with separate books, files regular income-tax returns, and on dissolution transfers surplus and assets to a like charitable organization.

Anti-dumping duty finalisation: provisional assessments on thermal sensitive paper imports by specified exporter must be finalised and duties fixed.
The Central Government rescinds the interim notification requiring provisional assessment and bank guarantees for Thermal Sensitive Paper imported by M/s Papierfabrik August Koehler Ag during the specified investigation period, and orders that all provisional assessments for those imports be finalised calculating the applicable anti-dumping duty at the specified per-square-meter rate, with duty converted into Indian currency using the exchange rate prescribed in standing Customs notifications and the bill of entry date as the relevant date for exchange rate determination.

Exemption provisos limit applicability of import duty exemptions where a separate exemption is availed, preventing overlap.
Insertions of provisos into two customs exemption notifications exclude goods from those exemptions where importers avail themselves of the exemption under notification No. 40/2002, thereby preventing overlapping exemption claims and clarifying the administrative scope of the earlier notifications for customs assessment and exemption applications.

Export prohibition on maps amended to allow certain survey maps if sensitive topographical and strategic details are omitted.
The amendment provides a conditional exemption from the export prohibition for non-digitized survey maps of a specified scale covering unrestricted areas, provided such maps do not depict civil vulnerable areas or points, contours and spot heights, important strategic locations, or any information relating to them; eligibility is therefore contingent on map format, geographic classification, and redaction of identified sensitive topographical and strategic details.

Import licensing change: used casks and barrels under ITC(HS) entry now permitted with free import.
The Exim entry under ITC(HS) Code No. 44160010 is amended to include used casks and barrels; imports of all items falling in this entry shall be free, as inserted by a new import licensing note at the end of Chapter 44 of the ITC(HS) Classification.

Excise duty exemption enables refund equal to value addition for eligible manufacturers, subject to CENVAT and procedural conditions.
Exemption grants units in Jammu and Kashmir relief from excise duty equivalent to the duty payable on value addition, calculated by reference to prescribed Table rates or a Commissioner fixed special rate reflecting actual value addition. Manufacturers must submit monthly statements of duty and CENVAT utilisation for verification; refunds or account current credits are processed by the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner within prescribed deadlines. Where all production is eligible the manufacturer must first utilise CENVAT credit; options, provisional refunds, reversal and recovery rules apply. Eligibility, duration, exclusions and employment linked expansion conditions are prescribed.

Excise exemption for notified industrial units: duty confined to amount attributable to value addition, with refund and special rate process.
Exemption limits excise duty on eligible clearances from notified industrial areas to an amount equivalent to duty on value addition, calculated by reference to a prescribed Table; manufacturers must submit monthly duty and CENVAT statements for verification and refund, may take the computed amount as account current credit under conditions, and may apply for a Commissioner fixed special rate based on audited financial records where actual value addition exceeds the Table rate.

Special dispensation for inputs allows CENVAT credit treatment as though no duty exemption applied to specified-area clearances.
Where a manufacturer has cleared inputs or capital goods manufactured in factories located in specified areas of the North East region, Kutch district of Gujarat and State of Jammu and Kashmir, and cleared those goods in terms of the referenced Government of India notifications, the CENVAT credit on such inputs or capital goods shall be admissible as if no portion of the duty paid on such inputs or capital goods was exempted under those notifications.

Jurisdictional changes reassign appellate commissioners' territorial coverage, specifying Delhi-III to include Panchkula and Rohtak, entries updated.
The notification substitutes entries in Table III of the principal Central Excise notification to amend territorial assignments for specified Commissioners of Central Excise (Appeals), clarifying the appellate commissioners' designated local jurisdictions and documenting the amendment as a further change to the earlier notification and its amendments.

Investor Education and Protection Fund to be credited with unpaid dividends, unpaid application money, matured deposits, debentures and accrued interest.
Amendment to the Form of Balance Sheet in Schedule VI replaces the item on unclaimed dividends with a requirement that the Investor Education and Protection Fund be credited by specified amounts: unpaid dividends; unpaid application money for allotment and due refunds; unpaid matured deposits; unpaid matured debentures; and interest accrued on those amounts.

Tariff Rate Quota on apparel imports mandating minimum manufacture from Indian-origin fabrics and specified port entry.
Amendments introduce a Tariff Rate Quota limiting the exemption for specified List 3 apparel to an annual quota with a minimum manufacture-from-Indian-origin-fabrics requirement for exports to Sri Lanka, transitional minima for an initial period, per-category caps within the quota, and mandatory importation through designated ports; the duty payable after concession for List 3 goods is clarified to be the higher of the ad valorem or specific rate, and the List 3 schedule of HS classifications is revised accordingly.

Import entry points updated: Raxaul and Dharamtar added for imports under advance licences and related schemes.
The Central Government, under the powers of the Customs Act, 1962, amends specified exemption notifications by substituting listed place names in certain conditions so as to add Raxaul alongside Ranaghat and Singhabad in multiple notifications and to add Dharamtar alongside Nagapattinam and Okha in two notifications; the amendments are limited textual substitutions to the conditions of the listed notifications.

Non-resident shareholding: existing non-resident shareholders may apply for additional shares subject to overall sectoral cap restraints.
The Regulations add a provision allowing existing non-resident shareholders to apply for and the investee company to allot additional shares, provided that the overall issue of shares to non-residents in the total paid-up capital does not exceed the sectoral cap, and renumber existing sub-regulations 2(ii) and 2(iii) of Regulation 6 as 2(iii) and 2(iv).

Provisional anti-dumping duty on PHPGDS imports imposed, applied by origin/export permutations with reference-rate based calculation.
Provisional anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of D (-) Para Hydroxy Phenyl Glycine Methyl Potassium Dane Salt (PHPGDS) under sub-heading 2942.00, following a preliminary finding of dumping and material injury; duties are set as the difference between specified USD per kilogram reference amounts and the landed value of the imports, applied according to country-of-origin/export permutations in the Table.

Advance Release Orders waiver for EOU/EPZ supplies enables licence-based sourcing and deemed-export entitlements.
Supplies from EOU/EPZ units may be made to advance licence/DFRC holders against the licence without conversion into Advance Release Orders. LOI/LOP shall have an initial three-year validity, extendable by three years, with pre-1.4.2002 approvals considered case-by-case. The minimum investment threshold applies to building, plant and machinery but excludes specified sectors. Units achieving NFEP/EP may sell freely importable goods in the DTA on payment of duties. Supplies from DTA to EOU/EPZ/SEZ are treated as deemed exports for entitlements, and destruction of obsolete goods with Customs permission attracts no duty.

Excise duty exemption for life-saving drugs applies when labeling complies with drug law and price-control rules.
The amendment inserts a new entry exempting from excise duty life saving drugs and medicines specified in List 4 of the referenced customs notification, provided such products are labeled or relabeled to comply with the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and the Drugs (Prices Control) Order; the exemption sets excise duty at nil for qualifying items subject to those labeling and price control compliance conditions.

Investor Education and Protection Fund crediting requirement requires unclaimed company amounts to be transferred after statutory dormancy period.
The amendment substitutes clause (c) in Part II of the "Annual Return" entries to require that the whole of amounts envisaged in the listed clauses of the Act remaining unpaid or unclaimed for the statutory dormancy period be credited to the Investor Education and Protection Fund by the company.

Borrowing from close relatives abroad allowed subject to minimum maturity, interest-free terms, and permitted receipt channels.
Resident individuals may borrow from close relatives abroad subject to conditions: minimum one-year maturity, interest-free, and receipt by inward remittance in free foreign exchange through normal banking channels or by debit to the non-resident lender's NRE/FCNR account; 'close relative' adopts the definition in Section 6 of the Companies Act, 1956. The amendment also omits the Schedule clause titled 'Scheme for raising loans from NRIs on repatriation basis.'