The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), through Instruction No. 30/2025 dated October 13, 2025, has announced that all Look Out Circulars (LOCs) will now be processed exclusively through the Online LOC Portal, operational since March 1, 2024. This instruction replaces the earlier procedure outlined in the 2015 guidelines, which allowed LOC requests to be submitted via letters or emails through DRI or DGGI headquarters. The online system aims to streamline and centralize the process for issuing LOCs concerning Indian citizens and foreign nationals. Access to the portal will be provided through designation-based login credentials, and nodal officers in each field formation are responsible for managing user creation and coordination. The designated offices overseeing implementation include the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (for DRI formations), Directorate General of GST Intelligence (for DGGI formations), the Principal Chief Commissioner of CGST Delhi (for all CGST field formations), and the Chief Commissioner of Delhi Customs (for Customs and Customs (Preventive) formations). These offices will serve as primary contact points for operational guidance and user access, with official communication channels provided for each. All formations are instructed to coordinate with their respective designated offices to activate access and adhere to the new procedures. Any operational issues must be reported through nodal officers to the CBIC. This shift to an online platform marks a complete transition from manual correspondence to a digital system for LOC management, aiming for better coordination, transparency, and efficiency in customs and GST intelligence operations.
F. No. CBIC-21/35/2025-INV-CUSTOMS-CBEC
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
(Investigation-Customs)
10th Floor, Tower-2, Jeevan Bharti Building,
Parliament Street, New Delhi – 110001
Email: inv-customs@gov.in
Instruction No. 30/2025 Date: 13.10.2025
To,
i. The Pr. Director General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), New Delhi.
ii. The Pr. Director General, Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), New Delhi.
iii. All Principal Chief /Chief Commissioners of CGST & Customs Zone,
iv. All Principal Chief / Chief Commissioners of Customs (P) Zone,
v. Webmaster, CBIC.
Sub:- Issuance of Look Out Circulars (LOC) – reg.
Madam/ Sir,
Kindly refer to CBIC Instruction F. No. 394/193/2015-Cus(AS) dated 16.12.2015, wherein guidelines regarding issuance of Look Out Circulars (LOC) in respect of Indian citizens and foreigners, were communicated.
2. In this regard, it is informed that an Online LOC Portal has been operationalised with effect from 1st of March 2024 and the LOC requests are now being processed only through the online portal. Thus, the earlier mechanism of routing the requests by letters or emails through DRI-Hqrs or DGGI-Hqrs is no more operational.
3. For access to online LOC portal, login credentials for nodal officers in field formations need to be created, which should be designation based. For this purpose, designated offices as indicated below, through their nodal officers, will be responsible for user creation, coordination and overall implementation of the online LOC portal for the field formations indicated against them-
| Sl. No. |
Designated Office | Concerned Field Formations |
Contact email id |
| 1. | Pr DG-DRI | DRI formations | drihqrs@nic.in |
| 2. | Pr DG-DGGI | DGGI formations | prdg.dggihqrs@gov.in |
| 3. | Pr. Chief Commissioner, CGST Delhi | all CGST field formations | ccu-cexdel@gov.in |
| 1. | Chief Commissioner, Delhi Customs | all Customs and Customs (Prev) field formations | ccu-cusdel@nic.in |
4. Accordingly, all concerned formations are requested to coordinate with the respective designated office to obtain procedural guidelines and for getting their online LOC portal access functional. Difficulties, if any, may be reported to the Board through the respective Nodal Offices.
Yours faithfully,
(Varun Yadav)
Deputy Commissioner (Inv-Cus)
