Seeks to prescribe the date from which Central Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025 would come into effect.
The Central Government has issued Notification No. 03/2025-Central Excise (N.T.) appointing 1 February 2026 as the date on which the provisions of the Central Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025 shall come into force, thereby operationalising the amendments enacted under the said law.
Central Government, through Notification No. 03/2025-Central Excise (N.T.) dated 31 December 2025, has notified 1 February 2026 as the effective date for bringing into force the Central Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025. The Amendment Act, which received Presidential assent on 11 December 2025, amends the Central Excise Act, 1944 by substituting the table under the “Supplementary Notes” in Section IV of the Fourth Schedule. The revised schedule comprehensively restructures and prescribes excise duty rates for a wide spectrum of tobacco and nicotine-related products. It covers unmanufactured tobacco (stemmed and unstemmed), tobacco refuse, cigars, cheroots, cigarillos, cigarettes of varying lengths and filter specifications, tobacco substitutes, smoking mixtures, biris, chewing tobacco, snuff, homogenised or reconstituted tobacco, tobacco extracts, and emerging categories such as products intended for inhalation without combustion and other nicotine-containing products meant for oral or transdermal application. The amendment introduces a mix of ad valorem rates and specific duties (per thousand units) with significantly differentiated rates based on product type, form, and use, including higher duties on certain smoking mixtures and chewing tobacco, and specific slab-wise duties for cigarettes depending on length and filter. By formally operationalising the Amendment Act from 1 February 2026, the notification provides legal certainty on applicability and enables enforcement of the updated excise framework. Overall, the amendment reflects a policy-driven recalibration of excise duties on tobacco and nicotine products, aiming at clearer classification, uniformity within categories, and strengthened fiscal and regulatory control over traditional and new-age tobacco and nicotine products.
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(Department of Revenue)
Notification No. 03/2025-Central Excise (N.T.) | Dated: 31st December, 2025
G.S.R. 951(E).— In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Central Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025 (34 of 2025), the Central Government hereby appoints the 1st day of February, 2026, as the date on which the provisions of the said act, shall come into force.
[F. No. CBIC-190349/72/2025-TRU]
DHEERAJ SHARMA, Under Secy.
