Representations have been received both from the field and the trade regarding difficulties being faced in the determination of the input services which are eligible for refund under notification 05/2006. Resultantly, the issue has spawned delays and disputes, which has necessitated the issue of this clarification. The issue of eligibility of input services to refund under notification no. 05/2006 has been addressed in Circular No. 120/01/2010-ST dated 19th January, 2010 in paragraph 3.1. The criterion laid down in this paragraph for determining the eligibility states that “in case the absence of such input/input service adversely impacts the quality and efficiency of the provision of service exported, it should be considered as eligible input or input service”. This criterion has not been very useful as it is found to be too conceptual and not easily translatable into objective tests that could help in deciding actual cases. Thus a need has been felt for further elaboration by the Board on this issue.
Circular No. 957/18/2011-CX-3, the Board has noticed that the monetary limits for adjudicating cases (both extended period and others), for Joint Commissioners is with regard to cases involving duty– above Rs 5 lakhs and upto Rs 50 lakhs and for Additional Commissioners it is with regard to cases involving duty – above Rs 20 lakhs and upto Rs 50 lakhs. The matter has been examined in the Board. It has been decided to prescribe an uniform monetary limit for both Additional Commissioners and the Joint Commissioners. Accordingly, parts A & B of para 2.1 of the said circular stand amended as follows:
As announced today by the Governor in the Second Quarter Review of the Monetary Policy 2011-12, it has been decided to increase the repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 8.25 per cent to 8.50 per cent with immediate effect.
As per Public Notice No. 59 (RE-2010)/2009-14 dated 30.06.2011, incorporation of barcodes (1 D) encoding unique product identification code (GTIN), Batch Number, Expiry Date and Unique Serial Number of the Tertiary pack (shipper/carton) on export consignments of pharmaceuticals and drugs has come into effect from 01.10.2011.
Foreign Exchange Counters in the arrival halls in international airports in India shall ideally be established after the Customs Desk (Green Channel/Red Channel). However, Foreign Exchange Counters may also be established between the Immigration Desk and the Customs Desk in international airports in India, subject to the condition that these counters shall only purchase Foreign currency and sell Indian Rupees (INR) and “Encashment Certificates” shall invariably be issued by the money changers to the customers.
It is clarified that the subsidiaries of stock exchanges, acting as stock brokers, may rely upon the ‘in-person’ verification done by their sub-brokers (who are also registered with SEBI as stock brokers of the parent stock exchange) for their respective clients. However, the ultimate responsibility for ‘in-person’ verification would remain with the subsidiaries and they shall obtain the necessary IPV documents for their records.
Circular No. 147/16/2011 – Service Tax , it apparent that in case the services provided by the sub-contractors to the main contractor are independently classifiable under Work Contract Service, then they too will get the benefit of exemption so long as they are in relation to the infrastructure projects mentioned above. Thus, it may happen that the main infrastructure projects of execution of works contract in respect of roads, airports, railways, transport terminals, bridges tunnels and dams, is sub-divided into several sub-projects and each such sub-project is assigned by the main contractor to the various sub-contractors. In such cases, if the sub-contractors are providing works contract service to the main contractor for completion of the main contract, then service tax is obviously not leviable on the works contract service provided by such sub-contractor.
Regulation 11 of MIMPS Regulations inter alia prescribes certain obligations on the recognised stock exchanges pertaining to their shareholding including submission of a report to SEBI within 15 days from the end of each quarter. In this regard, it has been observed that stock exchanges have been submitting the said report in different formats. Accordingly, it has been decided to standardize the format of reporting of shareholding pattern of the recognised stock exchange under MIMPS Regulations.
The matter has been examined. It is decided that a technical textile is a textile product manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, where function is the primary criterion. Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications, medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles and protective clothing like heat and radiation protection for fire fighter clothing, molten metal protection for welders, stab protection and bulletproof vests and spacesuits etc. Accordingly, only 33 items as listed in the Annexure are covered under technical textiles.
Circular No. 46/2011 – Customs While processing Drawback claims, whether under Section 74 or Section 75, wherever any deficiency is noticed in the claim, the same shall be communicated to the exporter in a clear unambiguous manner within a period of 10 days, from the date of filing of the claim. Further, the drawback claims shall be disbursed in accordance with the timelines as specified in the Citizen’s charter adopted by the department and the Sevottam standards prescribed in this regard. Commissioners of Customs shall undertake a periodic review and monitoring of the status of pending drawback claims.
