CBIC notifies revised regulations for post-export conversion of shipping bills

In brief

The conversion of a shipping bill or bill of export to claim fiscal incentives in the form of duty refund or credit scrip, etc. has been a challenge and involves time-consuming litigation, despite enabling provisions in the law and periodically issued guidance by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). This has been attributed to interpretative complexities and aspects related to examination norms.

As part of the continued focus on trade facilitation measures and automation to ease compliance burden on trade, in 2022, the CBIC notified Shipping Bill (Post export conversion in relation to instrument based scheme) Regulations, 2022 (earlier regulations), laying down the guidelines for the conversion of shipping bills or bills of export. However, keeping with the continued objective of facilitation through automation in the budget announcement, the CBIC has now notified¹ the revised Export Entry (Post export conversion in relation to instrument based scheme) Regulations, 2025 (revised regulations), replacing the earlier regulations and covering certain key aspects based on stakeholder consultation with guidance.