Ahead of the formation of the new Government, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Custom (CBIC) on Tuesday released draft of new Bill to amend the Central Excise Act. The proposed Bill, once enacted, will replace 8 decades’ Act - the Central Excise Act.

“The Bill aims to enact a comprehensive modern Central Excise law with an emphasis on promoting ease of doing business and repealing old and redundant provisions,” a statement issued by the CBIC said. The Bill comprises twelve chapters, 114 (one hundred and fourteen) sections and two schedules.

The existing Act has 11 chapters with over 110 Sections and 4 Schedules. Post introduction of GST, Central Excise is levied mainly on petroleum products.

As a part of pre-legislative consultative process, CBIC said that stakeholders can send their comment by June 26. The Bill is available on the website of CBIC.

Gunjan Prabhakaran, Partner & Leader (Indirect Tax) with, BDO India said that the draft indicates the Government’s intention to revisit the provisions of the existing Central Excise Act while also working on consensus for introducing GST on all products, including petroleum products, which are still not covered under the GST ambit.

“The industry should take this opportunity to look at the draft law closely and provide suggestions to the CBIC on any areas, where it is needed. Considering the time of release of draft law for comments and the timeline for submission of comments, it appears to be likely that this new bill might be introduced in the upcoming budget session, which would be first for the new Government, itself,” she said.

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