Tracking rule changes for your HS codes

• CBIC publishes the customs notifications that change duty rates, exemptions and procedures. Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duties also take effect through customs notifications. CBIC circulars explain how customs applies the rules.
• DGFT notifications change the Foreign Trade Policy and the import or export policy of a code in ITC(HS). DGFT public notices change the procedures, appendices and forms in its Handbook of Procedures. Trade notices carry its other announcements.
• DGTR investigates dumping, subsidies and import surges and recommends duties to the government. Its case papers come in stages: initiation, preliminary findings, final findings.
• BIS lists the products that need certification under Quality Control Orders issued by government ministries, and the date each order comes into force.

• Number and year: together they identify a notice. 24/2026-Customs (ADD), for example, is number 24 of 2026 in the anti-dumping series. Numbers start again each year, so the year matters.
• Issue date: when the notice was issued. Our tool lists notices by this date.
• Date in force: often stated in the notice itself. A customs exemption notification that gives no other date comes into force on the day it is issued for publication in the Gazette (Section 25(4) of the Customs Act). A DGFT policy change applies from the date of the notification unless it says otherwise.
• Amendments: many notifications amend an earlier one. Read the one being amended as well, or you will miss what is changing.

For goods cleared for home use, the import duty is the rate in force on the day the bill of entry is presented. If you file before the ship is granted entry inwards or the aircraft arrives, that later date counts instead (Section 15 of the Customs Act). So a change can catch goods already at sea.

A DGTR initiation means an investigation has started. Final findings are a recommendation to the government. An anti-dumping duty applies only when the Finance Ministry issues a customs notification imposing it, and it may decide not to. In the same way, a Quality Control Order can be notified months before its enforcement date, and that date can be deferred.

1. 1Keep a list of your 8-digit HS codes, with the 4-digit heading and 2-digit chapter of each.
2. 2Once a week, open the rule changes tool, enter your code and pick the last 7 days. Repeat with the 4-digit heading, because some notices name only a heading or a chapter.
3. 3Open each notice that names your code on the official site. Note its number, issue date, date in force and what it changes.
4. 4Check DGTR cases on the products you import, and the BIS tool for your product's order and its enforcement date.
5. 5Put the change into your costing, and tell your CHA and your buyer or supplier.
6. 6Keep a dated log, so you can show later what you knew and when.

Our tool collects CBIC notifications and circulars, DGFT notices, DGTR cases and some US and UK notices, and links each one to its official copy. If DGFT's notices could not be loaded, it says so: then check dgft.gov.in yourself.