Govt likely to introduce Central Excise Bill in Budget Session

The government intends to propose the Central Excise Bill of 2024, in the upcoming budget session to replace the Central Excise Act of 1944.

CBIC released the draft of a new Bill to amend the Central Excise Act. The proposed Bill, once enacted, will replace the 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,” according to a statement released by the CBIC.

The Bill includes twelve chapters, 114 (one hundred and fourteen) parts, and two schedules.

The existing Act consists of 11 chapters, over 110 sections, and four schedules. Following the implementation of GST, Central Excise is collected mostly on petroleum products.

As part of the pre-legislative consultative process, CBIC stated that stakeholders can submit comments by June 26. The bill is available on the CBIC website.

The draft indicates the government’s intention to revisit the provisions of the existing Central Excise Act while also working on a consensus to introduce GST on all products, including petroleum products, that are currently not covered by the GST ambit.

The industry should take advantage of this opportunity to thoroughly review the draft law and make suggestions to the CBIC in any areas where they are needed. Given the timing of the draft law’s availability for comments and the deadline for comment submissions, it is likely that this new bill will be introduced during the upcoming budget session, which would be the first for the new government.