News

New trade remedies agency to start soon operations in Kenya

Friday, 28 June 2019 13:30

The Kenya Trade Remedies Agency (KETRA) has been established by the Section 3(1) of the Kenya Trade Remedies Act (2017), entered into force on 16th August 2017, with the purposes of investigating and evaluating allegations of dumping and subsidisation of imported products in Kenya; investigating and evaluating requests for application of safeguard measures on any product imported in Kenya and advising the Cabinet Secretary responsible for Trade on the results and recommendations of its investigations. Other functions of KETRA include the conduct of public awareness and training activities on its functions and on trade remedies to the benefit of stakeholders, as well as the publication and dissemination of manuals, codes, guidelines, and decisions relating to its functions. KETRA will also perform other specific functions that the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Trade may assign to it. The new government agency will start soon its operations, as the Kenyan Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives is finalising the procedure for the appointment of the members of its Board.

Trade restrictions coverage in G20 countries rise on a historically high level

Tuesday, 25 June 2019 08:54

The latest edition (21th) of the WTO Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures, issued on 24 June 2019, concludes that trade restrictions in G20 countries, despite a significant decrease in their number (with respect to previous years), have kept expanding in terms of trade-coverage in the period from 16 October 2018 to 15 May 2019, by affecting larger quantities of products and services than in the past.

Kenya: Implementation of the new Integrated Customs Management System (iCMS)

Saturday, 22 June 2019 18:32

With public notice dated 13 June 2019, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) communicates the commencement of implementation of the new IT Customs Management System, called “Integrated Customs Management System” (iCMS) at the Port of Mombasa, the Inland Container Depot Nairobi (ICDN) and the other land border customs offices of the country. The iCMS system is expected to cut clearance time for imports and exports by at least 60 per cent, through the elimination of bureaucratic processes at the ports and land borders, the automation of manual and semi-manual processes and less system breakdowns. Customs procedures will also benefit from less paperwork, with considerable savings for businesses.

The iCMS replaces the previous Simba system, adopted in 2005, which ran on a multiplicity of sub-systems and required multiple points of authentication for users. Differently from Simba, iCMS enables KRA to receive declarations of goods before ships dock at the port, so reducing the time taken to clear goods because of the anticipation of the risk analysis before consignments arrive at the port.

Smaller firms outsource customs procedures

Tuesday, 18 June 2019 14:18

According to a Report published by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in 2017, almost 2 thirds of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) currently use to outsource the management of customs formalities to external service providers, in this proportion: a) logistics and delivery service providers: 25%; b) customs brokers: 16%; c) e-commerce platforms: 9%.

The percentage of companies completing customs procedures on their own is only 40%. This proves that the role of customs agents acting as middlemen between Customs and traders is crucial in facilitating trade.

Harmonisation of customs procedures between Ethiopia and Kenya

Thursday, 12 April 2018 09:25

Desiderio Consultants was responsible for the coordination of the project of harmonisation of customs and other border agencies' procedures at the border between the two countries. Read the article (in Italian).