News

June 27, 2022

[Kenya] New Rules for Exports to Kenya

In Kenya, the Anti-Counterfeit Act, aimed primarily at prohibiting the trade of counterfeit goods, was enacted on July 1, 2009. Following this, the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) was established in June 2010.

In January 2022, ACA announced the commencement of the recording of intellectual property rights through the ACA Integrated (IPR) Management System (AIMS). This initiative aims to shield intellectual property rights owners from unfair competition with counterfeit imports, ensure the safety of transactions, protect the public from harmful counterfeit goods, and actively safeguard consumer health and safety.

Although this might sound complex, when exporting to Kenya, AIMS will build a database of intellectual property rights information related to trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights for all goods imported into Kenya.

This information will be available in the official ACA system and will be used by ACA inspectors and other law enforcement officers at various entry points to prevent the entry of counterfeit goods into the Kenyan market effectively.

The recording of intellectual property rights in AIMS aims to build a database of intellectual property rights for goods imported into Kenya, which will be used to check the import of counterfeit goods and prevent their importation. This differs from the registration of intellectual property rights. Therefore, when exporting goods to Kenya, it will be necessary to record the intellectual property rights information in the database in addition to having intellectual property rights.

This rule was initially scheduled to start on July 1, 2022, but it has been extended to start on January 1, 2023, and detailed rules are expected to be set by then.

As new information becomes available, we will issue updates accordingly.
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