Customs Regulations

The Customs Services Department (CSD) under the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has the primary function of collecting and accounting for import duty and VAT on imports. Other taxes collected by the Customs Services Department include the Petroleum Development Levy, Sugar Levy, Road Maintenance Levy, Import Declaration Fee, Road Transit Toll, Directorate of Civil Aviation fees, Air Passenger Service Charge, Kenya Airport Authority Concession fees, and various fees associated with motor vehicle permits.

Apart from its strictly fiscal responsibilities, the CSD has responsibility for the collection of trade statistics, facilitation of trade and protection of society from illegal entry and exit of prohibited goods (such as drugs of abuse, hazardous chemicals, pornography, and weapons/explosives).

The CSD also implements bilateral, regional, and international trade arrangements. The department also supports global enforcement efforts against smuggling, the illegal importation and exportation of arms, and drugs of abuse, as mandated through various international legal instruments. For example, those emanating from its membership to the EAC and COMESA. Membership in these two regional blocs entails extending preferential tariffs to goods imported from the two blocks subject to pre-agreed conditions (the “Rules of Origin”). Goods originating in Kenya can also access member countries of the two blocks on preferential terms.

The CSD, as the agency of government entrusted with the authority to monitor and control imports and exports, is responsible for the implementation of the trade and customs clauses of regional trade agreements. This also applies to trade preferences that may not be reciprocal – such as the preferences extended to Kenya under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the U.S. and the Africa, Caribbean, and the Pacific/European Union Cotonou Partnership Agreement. The CSD is a member of the World Customs Organization (WCO).