Exporters and importers of fresh or dry produce to Kenya are required to register with Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS).
“Until recently, this registration took between 10 to 28 days with the traders completing a total of 10 steps and filling in 13 documents. A time-consuming effort that was also costly. Simplification of processes by KEPHIS have reduced the number of steps by half – to 5- and requirement to submit only 3 documents, translating into a 62 % reduction of traders’ transactional costs,” the Trademark East Africa (TMEA) cites in its website.
In the last few years, Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) has been able to achieve this feat through an export import portal.
KenTrade has presented “Simplification of trade procedures using InfoTrade Portal” as one of its key innovation and won several awards.
Launched in 2017, with Kenya becoming the first country in the East Africa Community (EAC) to fulfill World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement that requires member states to publish their trade procedures online, the portal has significantly made it easy to transact globally.
The portal displays step-by-step all the procedures followed, with contact information on inquiry points, access to forms and other required documents and all relevant trade and customs laws involved in exports and imports for specific commodities.
“We are no longer talking of Single Window System but environment where efficiency is created at all points of logistic chain,” Mr Amos Wangora, KenTrade Chief Executive Officer told told Freight Logistics magazine when we earlier interviewed him on the portal.
“In Kenya, international trade procedures have been obscure to the majority of traders, both current and potential. Due to unavailability of trade information, most traders are unaware of the requirements for both pre-clearance and clearance processes,” Wangora said.
Documentation and publishing of these procedures have seen regulators benefit from efficient operations within their respective agencies thus promoting public-private dialogue, ease trade across borders, and increased compliance levels by traders in trade matters.
With the information readily available through step by step clear instructions on how to export or import, traders find it quicker, cheaper and easier to be compliant and discharge all their formalities with few time-consuming interactions.
“The agency has embarked on another phase with the involved stakeholders simplifying the documented trade procedures in an effort to effectively reduce on requirements, time and cost required to trade,” Mr. Wangora noted.
For any feedback, contacts us via editorial@feaffa.com / freightlogistics@feaffa.com /info@feaffa.com; Mobile: +254703971679 / +254733780240
