(Publ. 19 MAY 2022) Update May 23: The deadline has been extended to January 1st, 2023.

Intellectual Property owners who are shipping products to Kenya must record their rights with Kenya’s Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA). As of the 1 July 2022 it will be a criminal offence for any person or company to import into Kenya any goods bearing a trademark, design or copyright that has not been recorded with the ACA.

The requirement concerns all trademarks, designs, and copyrights irrespective of the place where the rights are registered. Failure to comply with this regulation may result in seizure and destruction of imported goods, fines, and imprisonment. Furthermore, it will also be compulsory for any person or company other than the registered IPR owner to make a declaration with the ACA of the particulars of any IPRs that are applied on the goods that they intend to import.

The background to this new requirement is to provide the ACA with better tools for combatting counterfeits and make them more effective in detecting and seizing counterfeits and it can hopefully also assist in avoiding legitimate products being seized and detained.