EU/Kenya: new agreement in force since 1 July 2024
Since 1 July 2024, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed on 18 December 2023 by the European Union and Kenya has been in force (cf.EU/Kenya: a new economic partnership agreement). The recent popular uprisings in Kenya are relegating this agreement to the background, which should, in the coming years, promote exports and imports between the two signatory parties.
On 26 June 2024, the Customs Directorate issued a note on the implementation of the Agreement. Three key points should be noted:
- Elimination of customs duties and quotas for products originating in Kenya and imported into the European Union.Progressive dismantlingcustoms duties on products originating in the EU and imported into Kenya.
- The rules of origin for determining whether a product is originating, and therefore eligible for tariff preference, will, as a first step, be the rules of origin of the Market Access Regulations (MAR) applicable to countries in the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific zone and included in Annex II to theRegulation EU No 2016/1076 of 8 June 2016. It should be noted that both parties have five years from the date of signature of the agreement to agree on the original protocol to be adopted.
- Proof of preferential origin may be issued on exportation:
- Declaration of Origin on Invoice, commonly referred to asDOF, without condition, if the value of the consignment less than 6 000 €, or under authorisation with the status of approved exporter (EA), if the value of the consignment exceeds 6 000 € ;
- EUR 1 certificate.
Point of vigilance: in order for tariff preference to be sought when imported into the EU, theSingle Administrative Document, commonly referred to as AUD and used by customs authorities to carry out customs clearance operations, shall be completed with the following specific information:
- in box 34, indicating origin, the country code KE should be indicated;
- in box 36, concerning the solicitation of a tariff preference, code 300 should be indicated;
- in box 44, reproducing the documents submitted in order to benefit from the tariff preference, it will be necessary to indicate code N954 if use of an EUR1 or code N864 if solicitation of origin through an original invoice declaration.
Since the European Union is the first destination for Kenyan exports, this agreement will undoubtedly enable Nairobi to strengthen its relations with Brussels. It remains to be hoped that the recent tensions which are not causing the agreement to be suspended in the coming weeks or months.
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