Kenya Import Compliance & Documentation Control Pack

Importer evidence file: 28 October 2026

For importers and their finance or operations teams assembling a shipment-by-shipment file. KSh 899. The product guide has 20 sections (4,245 body words) and is available as a direct PDF download. The refreshed sample previews its first two sections. The ZIP contains the guide, sample, editable Excel companion workbook, and the unchanged original v2 guide and sample PDFs.

Editable workbook included

• Start Here

• Shipment Register

• Documents

• Product Compliance

• Agent Handoff

• Five-Year Archive

• Per-Shipment Cost

• Evidence Gaps

• Checks

• Sources

• Dashboard

Yellow cells are inputs; green cells calculate. Missing inputs display needs input. Shipment Register and Documents connect the expected document set to owners and accepted evidence. Product Compliance and Agent Handoff retain scope decisions and returned records. Per-Shipment Cost totals nine evidenced cost categories, cost per saleable unit and budget headroom. Five-Year Archive calculates a five-year review prompt from your confirmed basis date and preserves hold decisions. Evidence Gaps, Checks and Dashboard expose missing records and pending review. Internal review states are not Customs approval.

Four dated controls

• ACD: containerised cargo platform live 3 August 2026; code before loading and endorsed on the Bill of Lading; carrier validation before loading from 1 September 2026. Hold issuance, endorsement and validation evidence. Other-mode scope remains unconfirmed.

• Finance Act 2026 / Tax Procedures Act s23B, effective September 2026: obtain and retain origin competent-authority export documentation for five years, producible to KRA. Hold the actual record, archive basis and custodian details.

• KEBS PVoC: contracts expired 8 February 2026; from 9 February shipments without a valid CoC faced Destination Inspection at 0.6% of approved customs value. That figure is historical, dated to that change. New three-year contracts effective 19 February 2026 for 2026–2029. Hold current route confirmation and applicable conformity evidence; confirm current fees.

• KRA e-Seal Multi-Vendor User-Owned Framework transition, 26 October 2026: e-fuel seals for dry cargo and motor vehicles cease; approved vendor-issued devices operate under private commercial agreements. Hold user-verified approval evidence, agreement and device records. The approved-vendor list is an open placeholder.

Guide contents

1. Read this first: the decision boundary

2. The operating workflow

3. Four dated instruments and the evidence each adds

4. Shipment register and a usable evidence index

5. Document ownership and supplier instructions

6. ACD: the importer's pre-loading evidence gate

7. Section 23B: obtain the origin authority record

8. Certificate of origin and commercial consistency

9. KEBS PVoC reset and the conformity file

10. e-Seal transition: the importer's contractual evidence

11. Product compliance and unresolved scope questions

12. Agent handoff without surrendering the archive

13. Per-shipment cost evidence and reconciliation

14. Five-year retention clock and legal holds

15. Archive retrieval and access control

16. Workbook map and data discipline

17. Decisions the pack should answer

18. Controls and review checklist

19. Red flags and stop conditions

20. Thirty-minute closeout routine

Evidence boundary

Retain current shipment-specific authority instructions and quotations. The six original sources are preserved; supplemental sources record the dated manual and transition report. KRA Finance Act guidance and the KEBS manual timed out on this refresh, so the supplied dated research is retained with that limitation. The ACD homepage and e-seal notice report were retrieved. Radiation screening from 1 May 2026 is REPORTED, not confirmed: require KRA/KEBS confirmation before acting. No approved-vendor identities, current fee promises or turnaround times are supplied. Retention calculations are review prompts, not disposal permission.

Files in the ZIP

• v3.pdf

• sample-v3.pdf

• guide.pdf

• sample.pdf

• workbook.xlsx

v3.pdf is the product guide and sample-v3.pdf previews its first two sections; both are also available through the product PDF and sample links. workbook.xlsx is the editable companion. guide.pdf and sample.pdf are the original v2 PDFs, preserved byte-identically for continuity.

Sources

• InfoTradeKenya portal — Kenya Trade Network Agency. InfoTradeKenya publishes step-by-step import and export requirements by commodity.

• Advance Cargo Declaration for Kenya — Kenya Revenue Authority Customs and Border Control. ACD platform launched 3 August 2026 for containerised cargo destined for Kenyan ports; confirm current applicability and procedures before loading.

• Kenya Trade Portal trade in goods — State Department for Trade. Use the product-code and import procedure lookup for current commodity requirements.

• Pre-Export Verification of Conformity — Kenya Bureau of Standards. KEBS describes PVoC, CoC and exemptions; product scope must be checked against current guidance.

• Mandatory certificate of origin — Kenya Revenue Authority. KRA states that commercial consignments generally require a certificate of origin, subject to listed exceptions and current enforcement guidance.

• Finance Act 2026 importer guidance — Kenya Revenue Authority. Importers must obtain and retain export-country declarations or equivalent records for at least five years from 1 September 2026.

• Destination Inspection Manual: implementation 9 February 2026 — KEBS. URL timed out during this build. Supplied research and preserved article record 8 February contract expiry and 9 February destination inspection at 0.6% approved customs value without valid CoC. Historical figure only; current fee and scope need KEBS confirmation.

• KRA notice reproduced in report, 16 October 2026 — Nairobi Leo. Reproduces 26 October 2026 Multi-Vendor User-Owned e-Seal transition notice: dry cargo and motor vehicle e-fuel seals cease; approved devices under private commercial agreements. Approved-vendor list remains an open gap; no names supplied.

• Kenya import regulations 2026: practitioner guide — Pamoja Imports. Practitioner report of radiation screening from 1 May 2026: NOT confirmed against KRA/KEBS notice; require confirmation before acting. Also points to 19 February 2026 PVoC cycle restart. Not authority for current fees, approval or all-mode ACD scope.