Mombasa, KENYA: If you have goods at the port that have already been cleared, better remove them or risk having them auctioned or destroyed.
The government has issued a 14 days ultimatum for all cleared goods at the port of Mombasa or they will be auctioned or destroyed.
“Waiver of storage charges for all cleared goods for a period of 14 days with effect from 29 September 2018. Any containers not cleared within this period will be auctioned or destroyed,” said Trade and Industrialization Cabinet secretary Peter Munya.
Following illicit trade witnessed in the country for the past years, the CS has now ordered Kenya Bureau of statistics KEBS to ensure all imported goods destined to Kenya undergo mandatory inspection and be issued with Certificate of Conformity (COC), Certificate of Road-worthiness (CoR) in respect to goods or Motor vehicles that conform to the relevant Kenyan standards and other applicable regulations.
“The general public and importers of goods into Kenya are hereby informed that goods loaded on or after 1st October 2018 will be expected to fully comply with the provision of this Legal Notice. Goods loaded after that which arrive at the port of entries without having gone through the Pre-export Verification of Conformity to standards (PVoC) program,” warned the CS.
The government has also put measures to de-congest the port by first directing all government agencies to immediately utilize the Kenya National Single Window to expedite clearance of goods.
Where goods have been identified to be of high risk, joint and synchronized verification shall be carried out by all agencies simultaneously.
KPA to spearhead online sharing of information by all parties and electronic tracking of containers location to enable speedy evacuation.
The government has also suspended the activities of China Certificate and inspection Group Company Limited (CCIC)-Zone 2 (China Mainland) after reviewing its performers and ascertaining that it failed to perform their duties as required in their contracts.
Importers therefore have been advised to use the services of other contractors operating in the Zones.
Munya was accompanied by Finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich.
