The export declaration document Kenya importers must now produce is one of the newest additions to an already fast-moving compliance landscape — and it’s barely a week old. Under a new Section 23B of the Tax Procedures Act, introduced through the Finance Act 2026 and effective 1 September 2026, every importer must now obtain and retain documentary proof that their goods were lawfully exported from the country of origin, and be ready to produce it to KRA on request — including, in practice, alongside the customs entry at the point of declaration.

If your clearing process hasn’t already adjusted to this, it’s worth understanding now, since KRA only issued its full explanatory notice on 4 September 2026 — a matter of days ago.

What Section 23B Actually Requires

The new provision requires every person who imports, or claims to have imported, goods into Kenya to obtain and retain an export declaration, export entry, customs export certificate, or another equivalent customs document issued by the competent authority in the country of export. This isn’t a one-off filing — the document must be:

Retained for at least five years
Produced to KRA on request, functioning much like the documentary trail already expected under a post-clearance audit
Complete with prescribed particulars — the exporter’s details, the importer’s details, a description and quantity of the goods, their value, correct tariff classification, and the country of export

In practice, because KRA’s verification workflow increasingly expects this document upfront rather than only on a later audit query, many clearing agents — including ours — now prepare and attach it alongside the customs entry at the point of declaration, rather than treating it purely as a document to keep on file in case it’s ever asked for.

What Counts as a Valid Export Declaration

The Act is deliberately broad about acceptable document types, recognising that not every country of origin issues the exact same paperwork. Any of the following, issued by the exporting country’s own customs or competent authority, should satisfy the requirement:

An export declaration
An export entry
A customs export certificate
Another equivalent customs document confirming lawful export, provided it carries the required particulars

KRA has specifically advised importers to establish, in advance, whether the country they’re sourcing from actually issues this kind of documentation for the category of goods in question — not every jurisdiction does, and finding this out after your goods have already shipped is far more difficult to resolve than confirming it beforehand.

Why KRA Introduced This

KRA has stated plainly that the measure is intended to strengthen verification of imported goods by requiring documentary evidence that goods were lawfully exported from their country of origin or export — closing a gap where a shipment’s declared origin, value, or ownership could be asserted at the Kenyan end without independent confirmation from the exporting side. It sits alongside a broader pattern of tightening documentation requirements Kenya has introduced through 2026, including the mandatory Certificate of Origin and the Advance Cargo Declaration — three separate requirements, all bedding in within roughly the same twelve months, each closing a different angle of the same underlying goal: verifying what’s actually being imported, by whom, and on what terms, before duty and tax liability is finalised.

How This Differs From the Certificate of Origin

These two requirements are easy to conflate, since both originate from the exporting country and both are now mandatory. The distinction matters:

Certificate of Origin (Section 44A) confirms where the goods were produced, manufactured, or substantially transformed — relevant to tariff treatment and preferential trade agreements
Export declaration document (Section 23B) confirms that the goods were lawfully exported from that country — a customs-side record of the export transaction itself, including value, quantity, and classification as declared on the export side

A shipment can, in principle, have a valid Certificate of Origin but still be missing the separate export declaration required under Section 23B — they’re not interchangeable, and KRA can request either or both.

What Happens If You Can’t Produce One

The consequence here is specific and significant: failure to produce the required documentation on request may result in KRA rejecting claims relating to the importation, value, origin, cost, or ownership of the goods, and instead determining the applicable tax liability based on whatever information is available to KRA directly. In practice, this means the importer loses the ability to substantiate their own declared figures, and KRA’s own assessment — typically less favourable than a properly documented declaration — takes precedence instead.

This is a materially different risk than a simple processing delay. It’s the loss of your ability to argue your own case on value, origin, or ownership if the underlying export paperwork isn’t there to back it up.

What to Do Before Your Next Shipment

KRA’s own guidance to importers is worth taking seriously, and lines up closely with how we’re already advising clients:

Engage suppliers and exporters early to confirm they can provide compliant export documentation — this needs to happen before goods ship, not after
Verify the documents actually contain the required particulars — exporter and importer details, goods description and quantity, value, tariff classification, and country of export — rather than assuming any export paperwork automatically qualifies
Retain everything for the full five-year period, treating it with the same discipline as any other record that could be requested in a post-clearance audit
Confirm your specific origin country actually issues this documentation for your product category — this varies, and it’s worth checking case by case rather than assuming

A Compliance Landscape That’s Moving Fast

Between the Certificate of Origin, the Advance Cargo Declaration, mandatory local marine insurance, and now this new export declaration requirement, Kenya’s import compliance environment has changed more in the last twelve months than in several years before it. Each requirement individually is manageable — the real risk is an importer relying on what was sufficient even six months ago, and discovering the gap only once KRA asks for a document that didn’t previously matter.

At Clearon Logistics, tracking exactly this kind of fast-moving regulatory change is built into how we manage a shipment from before it even leaves the supplier — confirming what documentation your specific origin country and product category require today, not what applied last year, and giving you a clear, honest picture of your compliance position at every stage.

Not sure your supplier can provide a compliant export declaration? Talk to Clearon Logistics before your next shipment ships.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the export declaration requirement come into effect? Section 23B of the Tax Procedures Act took effect on 1 September 2026, though KRA’s detailed explanatory guidance was only issued on 4 September 2026.

Is the export declaration the same as the Certificate of Origin? No — the Certificate of Origin confirms where goods were produced, while the export declaration confirms the goods were lawfully exported from that country, including value, quantity, and classification recorded on the export side.

Do I need to submit this document with every import entry, or only if KRA asks? Legally, the requirement is to obtain and retain the document and produce it on request. In practice, many importers and clearing agents now prepare and attach it at the point of customs entry, since KRA’s verification process increasingly expects it upfront when checking the item values.

What happens if my country of origin doesn’t issue this kind of export documentation? KRA has advised importers to establish in advance whether their specific export country issues the required documentation for their goods category — this is worth confirming with your supplier before shipping, since the consequence of not having it can include KRA rejecting your declared value, origin, or ownership claims.