The Anti-Counterfeit Agency has received Sh150 million to develop an online platform that will help local consumers check and report on fake products. The platform will allow consumers to detect fake goods after keying in unique products identification numbers such as barcodes, serial and batch numbers with zero results indicating counterfeits. This comes as the government steps a campaign against illicit goods to protect local manufacturers and boost consumers safety. “We are now witnessing illicit trade crime sophistication due to IT in wrong hands. 3D technologies can now copy anything including trademarks and barcodes. We will now nab those using quick response systems among others,” said ACA chairperson Flora Mutahi Monday. The State agency also said the platform would shorten the period taken to verify and clear goods at the entry points. The move will boost the country’s fight against illicit trade after the government intensified a crackdown on fakes worth at least Sh7.5 billion since May. The goods involved range from sugar, cigarettes, electric cables to galvanised iron sheets. More than 180 foreigners have also been arrested and charged in court since the crackdown by a multi-agency committee began. The team comprises officials from Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, National Police Service and the anti-counterfeit body. Source Business Daily

Kenya’s war on counterfeits and illegal trade has received a major boost with the signing of a $1.5 million financing agreement between UK Department for International Development (DFID) and The Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) channeled through TradeMark Africa, TMA. The funding will support digitalization of the agency’s operations and services. TradeMark Africa will provide technical and project financing support to the agency with the aim to better and efficiently serve their stakeholders nationally, regionally and globally. The proposed digitalization project will involve development of ICT-enabled solutions for ease in detection of counterfeits by consumers; ease the process of reporting on counterfeiting by intellectual property rights (IPR) owners. It will also involve support to research and awareness programs to establish the national public awareness level on counterfeiting and the implementation of a “Training of Trainers (TOT) program on matters of counterfeits. The signing was witnessed by the Anti-Counterfeit Agency chairperson Mrs Flora Mutai, TMA Kenya Country Programme Director, Ahmed Farah and UKAID Head of Sustainable Economic Development, Ian Mills. Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Anti-Counterfeit Agency chairperson Mrs Flora Mutai appreciated the support from TMA towards digitising its operations. She noted the increased challenge posed by counterfeiters who are using modern technology to copy trademarks and industrial designs up to undetectable levels. She said: “Technology has now moved to the wrong hands. We are witnessing illicit trade crime sophistication due to “IT in wrong hands”. 3D Technology and access to online markets and sources are a click away; 3D Technologies -...

Efforts to stem out counterfeit products by the Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) got a financial support worth US Dollars 1.5M towards supporting digitalization of its operations and services. In an agreement signed Monday in Nairobi, the aid from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) will be channeled through Trade Mark East Africa (TMA), who will provide technical and project financing support to the agency with the aim to better and efficiently serve their stakeholders nationally, regionally and globally. Anti-Counterfeit Agency chairperson Mrs Flora Mutai observed that technology has now moved to the wrong hands. “We are witnessing illicit trade crime sophistication due to “IT in wrong hands. We will now nab them using Quick Response System among other measures,” she said. The ACA operations will be digitised to deal with the increased challenge posed by counterfeiters who are using modern technology to copy trademarks and industrial designs up to undetectable levels. She noted that 3D Technology and access to online markets and sources are a click away. And, opined that 3D Technologies can copy anything including trademarks, holograms, and bar-codes. Copying and passing-off a lot easier and distinct. The proposed digitalization project is twofold: First, it will involve development of ICT-enabled solutions for ease in detection of counterfeits by consumers; ease the process of reporting on counterfeiting by intellectual property rights (IPR) owners. Secondly, it will involve support to research and awareness programs to establish the national public awareness level on counterfeiting and the implementation of a “Training of Trainers...

Maize moving from Uganda to Kenya has dipped in August to as low as 4.5 tonnes per day, down from highs of 500 tonnes per day in June-July. An analysis by The EastAfrican of raw data from Ratin, a daily tracker of trade across the borders, shows that this month, 1,324 tonnes of maize came into Kenya from Uganda compared with 11,828 tonnes in July and 8,545 tonnes in June. From June to mid-August, a total of 21,697 tonnes of maize moved from Uganda to Kenya and another 6,562 tonnes moved from Uganda to Rwanda. Uganda has the lowest retail price for a tonne of maize in the region at $102 in upcountry towns and $122 in Kampala. Burundi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, in that order, have the highest prices for the grain which retails at $397, $380 and $307 per tonne respectively in the country capitals. The largest bulk of maize from Uganda to Kenya came through the Busia border and a few tonnes came in through Malaba and Lwakhakha towns. Tanzania also exports maize to Kenya but no Kenyan maize has been sold to Tanzania. A total of 3,900 tonnes of maize came from Tanzania to Kenya through the Isebania border in June and July. Tanzania last year lifted a ban on maize exports in an effort to curb practices that jeopardised food security such as pre-harvest sale of produce and to encourage value addition and promote the export of flour instead. Data also shows that from March to...

As India marks its 71st Independence day ties between Africa and India increasingly strengthening as both parties seek mutually beneficial partnership largely through trade. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that the current India-Africa partnership includes implementation of 180 lines of credit worth USD11bn in over 40 Africa countries and USD600 million in grant assistance. Today India’s trade with Africa is over $62 billion with plans to increase this volume further. The Indian government says that they have taken a long-term view of its engagement with African countries by participating in existing institutions in order to support the continent’s drive to build itself from within. One such example is the Government of India’s recent decision to invest USD10 million in the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI). The shareholding positions India as the first non-African government to become a member of the pan-African and multilateral investment and credit insurer with the expected result of boosting India’s trade with Africa. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) will represent the government’s shareholding in ATI. ECGC’s most recent results show the company has $99 billion in exposures and it insures 32 per cent of India’s exports. ECGC has operated in Africa since the 1960s with plans to deepen its engagement in Africa. “India’s membership in ATI is a landmark development for a symbiotic relationship between the two fastest growing regions in the world. It is indeed a proud moment to be the first non-African state shareholder of ATI. This partnership will...

NAIROBI, Kenya, 20th August 2018:  The Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA) has today signed a financing agreement worth US Dollars One Million Five Hundred Thousand ($1,500,000) towards supporting digitalisation of its operations and services. The funding comes from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) channeled through TradeMark Africa (TMA), who will provide technical and project financing support to the agency with the aim to better and efficiently serve their stakeholders nationally, regionally and globally. The proposed digitalization project is twofold: First, it will involve development of ICT-enabled solutions for ease in detection of counterfeits by consumers; ease the process of reporting on counterfeiting by intellectual property rights (IPR) owners. Secondly, it will involve support to research and awareness programs to establish the national public awareness level on counterfeiting and the implementation of a “Training of Trainers (TOT) program on matters of counterfeits. The signing was witnessed by the Anti-Counterfeit Agency chairperson Mrs Flora Mutai, TMA Kenya Country Programme Director, Ahmed Farah and UKAID Head of Sustainable Economic Development, Ian Mills. Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Anti-Counterfeit Agency chairperson Mrs Flora Mutai appreciated the support from TMA towards digitising its operations. She noted the increased challenge posed by counterfeiters who are using modern technology to copy trademarks and industrial designs up to undetectable levels. She said: “Technology has now moved to the wrong hands. We are witnessing illicit trade crime sophistication due to “IT in wrong hands”. 3D Technology and access to online markets and sources are a click away; 3D...

A noble effort to ensure Kenyans stop wearing mitumba clothes has come to a cropper after the government silently stopped companies in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) from selling their products in the local market. After only two years of Kenyans flocking KICC and other centres to buy new top fashion brands like Victoria's Secret, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein at affordable prices, they are now back to mitumba with the halting of the EPZ ‘super sales’. The decision to bar EPZ products from the local market is a bizarre twist of events considering that President Uhuru Kenyatta had last year promised to increase their local quota from 20 to 40 percent primarily to restore the dignity of Kenyans, a majority of whom depend on second-hand clothes. DEMEANING In doing so, the President argued it was demeaning for Kenyans to export new clothes yet they end up wearing the same clothes as mitumba. The waiver to allow EPZ companies to sell up to 20 per cent of their products in the domestic market duty free and value added tax (VAT) free to promote consumption of locally manufactured apparel had been introduced in 2016 and was riding on the ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’ mantra. However, a vicious battle in the local textile and apparels industry pitting EPZ companies, local manufacturers, importers and designers has forced the government to backtrack on selling EPZ products locally. Although companies operating within the zones are still allowed 20 per cent quota for the local market,...

The World Food Programme (WFP) is optimistic more players will follow its lead in using the recently opened raillake- rail on Lake Victoria from Mwanza to Port Bell in Uganda as it has proved to be time and cost effective. A shipment of 18 train wagons of vegetable oil destined for WFP operations in Uganda in June marked the reopening of the Mwanza- Port bell link on Lake Victoria which remained inactive for over 10 years since 2007. It is expected the new multimodal route to be plied by Tanzanian ferry, MV Umoja will ease transportation of exports and imports between Uganda and Tanzania at a much reduced cost and time. According to WFP, the route cuts transit time by over 50 per cent and costs by 40 per cent, which means the UN organisation can now get food more quickly to those in need in neighbouring, landlocked countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. The opening of the Lake Victoria corridor will lead to opening of an economic corridor for the East African region which will help attract public and private sector investment, the Head of Supply Chain for WFP Tanzania Office, Riaz Lodhi told the Business Standard in an interview. "WFP opens the corridor the private sector follows...You mark my words. In the months to come, the private sector will follow," he said. After the first shipment which marked the re-opening of the route, WFP has sent six more shipments...

NAIROBI, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The East African Community member (EAC) states plans to develop a policy framework to address the human and animal health threat of aflatoxin contamination and boost food security, the economic bloc said on Wednesday. Christophe Bazivamo, Deputy Secretary General of the EAC, told a regional forum in Nairobi that aflatoxins from fungi are widespread in the region and cause contamination of staple foods such as maize milk and groundnuts in the field and during storage. "The EAC partner states will therefore develop policies to aid in the formulation and implementation of intervention programs to curb the spread of aflatoxins," Bazivamo said. The overall goal of the framework is to said to contribute to food and nutrition security as well as to protect human, animal and plant health. Bazivamo said to eliminate the threat of aflatoxin, the region needs to create awareness and sensitize high level policy makers and other key stakeholders on the necessary policy action and interventions to mitigate impacts of aflatoxin. According to Bazivamo, the control of aflatoxin will enable the EAC to expand intra-regional trade in the agricultural products. He said a comparative analysis of trade-related impacts of aflatoxin indicate that export destinations such as the EU have rejected agricultural commodities from the region leading to huge losses. He urged the member states to focus on preventive measures given that disposal of aflatoxin-contaminated food can be a costly and time consuming affair. Mwangi Kiunjuri, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture,...

NAIROBI, KENYA: Pressure is pilling on Tanzania and Burundi to ratify tax harmonisation agreement signed eight years ago to boost trade among East African Community partner states. East African Business Council noted that slow pace in ratifying the document makes it difficult for Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda to implement the agreement which would make it attractive for businesses to expand operations in East Africa. “We have witnessed a decline in intra-trade among the Partner States as many companies shy away from expanding within the region due to the fear of double taxation, this needs not to be the case as we have a document to address all these,” said Adrian Njau, East African Business Council Trade and Policy Advisor. “The EAC business community eagerly awaits harmonisation of domestic taxes in EAC and hopes to see in harmonization removal of tax distortions that hamper efficient allocation of resources within the Community and come in the way of free movement of goods, services, labor, capital, and investments within the Community,” he added. The East African Business Working Group on domestic taxes identifies several challenges in tax harmonisation among them reluctance of Partner States to move with speed and finalize the legal framework for tax harmonisation, and fear by governments that tax harmonization may deplete revenue base especially in the case of excise. Other challenges are reluctance by stakeholders to provide data that would enable the working group and government stakeholders to quantify the actual impact of tax harmonisation, Strong lobby by some...