Doing business in Kenya: updates regarding COVID-19

Nieuwsbericht | 22-06-2020 | 15:52

Update 22 June 2020

• The Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development has published Guidelines for Business operations during COVID-19. The Guidelines are aimed at allowing businesses to reopen, whilst strictly observing the required measures they have to put in place to mitigate the spread of the virus. Businesses are expected to derive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from the guidelines and implement these in addition to the various Coronavirus containment measures pronounced by the Ministry of Health. You can find the Guideline here.
• On Thursday 11 June 2020, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury presented his budget speech, which outlined Government plans for the 2020/2021 Financial year, starting 1 July 2020.  Both PWC and Taxwise have analyzed the measures to give businesses insight into the implications of the proposed measures. See: PwC Analysis; Taxwise Africa Analysis.
• The Kenya Revenue Authority issued a directive on the requirement of the tax compliance certificate for suppliers of goods and services to projects, institutions and diplomatic posts. See this document for more details.
• Trade Mark East Africa compiled various reports on the Impacts of COVID-19 on Eastern & Southern African Trade can be found here.

Further information and useful links

Below we provide an overview of useful websites based on the type of questions we receive. In case you have suggestions for important and useful additions to this list, kindly share them with us by sending us an email, nai-lnv@minbuza.nl.

• For Dutch entrepreneurs that are doing business in African countries, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency made an overview of useful information in Dutch.
• A number of frequently asked questions for entrepreneurs are provided by the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency here.
• The European Commission’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic includes a number of restrictions to transport, which can be found on this website of the European Commission.

• The Kenya Private Sector Alliance has opened a 24-hour call center and information portal for businesses. You can find more information on their website, including the consolidated private sector protocols on maintaining health and safety after reopening of the economy. For more information see here.

• This website gives an overview of information provided by the Government of Kenya on COVID-19 related measures, created by the Netherlands Embassy.

• The Kenya Revenue Authority has published a new list of goods eligible for bonded warehouses at the expiry of 90 days from the date of the Gazette Notice (15 May 2020). Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) published an analysis on the impact of the gazette notice to importers/exporters. You can also find an analysis of the changes contained Tax Law Amendments Act (25 April 2020) by PWC here. As well as an analysis on the proposed Finance Bill (5 May 2020) see this website.

• Following the amendments to the VAT Act, 2013, by the Finance Act, 2019, clarifying that VAT is applicable to supplies made through a digital marketplace, the Kenya Revenue Authority would like to inform members of the public that this draft - value added tax (digital marketplace supply) regulations, 2020 have been developed.

• The EU delegation in Kenya has published a factsheet on available funding opportunities to leverage investments by the private sector in Kenya. You can find the factsheet here. Find information on additional support by the EU to bolster food security here and on the support measures of for vulnerable Kenyans here.
• The Kenya Ports Authority extends free storage period for import and export containers. The extension is valid for 90 days from 18 May 2020 and is subject to review thereafter depending on the business dynamics. Find the details here.
• Kindly find the Kenya Gazette Supplement no. 44 with the Pandemic Response and Management Bill 2020 via this link – The bill is currently going through parliament and has a number of proposals on social economic impact including employment contracts. MMAN advocates published an overview with the highlights of this proposed Bill here.

Events

Due to the COVID-19, many of the upcoming events have been rescheduled. As soon as new dates have been confirmed we will share them in our agenda.

COVID-19 in the Netherlands

For questions regarding travel restriction for the Netherlands, travelling abroad and visas, have a look at information from the Netherlands government here.
More general information about COVID-19 in the Netherlands can be found here.

Important note

Owing to changing nature of the COVID pandemic, the current situation and government measures in place are continuously evolving. Please continue to update yourself on the must current state of affairs, including by verifying information with the relevant business associations or your local partner.

Together we will get through these tough times. Stay safe

Questions for the agriculture department can be addressed directly to nai-lnv@minbuza.nl. Questions on general trade can be direct to nai-ea@minbuza.nl. For any other questions for the Embassy, this website links to the general contact information of the Netherlands Embassy in Nairobi.
For the latest updates follow us on twitter on @NLAgiKenya and the Netherlands Embassy on @NLinKenya and Facebook.