Nairobi — The administrative costs of exporting fresh and dry produce from Kenya to foreign markets has reduced by 62 percent following the simplification of export trade procedures by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS).
The success is as a result of collaboration between the Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) and the National Trade Facilitation Committee(NTFC) in the simplification of procedures that apply to the export of coffee, tea, flowers, beans, peas, avocados, nuts and oil crops products, cotton, sisal among others.
KEPHIS is a regulatory and permit issuing state agency which processes the export clearance through the National Electronic Single Window System, the trade facilitation portal managed by state agency, KenTrade and is also mandated by Act of Parliament to facilitate co-ordination and partnership among the department responsible for customs, other relevant Government ministries. Government entities or agencies and industry players dealing with trade or trade facilitation.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Trade Network Agency(KenTrade) Mr. David Ngarama said the simplification of KEPHIS' registration procedure has not only impacted the total number of steps involved in the export of fresh and dry produce but has also significantly reduced the administrative burden cost incurred by businesses in the registration procedure from KES 40,197.35 to KES 15, 287.29, thus, saving each business wishing to trade any type of plant products a total of KES 24,910.06.
"KEPHIS has since implemented the short-term proposals identified. It is important to note that these significant simplification results were achieved without changing any law and regulation. The measures to simplify were implemented right away thanks to effective managerial oversight at KEPHIS and cooperation with KenTrade and the NTFC Secretariat," he said.
The success recorded by KEPHIS in cost reduction related to administrative expenses for processing of export approvals is as a result of yearlong series of simplification workshops held by the National Trade Facilitation Committee and Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) with the aim to reduce the procedures that apply to the export of coffee, tea, flowers, beans, peas, avocados, nuts and oil crops products, cotton, sisal among others.
Administrative steps have now been reduced to five (5) (from 10), mandatory requirements to just two (2) (down from 13), and the duration of the procedure is now at six (6) to fourteen (14) days; as outlined on the new (current) "Register with Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)" procedure on the Portal.
Further to the reduction of the required documents, KEPHIS has also implemented the proposed application form in the registration procedure; previously, traders were required to submit a cover letter addressed to the Managing Director, stating their intent to export, the market of export, crop to export, among other details - which is complex to structure.Implementation of the form has drastically reduced the number of attachments to accompany the cover letter, as the required information is now outlined on the new application form.
Furthermore, KEPHIS management agreed that applications could be submitted by email instead of in person which brings down the costs significantly, especially for businesses located far from KEPHIS regional centres.
"KEPHIS is happy with the efforts made to simplify its procedures as this has eased their work when it comes to registration. Further, availing the information through the Portal has led to less inquiries, walk-ins and call-ins by traders enabling KEPHIS to better focus on its core objective of ensuring phytosanitary control," said KEPHIS Managing Director Theophilus Mutai.
Documentation of trade procedures on InfoTradeKE has unveiled numerous complexities, duplications, bottlenecks, and redundancies within the trade logistics value chain that needs urgent action to reduce the cost of doing business in the country, KenTrade in Partnership with National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) embarked on simplification and harmonisation of trade procedures in the country as mapped on the portal.
The team kicked off the exercise of simplification in 2018 with the export of coffee procedure as a pilot commodity. Further, simplification of procedures for tea, flowers, Meat, and Meat products followed. KenTrade commits annually to simplify mapped procedures on the portal to reduce these complexities.
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Simplification of trade procedures involves the elimination of steps, redundancies and duplication of requirements, by looking at the current procedure against the laws (Acts and Regulations) that govern it. Additionally, simplification critically analyses the administrative cost incurred by businesses while applying for certificates, licences and permits for export and import.
The simplification of export trade processes is implemented through a dedicated platform known as InfoTradeKe portal, where KenTrade with support of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) now offers step by step guide to potential importer or exporter in Kenya.
The portal has increased compliance by traders and helps Kenya ease on cost and time of doing business by enabling the regulators to identify automation gaps and opportunities that exist for permit issuing and regulatory state agencies despite having already integrated in the Electronic Single Window System platform.
