REFERENCE NO. 13 OF 2020 KIOO LIMITED v. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA

The subject is the Business Laws (Amendment) Act, 2020 which became effective on 18th March 2020 amending Kenya’s Excise Duty Act, 2015 by imposing excise duty at the rate of 25% on imported glass bottles, excluding glass bottles for packaging pharmaceutical products. The Applicant alleges that the Excise Duty Act does not grant exemptions to goods imported into Kenya from the EAC Partner States and therefore the new excise rate of 25% will apply to glass imported into Kenya from Tanzania and other Partner States therefore discriminatory and violation of the spirit and letter of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community, the East African Community Customs Union Protocol and the East African Community Common Market Protocol and that it also inhibits the free movement of goods as envisaged in the spirit of the Treaty, the Customs Union Protocol and the Common Market Protocol.