According to Star on August 5th, car importers expect the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to waive a new regulation that requires all imported products to be accompanied by a certificate of origin. They believe that this requirement is redundant and will increase unnecessary costs. Through their lobbying group, the Kenya Automobile importers Association (CIAK), these traders point out that the documents involved in the automobile import process, such as logs, export documents, and inspection certificates, already contain sufficient information to verify the origin of the vehicles. They also added that the new regulations will increase the cost of paperwork by about 2 billion shillings per year, and these additional costs will ultimately be passed on to buyers. Peter Otino, the director of the Kenya Automobile importers Association, said, "We request the authorities to exclude car dealers from this regulation because it would increase costs, and we already have equivalent documents." Traders questioned the rationale for introducing additional documents, which not only incur costs and benefit foreign entities, but also increase the burden on local buyers.
