Kenya - Regarding the Certificate of Free Sale

Dear Members,

With reference to a letter received from the Nairobi Commercial Attaché, it has been reported that the Kenya Bureau of Standards made certain significant amendments, as outlined below, in the Pre-Export Conformity Assessment Guide published on February 19, 2026, a sample of which is attached (Annex-1). In this context: - It is stated that a Free Sale Certificate must be submitted to the authorized inspection company issuing the conformity certificate for applications seeking a conformity certificate. - The importer in Kenya is also required to submit the same Free Sale Certificate to the customs authority. - The companies authorized to conduct Conformity Assessments in our country have been identified as SGS, Intertek, TUV Rheinland & BV. Additionally, it is requested that a decision be made regarding who will issue the Free Sale Certificate mentioned in the guide and under what conditions.

The letter further explains that Free Sale Certificates are documents required by some countries with underdeveloped product safety legislation and inspection infrastructure for imports. These certificates demonstrate that the product is legally marketed in compliance with the relevant legislation of the exporting country, not the importing country's own product regulations. In this sense, they are the least burdensome documents our companies encounter when entering export markets. However, they require product and regulatory knowledge and must therefore be issued by the relevant authorized body responsible for the product.

Additionally, it is stated that Free Sale Certificates, occasionally requested from our exporters in line with the demands of importing countries, are issued by the relevant public institutions within the scope of their assigned product categories and made available for use by our exporters.

In this regard, a list of authorized bodies and the product groups they are responsible for is provided in the attachment (Annex-2). It is noted that our companies exporting to Kenya must apply to the relevant authorized bodies within the framework of the respective product groups to obtain Free Sale Certificates. We kindly request your attention to this matter and ask that it be communicated to the relevant members.