Rogue clearing agents risk hefty fines and jail terms for failing to acquire practising certificates in line with a law intended to weed out quacks.
The Kenya International Freight Forwarders Association (Kifwa) and the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) Tuesday introduced proposed rules to guide the clearing agents.
The lobbies said measures contained in the Kenya Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders Bill 2020 will enhance professionalism and compliance in a bid to “end the cargo delays at ports, improve cargo flow, improve revenue collection ... and lower the cost of doing business.”
The bill proposes the creation of a code of conduct and defines trading conditions between agents and others in the supply chain that include compulsory registration with the new society, a KRA licence, and a professional practising certification.
Currently, the only legally defined penalty is for agents operating without licences and the fine is not specified.
The bill proposes penalties for service provider, customs agents, freight forwarders and non-members, and illegal trade.
“A person who contravenes any provision of this Act to which no penalty has been prescribed commits an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one million shillings for an individual or two million shillings for a legal person or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both,” it says.
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