The Anti-Counterfeit Authority announced the commencement of recordation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) through the Anti-Counterfeit Authority Integrated Management System (“AIMS”). IPR recordation basically involves the creation of a database of IPR information relating to trademarks, copyrights, trade names, or any other protected intellectual property rights, for all goods to be imported into Kenya. The process is to ensure not only certified but also genuine products are available in the Kenyan Market.
The recordation process is provided for under Section 34B of the Anti-Counterfeit Act, No.13 of 2008,Legal notice 117 and 118 of 2021.As from 1st January 2023,it will be an offence to import any goods to Kenya without recording their IPR. An IPR owner has the first right to recordation but he or she can however appoint an IPR Agent to do the process on it’s behalf. Statutory Professional Bodies can act as an Agent for an IPR owner.
While on one hand registration of Intellectual Property Rights entails granting of ownership and exclusive right of an Intellectual Property, IPR recordation on the other hand aims to prevent counterfeit imports by developing an IPR database for goods to be imported into Kenya and using that database to check imports for counterfeit goods.
An importer shall declare the IPRs relating to their goods through the KENTRADE’s Trade Facilitation Platform. This process shall attract a fee of USD20 per consignment for every instance of application. An IPR owner who has recorded his right with ACA, his authorized agent, licensee or assignee shall be exempted from the payment of USD20. However, they shall still be required to declare the IPRs relating to the goods being imported.
Once an IPR has been recorded and the IPR owner has acquired the requisite certificate,one can proceed to the record the IPR with ACA,an online process. The IPR owner can record various licencee’s it plans to use to distribute its product to the market. The information recorded at ACA include images of products trading under these registered rights, the manufacturer details and contact persons. The images should be as clear as possible to enable one distingish one IPR from another. Once the application is complete,and approved, the applicant will receive a recordation certificate through their email or through the AIMS portal. The recordation shall remain valid for a period of 12 months subject to annual renewal at USD50.
