EPR Regulations Kenya: 10 Key Rules Producers and Importers Must Follow

Updated 7 November 2026

The EPR regulations Kenya businesses now deal with are the Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) Regulations, 2024, Legal Notice 176, gazetted on 4 November 2024 under the Sustainable Waste Management Act. They make manufacturers, importers and brand owners responsible for their products and packaging after consumers throw them away. Every covered producer must register with NEMA, join or run a compliance scheme, report annually, and importers of listed finished products pay a fee at the point of import. A court challenge did not stop them: in November 2025 the Environment and Land Court discharged earlier conservatory orders, so the rules apply while the petition is heard.

Checked on 7 November 2026 against the gazetted Legal Notice 176 of 2024 on NEMA’s website, NEMA’s Phase 2 import certificate notice and the court ruling of 20 November 2025. This is general information, not legal advice.

1. Who counts as a producer under the EPR regulations

The regulations define a product as any good or packaging introduced into the market through production, importation, franchising, marketing or distribution. NEMA’s producer registration form (Form C) lists the categories: manufacturer, importer, refiller, repackager, rebrander, brand owner and converter. A brand owner is the registered owner of the trademark under which a product is sold. So a supermarket private label, a cosmetics importer and a soft-drinks bottler can all be producers. Packaging is treated as a product in its own right.

2. Products and packaging covered

The First Schedule lists five categories:

1. Packaging for non-hazardous products: plastics, aluminium, composites, paper and corrugates, glass, cardboard and carton.
2. Hazardous products’ packaging (industrial chemicals, oils and lubricants, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, veterinary products, cosmetics, paints and solvents), plus treated wood and agricultural films.
3. Electrical and electronic equipment, mercury auto switches, thermostats, batteries and accumulators.
4. End-of-life motor vehicles, automobiles, aircraft and locomotives.
5. Non-packaging items: plastics, glass, paper and cardboard, furniture (except wooden and metallic), rubber and tyres, textiles, leather, artificial hair, diapers and sanitary towels.

3. Core obligations for every producer

Regulation 5 requires a producer to set up a take-back scheme (which may include a deposit refund system), set up or join an individual or collective compliance scheme, register with NEMA and report on implementation. Producers must also design products and packaging to cut waste and ease reuse and recycling, take financial, organisational and physical responsibility for post-consumer waste, inform consumers, carry out product life-cycle assessments and run circular-economy initiatives. Regulation 8(3) of the EPR regulations is blunt: the absence of an established scheme does not exempt a producer.

4. Registering with NEMA under the EPR regulations

A producer applies on Form C with a company registration certificate, a list of goods and packaging introduced into Kenya and proof of payment. NEMA has 14 days to approve, ask for more details or reject, and must communicate its decision within seven days of deciding. Producers already operating when the rules started had six months to register, which NEMA set at the six months following 4 November 2024. If you missed that window, register now through the NEMA portal; late registration is better than trading as an unregistered “free rider”.

5. The import certificate and KSh 150 fee

Under regulation 6, each importer of a finished product listed in the First Schedule must apply for an EPR import certificate and pay the scheduled fee, shown as KSh 150 per item for each of the five categories. The certificate forms part of mandatory clearance documents. NEMA moved the certificate onto KenTrade’s National Electronic Single Window System in phases: Phase 1 began on 14 March 2026 for stand-alone items in categories 3, 4 and 5, and Phase 2, effective 30 October 2026, moved the requirement from pre-clearance to the customs declaration stage. Clearing agents should confirm how the per-item fee is being applied to each consignment, because the fee level remains the subject of industry objections.

6. Individual scheme or a producer responsibility organisation

A sole producer can run an individual compliance scheme (Form E), backed by a declaration, a certificate of conformity, its EPR plan and contracts with approved waste service providers. Most smaller firms instead join a collective scheme run by a producer responsibility organisation (PRO), a company whose sole business is EPR on behalf of members. A PRO must register before acting for members and file a long list of documents, including its member register, fee structure, audited accounts and dispute-resolution mechanism. Members can only switch PRO at the start of a new contract year, after three months’ notice copied to NEMA.

7. Annual licences and the four-year EPR plan

Scheme registration lasts up to four years and is renewable. After registration, a producer or PRO needs an annual operating licence (Form G). Before registering, each scheme must submit a four-year EPR plan covering its baseline, safe handling of 100% of the equivalent volume declared, national reuse and recycling targets, collection and logistics, fee modulation, consumer education, eco-design procedures and financing. A 2025 amendment requires the annual work plan and progress report to reach NEMA within 60 days before the licence application.

8. EPR regulations reporting deadlines

Under the EPR regulations, schemes must keep records of products managed, eco-design standards, agent and recycler contracts and performance. Every individual and collective scheme must file an annual report for the previous year by 31 January, and report volumes collected, recycled, reused and recovered to the relevant counties. Put 31 January in the compliance calendar next to KRA deadlines.

9. Offences and penalties

It is an offence for a scheme to wilfully fail its obligations (the court can order it to bear the cost), to give false information on quantities, to place a product on the market for a producer not on NEMA’s register, or to be a non-member free rider that does not meet individual obligations. Where no specific penalty is set, section 32 of the Sustainable Waste Management Act applies. NEMA may also suspend a licence and prohibit the affected product from the market.

10. Are the EPR regulations in force in 2026?

The Environment and Land Court had issued conservatory orders on 15 July 2025, but on 20 November 2025 it set them aside and transferred the petition to the Nairobi ELC for hearing. Other petitions, including one by the Law Society of Kenya, were cited in that ruling. Until a final judgment, the EPR regulations remain enforceable, so plan on full compliance. Finance teams should budget the fees alongside other business compliance costs and track ESG disclosure duties such as the Kenya Green Finance Taxonomy.

Frequently asked questions

When did the EPR regulations take effect in Kenya?

They were gazetted on 4 November 2024, and existing producers had six months to register with NEMA.

How much is the EPR import fee?

The First Schedule sets KSh 150 per item for each listed product category, paid by importers of listed finished products.

When are EPR annual reports due?

Individual and collective schemes must submit the previous year’s annual report to NEMA by 31 January.

Were the EPR regulations suspended by the court?

Only temporarily. Conservatory orders of July 2025 were discharged on 20 November 2025, so the regulations apply while the petition is heard.