Imported goods will not be cleared through customs from November 1, 2026 unless the consignment is covered by a valid marine cargo insurance policy, the Kenya Revenue Authority has announced.

The requirement, set out in a public notice dated October 22, 2026, means importers and their clearing agents must arrange cover that satisfies the authority before goods can move out of customs control. Consignments arriving without the required documentation will be held, KRA warned.

Policies will only be accepted if they are issued by insurers licensed by the Insurance Regulatory Authority. This narrows the field of acceptable underwriters and places the licensing check within the clearance process itself.

The certificate is to be handled electronically. KRA and the IRA are working together on the Digital MCI System, which importers and clearing agents must use to process insurance certificates before they lodge a customs declaration.

Once issued, the certificate must be successfully transmitted to the Integrated Customs Management System. Only after the iCMS record reflects the cover can a declaration be submitted. The sequence is procedural: insurance first, transmission second, declaration last.

KRA described the November 1 date as enforcement of earlier notices on mandatory marine cargo insurance, suggesting the policy has been signalled before rather than introduced as a new obligation.

The authority urged stakeholders to complete their arrangements ahead of the deadline to avoid trade disruptions. It did not set out specific penalties or fees for non-compliance in the notice.

The practical burden falls on importers and clearing agents, who must now confirm that an insurer is IRA-licensed, obtain a policy, and ensure the certificate reaches iCMS before submitting paperwork. Goods that fail any of those steps risk sitting at the port beyond the clearance window.

Nothing in the notice indicates an extension or a phased rollout. The directive states that enforcement begins on November 1, 2026, though the actual start of enforcement has not been independently confirmed.