The High Court has temporarily stopped the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from implementing its revised Current Retail Selling Price (CRSP) schedule for used vehicle imports.
The suspension issued on Monday comes just a day before the new pricing list was set to take effect on July 1. The case filed by a concerned petitioner will be heard on July 17.
The petitioner argues that KRA pushed through the new CRSP without proper public participation, claiming only car dealers were consulted while consumers and the wider public were left out.
The court also froze a May 22 internal circular and a public notice dated May 30, which outlined the rollout plan.
The petitioner now wants KRA to produce proof of who was consulted, and how.
In court papers, the revised pricing list is described as riddled with errors.
Some models are said to be missing entirely, while others are matched with wrong features like incorrect fuel types or non-existent chassis numbers.
There are also claims that identical vehicles were assigned different values.
The case also raises a legal point: that the CRSP is effectively a statutory instrument under the EAC Customs Act, and should have been presented to Parliament before implementation. That never happened, according to the petitioner.
There’s also concern about the short notice. Importers argue that they planned shipments based on the 2019 CRSP, with the typical car import process taking 3 to 6 months.
They say it’s unfair to be hit with new valuations midway through.
For now, the court has paused the rollout and ordered that all parties be served with case documents ahead of the next hearing.
