Electronic Export Certification 

The horticultural industry in Kenya has shown tremendous growth over the last three decades, becoming one of the main foreign exchange earners. The European Union accounts for about 90% of total export market, with the Netherlands being the main first-point destination of cut flowers from Kenya to the EU. The horticultural sector in Kenya supports the livelihood of about 4.5 million people directly and indirectly, and therefore apart from its macroeconomic support to the economy through foreign exchange earnings, is important for socioeconomic development and poverty alleviation.


The export process of horticultural produce requires phytosanitary certification by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). This is a ‘paper driven’ process that involves attestation by competent inspectors and represents guarantees (safeguards) to the importing countries Competent Authorities. A phytosanitary certificate accompanies an export consignment to the port of entry of the importing country, and therefore acts as a passport to the product.


One of the limitations of a paper phytosanitary certificate is that it is prepared manually; therefore accounts for a significant portion of time spent by phytosanitary inspectors in their daily work. KEPHIS issues over 120,000 certificates annually and the time spent in their manual writing and signing is significant. Also, paper certificates represent permanent records that cannot be corrected in the event a mistake has been made in their entry, or if the characteristics of the export consignment change during the export process. Such a change may be occasioned by the need to change the amount of produce to be exported due to changes in cargo space, which happens quite often during routine export operations. Since a paper certificate accompanies a consignment during export, it is difficult for port officials of an importing country to pre-clear a consignment of known history before its arrival, and this results in unnecessary delays at ports, even for routine cargo.

5 Key benefits of electronic certification

Rapid and predictable transit

Both exporting and importing companies have an interest in the rapid and predictable transit of their shipments at the border. The globalization of production and the growing number of “just in time” deliveries make this interest even larger. There is also a growing interest for government actions at the border. Security is one reason for this growing interest. Also, managing the associated health risks of international trade is another major concern with implications for both human health and animal and plant health. Combining these interests, the government is forced innovate in their risk assessments and inspections. One of those innovations is the use of digital business documents. When the government already has digital information for a shipment before it arrives, a large part of the risk analysis and administrative inspections can be executed before the shipment arrives. Consequently, inspections can be focused on physical risks.

Less time consumption KEPHIS inspectors

The introduction of E-certification at KEPHIS has greatly enhanced the capacity of phytosanitary inspectors by freeing a significant amount of the time they spend on issuing paper certificates to concentrate more on actual inspections.

Less time consumption NVWA inspectors

The Netherlands is one of the main destinations of Kenya phytosanitary certificates, for routine horticultural products especially cut flowers. The Dutch PPS has established the Client Tool as an integral inspection clearance process for cut flowers, fruits and vegetables. The development of e-certification process in Kenya not only Kenyan inspectors in saving time for certification process, but also the Inspectors in Netherlands in cutting down the time spend examining certificates of routine Kenyan consignments. This is especially through pre-clearance procedures of consignments en route because their e-certificates are received in The Netherlands instantly.

Improves time efficiency from farm to consumer

This project has also benefited the horticulture industry in Kenya by reducing the time a consignment takes from Kenya to the customer in the Netherlands. Since e-certification avoids expensive security paper used in preparing manual certificates, the process also lowers the cost of certification hence saving costs for the growers. Overall, an e-certification process is expected to improve the efficiency of phytosanitary certification in Kenya, which will facilitate horticulture produce exports from Kenya.

Fraud prevention

The veterinary and phytosanitary export certificates are important documents for border inspections. When they are available in a digital format, and when they are exchanged directly between the Authority in the country of origin and the Authority in the country of destination, fraud can be prevented and the inspections improved.

The main stakeholders

Direct

Indirect

12 Years of cooperation Kenya - the Netherlands

Kenya and the Netherlands started their cooperation on electronic certification in 2009 with the Implementation of the Export Certification System (ECS).

The Export Certification System (ECS) was officially launched in 2011.

Development and implementation of  certification for import with the Import Certification System (ICS).

Kenya and The Netherlands supported the standardization of eCert by providing expertise in working- and steering groups like ePhyto at IPPC, being the representatives of their continents.

Electronic certification explained

These animations explain the chain of events in electronic certification.

The Exchange Mechanism explained

The system of Electronic Signatures

This page was developed to celebrate the signing of
a Memorandum of Understanding in 2022.