Following the recent increase in stolen or cloned car imports into Kenya, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has tightened the regulations on second-hand vehicle imports into Kenya. Cloning refers to stealing the identity of a legitimately owned vehicle and slapping it onto a stolen car. It starts with a stolen vehicle, where the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is replaced with that of a vehicle of a similar make and model registered elsewhere.
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KEBs further expressed concern about the increase in illegal trade despite Pre-Verification of Conformity (PVoC). As a result, KEBS will not allow any imported motor vehicle without a Certificate of Roadworthiness (CoR) issued by Quality Inspection Services Japan (QISJ), which must be accompanied by the Inter-pol clearance, logbook, and/or certificate of deregistration from the last country of registration and ex-port documents from the country of origin. The standards body further stated that it had contracted QISJ to conduct PVoC services for used motor vehicles, vehicle spare parts, and mobile phones for imports from Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Thailand, and South Africa. This follows the realization of an increased number of uninspected vehicles from the above countries of origin, where some were found to be stolen, cloned, or older than eight years, contrary to the requirements of the Code of Practice for Inspection of Road Vehicles, which requires no importation of vehicles older than eight years into Kenya.
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Additionally, KEBS stated that car importers and car dealers have been using different routes, including the United Arab Emirates, to avoid inspection. This includes the most recent case where three high-end vehicles identified as stolen from the UK were intercepted before entering the Kenyan market. The body also highlighted that car dealers were also exploiting loopholes in the import laws to import stolen, cloned, older, or uninspected cars.
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