# Kenya EPR regulations 2024: Legal Notice 176 makes every producer register, certify imports and fund a scheme

> The Kenya EPR regulations are the Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) Regulations, 2024, Legal Notice 176 of 2024, made under section 13 of the Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022 and in force since 4 November 2024: every manufacturer, importer, converter, filler, repackager or rebrander of listed products and packaging must register with NEMA, meet ten producer duties through its own scheme or a producer responsibility organisation (PRO), and, if it imports, pay KSh 150 per item for an EPR import certificate, with offences carrying a fine of KSh 2 million to KSh 4 million, up to four years in prison, or both.

Publisher: Strategic Packaging Insights  
Published: 2026-11-04  
Last updated: 2026-11-04  
Page: https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/kenya-epr-regulations-2024-legal-notice-176-producers-pros/

**The Kenya EPR regulations are the Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) Regulations, 2024, Legal Notice 176 of 2024, made under section 13 of the Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022 and in force since 4 November 2024: every manufacturer, importer, converter, filler, repackager or rebrander of listed products and packaging must register with NEMA, meet ten producer duties through its own scheme or a producer responsibility organisation (PRO), and, if it imports, pay KSh 150 per item for an EPR import certificate, with offences carrying a fine of KSh 2 million to KSh 4 million, up to four years in prison, or both.**

Since 14 March 2026 the import certificate has been issued through the KenTrade single window, and NEMA's 2026 FAQ lists four registered PROs. This piece reads the regulations clause by clause, from the producer test to the annual licence, and shows where the open questions on the per-item fee and court challenges sit.

## Executive summary

Kenya's packaging EPR is a two-level system. The Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022, which commenced on 26 July 2022, says in section 13 that every producer bears extended producer responsibility obligations and may meet them individually or collectively. Legal Notice 176 of 2024, made by the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry on 14 October 2024 and published in Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 196 of 4 November 2024, turns that one sentence into registration, import certification, scheme approval, annual licensing and reporting, all run by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). SPI's [overview of African packaging EPR](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/africa-packaging-epr-kenya-south-africa/) covers KEPRO's tiers and the KSh 150 cost scenarios; this piece goes through the obligations line by line.

There is no tonnage threshold. The Act defines a producer as an entity that introduces goods, products and packaging into Kenya, and NEMA's 2026 FAQ lists manufacturers, importers, converters, fillers, refillers, repackagers, rebranders and brand owners. NEMA's answer on exemptions is short: none for regulated products. The only route out is a product that is not in the First Schedule.

The clocks are tight on the regulator and steady for the industry. NEMA has 14 days to decide on each application and 7 to notify, which its FAQ rounds to 21 days. Existing producers had six months to apply, to 4 May 2025 on SPI's count. Schemes report on the previous year by 31 January and PROs remit 5% of membership fees by 10 February, every year.

The cost is not mainly in the statutory fees. Exhibit 1 shows that a producer joining a PRO pays KES 5,000 in statutory fees, once. The real costs are the PRO's own membership and EPR fees, still under review after NEMA's directive to KEPRO of 26 June 2026, and the KSh 150 import fee, whose counting basis manufacturers have taken to court.

For leaders, three moves follow. Register every Kenyan importing and manufacturing entity on NEMA's eCitizen portal and hold a certificate for each consignment. Choose a scheme with a current NEMA licence and get its fee structure in writing. Build packaging data that can feed the seven fee modulation factors in regulation 18, because the fee will move with them.

## Key findings

1. L.N. 176 of 2024 applies to producers, compliance schemes and five First Schedule product groups, two of them packaging, each carrying a fee of KSh 150 per item at import (reg. 4(1), reg. 6, First Schedule).
2. Regulation 5(1) lists ten producer duties, from a take-back scheme that may include a deposit refund to life cycle assessment, and regulation 8(3) says the lack of a scheme does not exempt a producer from them.
3. A PRO files 20 documents with its application (reg. 11(2)), an EPR plan with 15 required elements after L.N. 62 of 2025 deleted one (reg. 16(1)), and 8 documents for each annual licence (reg. 14(2)).
4. **SPI calculation:**  over a four-year approval, statutory fees total KES 410,000 for a PRO and KES 210,000 for an own scheme, while a producer that joins a PRO pays KES 5,000 once (Exhibit 1).
5. NEMA's 2026 FAQ lists four registered PROs, KEPRO, PAKPRO, HAPROK and EPROK, and says importers have obtained the EPR import certificate through the single window since 14 March 2026.
6. Offences with no specific penalty carry the Act's section 32 penalty: a fine of not less than KSh 2 million and not more than KSh 4 million, up to four years in prison, or both (reg. 22).
7. **SPI analysis:**  three public sources describe the KSh 150 base three ways: per finished item (NEMA, 2026), per consignment on the outermost pack (PAKPRO, January 2026, as a proposal) and undefined (manufacturers, March 2026) (Exhibit 9).

## Kenya EPR regulations: what Legal Notice 176 contains and who it binds

The regulations run to 23 regulations and three schedules. Exhibit 2 sets out the dates that define the regime. The regulations are tracked as [PR-KE-002](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/kenya/pr-ke-002/) on the [Kenya page of the SPI Regulation Tracker](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/kenya/pr-ke-002/).

L.N. 62 of 2025 is short but telling. It deleted paragraph (p) of regulation 16(1), which let a scheme's EPR plan be loaded with any other action requested by the Authority, and paragraph (d) of regulation 17, which let NEMA set any other obligations for PROs. It also requires the annual work plan and progress report in regulation 16(2) to reach NEMA within sixty days before the application for the annual operating licence. **SPI analysis:**  the net effect is to fix the duties of schemes to what the text lists, and to put the work plan on a clock tied to the licence.

The scope clause has two limbs. Regulation 4(1) applies the regulations to producers, compliance schemes and the products in the First Schedule. Regulation 4(2) adds products whose waste harms the environment because it is hard to reuse, recycle or recover, or costly to manage after use. The first limb is what binds today; the second gives a basis for adding products later.

The First Schedule has five groups: packaging for non-hazardous products, made of plastics, metals, glass, paper and cardboard; packaging of hazardous products such as chemicals, fuels and lubricants, medicines, agrochemicals, veterinary products, cosmetics and paints, together with treated wood and agricultural films; electrical and electronic equipment, including batteries; end-of-life vehicles; and a group of non-packaging items from furniture to tyres, textiles, diapers and sanitary towels. NEMA's 2026 FAQ adds a point many importers miss: packaging is treated as a product, so a producer declares both the generator and the box it came in.

## Who is a producer: SPI's four-gate test

The Act's definition is broad and has no threshold. SPI reads it, with regulation 4 and NEMA's FAQ, as four gates (Exhibit 3). This is a planning framework drawn from the texts, not a legal reading; check edge cases with counsel.

**Gate 1, the product.**  Two of the five groups catch almost all consumer packaging. A beverage bottler, a food brand or a cosmetics importer is in group one or two from its first unit. Agrochemical and paint suppliers sit in group two, alongside agricultural film.

**Gate 2, the route.**  Seven routes and the brand owner are named. NEMA's October 2026 FAQ says there is no difference between a manufacturer and a brand owner: both introduce products into the Kenyan market and both must account for their share to avoid double counting of EPR fees. For a screen-printed T-shirt or a contract-packed food, the advice is the same: map the value chain and agree who declares each unit. SPI's [comparison of EPR producer definitions](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/epr-producer-definition-eu-uk-us-india/) shows that most EU, UK and US schemes allocate the duty to one party in a fixed order; Kenya leaves the split to the chain.

**Gate 3, the market.**  NEMA's 2026 FAQ says EPR applies to products introduced into the Kenyan market and that the regulations have no export certificate or fee. Imported goods that become waste in Kenya bring the producer's responsibility with them.

**Gate 4, no floor.**  This is the sharpest contrast with South Africa, where the paper and packaging notice catches only producers above 10 tonnes a year ([SPI's South Africa EPR piece](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/south-africa-epr-regulations-2020-producers-thresholds-penalties/)). In Kenya a trader importing one pallet of packaged goods is a producer.

Two parties outside the definition still carry risk. A transporter or retailer is not a producer, but regulation 21(3) makes it an offence to introduce a product on behalf of a producer who is not in NEMA's published register. The October 2026 FAQ adds that a producer that fails to pay PRO fees for three months is treated as non-compliant and reported to NEMA.

## The ten producer duties

Regulation 5(1) is the core of the regulations (Exhibit 4). Regulation 8 lets a producer meet the duties individually or collectively, and regulation 8(3) closes the gap: the lack of an established compliance scheme does not exempt a producer from them.

SPI analysis

Paragraphs (b) and (c) read as alternatives, so in practice a producer meets nine duties, not ten. Three of them, design, life cycle assessment and circular economy initiatives, sit with product and packaging teams whatever scheme a producer joins, because a PRO can collect and report but cannot redesign a pack. A producer that treats PRO membership as the whole duty leaves those three uncovered.

The take-back duty is the one with the widest range. Regulation 5(1)(a) lets it include a deposit refund system, but Kenya has no statutory deposit law, and SPI's Kenya data records voluntary refunds on returnable glass bottles that predate the regulations. NEMA's October 2026 FAQ describes how money reaches collectors: producers publish a payment rate per product for collection services, paid directly to waste pickers at collection points or material recovery facilities.

## Registration, import certificates and the forms

The regulations run on eight forms in the Second Schedule (Exhibit 5). Every application has the same regulator clock: 14 days to approve, ask for more particulars or reject, then 7 days to notify the applicant in writing.

**Producer registration.**  A producer files Form C with its Registrar of Companies certificate, a list of the goods, products and packaging it deals in, and the fee (reg. 7). NEMA's 2026 FAQ says registration is done on the NEMA eCitizen portal, is a one-time step and costs KSh 5,000. Regulation 23 gave producers already trading six months from commencement to apply, which SPI counts to 4 May 2025.

**Import certificates.**  Regulation 6 makes the border the checkpoint. The importer pays the First Schedule fee at import and files Form A with the nature of the products, quantities and proof of payment; the Form B certificate then forms part of clearance and inspection documents. NEMA's 2026 FAQ says the application goes through the KenTrade Trade Facilitation Platform, may be lodged by a clearing agent, needs a certificate for every consignment, and can only be made by an importer that already holds a producer registration certificate.

In practice: the KenTrade single window.

NEMA's notice of 13 March 2026, as reported by People Daily, set 14 March 2026 as the date from which importers of specified products must hold an EPR import certificate obtained through the National Electronic Single Window System, integrated with other border agencies. NEMA ran a webinar on 12 March and regional forums in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kisumu from 16 to 20 March 2026. NEMA's 2026 FAQ confirms that importers have obtained the certificate through the single window since 14 March 2026. The practical effect is that a missing producer registration now stops a consignment at clearance, not months later at audit.

## Own scheme or PRO: what each route files

Regulation 9 lets NEMA register individual schemes, run by one producer, and collective schemes, run by a PRO for several producers grouped by product similarity, use and waste type. The paperwork differs sharply (Exhibit 6).

The PRO list is demanding. It includes a certified register of members, copies of each member's EPR registration certificate, agreements with approved waste service providers, the fee structure agreed among members, the EPR plan, a budget, signed minutes adopting the plan, an organogram, audited accounts, a dispute resolution mechanism and a memorandum of association declaring that the company's sole business is EPR on behalf of its members (reg. 11(2)). On renewal it adds a progress report on targets, the annual EPR audit and an independent auditor's report.

An individual scheme files less: a producer declaration, a conformity certificate, company registration, its EPR plan, agreements with waste service providers and proof of the fee (reg. 10). Approval of either route lasts at most four years and can be renewed if the scheme shows operational, technical, managerial and financial capacity (reg. 12).

Both routes then need an annual operating licence (reg. 14). The Form G application carries eight items: the previous year's progress report, the list of directors, the certified member register, service provider agreements, the registration certificate, a work plan and budget for the coming year, proof of fees and a company resolution. NEMA issues the Form H licence only to schemes that meet performance standards and are in good standing.

**Switching PROs.**  A producer can move between collective schemes only at the start of a contract year, with three months' notice to its scheme, copied to NEMA (reg. 11(7)). **SPI analysis:**  a producer unhappy with its PRO's reworked fee in 2027 should diarise the notice date now, because missing it locks the producer in for another contract year.

In practice: PAKPRO.

The Packaging Producer Responsibility Organisation describes itself as a not-for-profit PRO for packaging waste. Its price list for recycled materials covers PET and coloured PET, beverage cartons, PP thermoforms, laminates and polystyrene, sugar and milk pouches, monolayer flexibles, paper and corrugates, glass and rigid HDPE, PP and LDPE, at about KES 3 to KES 45 per kg depending on material and buyer. Its EPR page, last modified on 7 January 2026, said producer registration certificates were on hold under conservatory orders at that time and listed a court hearing for 21 January 2026 (PAKPRO). NEMA's 2026 FAQ now lists PAKPRO among the four registered PROs.

## The EPR plan: fifteen elements, one 100% rule

Every scheme submits a four-year EPR plan before registration (reg. 16(1)). After L.N. 62 of 2025, the plan has 15 required elements (Exhibit 7).

Paragraph (b) is the rule that does the work. A scheme must plan for one hundred per cent of the volume its members declare. Paragraph (c) refers to national targets for reuse, recycling and recovery, but neither the regulations nor NEMA's 2026 FAQ state any figures. SPI's Kenya data records an earlier NEMA FAQ, of 15 March 2025, telling PROs to collect 100% of what members introduce where no national target exists. In practice the target is set scheme by scheme; KEPRO's plan for plastics, set out in [SPI's African EPR piece](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/africa-packaging-epr-kenya-south-africa/), runs to 75% collection by year 4.

SPI analysis

Seven of the 15 elements cannot be written without member data: the baseline, the declared volumes, fee modulation, the paid-up member list, eco-design rules, substance control and traceability. A producer's data quality is therefore a direct input to its PRO's plan, its licence renewal and, through regulation 13, its PRO's right to keep operating.

## How scheme fees are set: seven factors

Regulation 18 sets the rules for what members pay. Fees must be calculated on the same parameters for all members, but vary by producer according to seven factors (Exhibit 8). The collective scheme submits the agreed fee structure to NEMA (reg. 18(2)).

Two further clauses bind PROs. Regulation 18(3) requires a scheme to remit five per cent of the membership fees it collects to NEMA by 10 February each year, for monitoring, inspection and control audits, and regulation 18(4) puts that money in the Restoration Fund under section 25 of the Act. SPI notes that section 25 of the 2022 Act deals with incentives for waste management; SPI has not yet confirmed which fund the reference means.

In practice: KEPRO.

The Kenya Extended Producer Responsibility Organization reports more than 1,400 active members across 47 counties and publishes three membership tiers from KES 5,000 to KES 100,000 a year, excluding VAT, with fees split 70% to waste management operators, 20% to impact and awareness and 10% to a contingency and compliance reserve (KEPRO). Kenyans.co.ke reported that on 26 June 2026 the NEMA Director General directed a reassessment of EPR fees, saying that continued fee collection by KEPRO under a framework that did not comply with the regulations had hindered the initiative, and asked KEPRO to consult manufacturers and importers, align its fees with the regulations and hold a validation workshop (Kenyans.co.ke, as reported). SPI has not yet confirmed the text of the directive or a new fee structure. The tier economics are worked through in [SPI's African EPR piece](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/africa-packaging-epr-kenya-south-africa/) and not repeated here.

## The KSh 150 per item fee: three readings

The First Schedule sets KSh 150 per item against each of its five groups, and regulation 6 ties payment to the import certificate. What an item is has been read three ways in public (Exhibit 9).

NEMA's own wording is the most recent. Its 2026 FAQ says: "Importers pay KSh 150 per item of a finished First Schedule product at the point of import." That settles the agency's position but not the dispute. The Standard reported on 24 March 2026 that a regulatory and compliance officer at the Kenya Association of Manufacturers had asked for the formula used to reach KSh 150, saying there had been no public participation on it, and that KEPRO's chief executive warned a miscalculation could raise shelf prices of some essential goods by more than 300%. Both reports quoted a NEMA principal environment officer as saying nationwide stakeholder engagements were under way.

SPI analysis

The reading matters more than the rate. On NEMA's reading the fee scales with every retail unit; on PAKPRO's it scales with the number of outer packs. On an illustrative consignment of 2,000 cartons of 24 units, by SPI's calculation the fee is KSh 300,000 at one item per carton and KSh 7,200,000 at one item per retail unit, a 24-fold spread; the wider set of readings is priced in [SPI's African EPR piece](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/africa-packaging-epr-kenya-south-africa/). Until a court or a gazetted amendment settles the base, an importer should record, for each entry, how the items were counted and what was paid.

## Reporting and the annual calendar

The reporting cycle is annual and fixed by date, not by approval anniversary (Exhibit 10). Regulation 19 requires each scheme to keep records of products managed, eco-design standards, contracts and performance; to feed updated data on quantities, recyclability, labels and traceability into NEMA's reporting system; to file an annual report on the previous year by 31 January; and to report collected, recycled and treated volumes to county governments each year.

The licence adds a moving date. Since L.N. 62 of 2025, a PRO's annual work plan and progress report must reach NEMA within sixty days before its licence application. For a PRO renewing its licence at the start of a calendar year, that puts the work plan in the last quarter of the previous year, the period in which members are asked for their volume forecasts.

SPI analysis

For a producer, the data year closes on 31 December, the PRO reports by 31 January and the PRO's remittance follows by 10 February. A producer that cannot hand its PRO final volumes by mid January puts the PRO's report, and so its licence, at risk.

## Enforcement: from revocation to prosecution

SPI sets out the sanctions as a five-step ladder (Exhibit 11). The order is SPI's; the powers are NEMA's and the courts' under the texts.

Regulation 21 lists the offences: a scheme or PRO that wilfully fails to carry out any obligation; a person who introduces a product on behalf of a producer missing from NEMA's register; a producer or PRO that supplies false information on the quantities it holds or manages; and a free rider, a producer outside any PRO that does not meet its obligations individually. The regulations define a free rider widely, to include a producer that under-declares volumes and a scheme member that does not pay or reports inaccurately.

The court record is unsettled. The Nation reported that the Law Society of Kenya petitioned the court on 2 May and that the Milimani court issued temporary orders on 7 May suspending registration, volume declarations, the KSh 150 fee and penalties; SPI reads this as 2025. Citizen Digital reported on 24 March 2026 that a court had lifted conservatory orders, so firms must pay while the full case is heard. Streamline Feed reported on 16 July 2026 that the Retail Trade Association of Kenya had obtained a temporary injunction stopping NEMA from raiding, prosecuting or closing supermarkets over EPR non-compliance. SPI has not yet confirmed the case numbers, the rulings or which instruments each order covers.

SPI analysis

The regulator's strongest tool is not the fine but the market bar in regulation 15, now backed by the border: since March 2026 a producer without registration cannot obtain an import certificate. For importers, the compliance risk has moved from a later inspection to the day of clearance.

## Scenarios: what NEMA's 5% means for a PRO

Exhibit 12 shows how the regulation 18(3) remittance scales with a PRO's membership income, using KEPRO's published tiers and member count as the inputs.

By SPI's calculation, even in the low case the remittance is 3.5 times the annual collective licence fee, so for any PRO of scale the 5% is the main payment to the regulator. Over a four-year approval, the base case remittance comes to KES 4,620,000, against KES 410,000 in statutory fees (Exhibit 1). **SPI analysis:**  the remittance is levied on membership fees, so a PRO that moves cost from membership into a separate EPR fee changes the base; SPI has not yet confirmed whether NEMA reads the membership fee to include EPR fees.

## How Kenya compares with South Africa

SPI published its [South Africa EPR regulations piece](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/south-africa-epr-regulations-2020-producers-thresholds-penalties/) on 3 November 2026. Exhibit 13 sets the two regimes side by side on design, not on cost; currencies are not compared.

The design difference is about where control sits. South Africa controls through targets and audited PRO performance; Kenya controls through registration, the border and an annual licence. **SPI analysis:**  for a group selling into both, the Kenyan entity needs better unit data at import, while the South African entity needs better tonnage data by material class. SPI's [bag and film comparison](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/plastic-bags-thin-films-india-kenya-new-zealand-dubai/) covers the separate Kenyan licence for plastic film up to 250 microns.

## Industry reaction

> "NEMA is coming to you now to demand accountability on levels of compliance to Section 13 of the SWM Act 2022."
>
>
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> **NEMA** , Director General's talking points for a meeting with producers on EPR implementation, [NEMA document](https://nema.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DG-talking-points-during-meeting-with-producers-on-EPR-implementation.pdf), 23 August 2023
>
>
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> "The producers bear the primary obligation while others are secondary players."
>
>
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> **NEMA** , Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs) on EPR, [NEMA FAQ](https://nema.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Frequent-Asked-Questions-FAQs-on-EPR.pdf), consulted 4 November 2026
>
>
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> "Each Producer is legally required to demonstrate their implementation of Section 13."

***PAKPRO** , Packaging Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO statement), [EPR Regulation page](https://pakpro.co.ke/epr-regulation), consulted 4 November 2026*

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers' position, as reported by The Standard on 24 March 2026, is that most of the regulation is sound but the per-item fee needs a published formula, clear guidelines and capacity building. NEMA's 2026 FAQ answers the counting question in one sentence, quoted in the fee section above, without setting out how the KSh 150 figure was derived.

## What leaders should do now

1. **Compliance leads, by 31 December 2026:**  confirm a NEMA producer registration (Form D) for every Kenyan entity that manufactures, imports, converts, fills, repackages or rebrands a First Schedule product, and keep the certificate number on file for customers and clearing agents.
2. **Import and logistics teams, now:**  check that each clearing agent lodges a Form A application on the single window for every consignment and receives the Form B certificate, and record for each entry how items were counted for the KSh 150 fee.
3. **Brand owners and converters, at the next contract renewal:**  agree in writing which party declares each unit to the PRO, since NEMA treats manufacturers and brand owners as equal producers and asks the chain to avoid double counting.
4. **Finance teams, before the 2027 budget closes:**  budget the PRO's membership tier, keep a separate open line for a reworked EPR fee after NEMA's June 2026 directive, and diarise the three-month switching notice in regulation 11(7).
5. **Packaging and sustainability teams, by 31 March 2027:**  build the data behind the seven fee factors in regulation 18(1), and cover the three design duties in regulation 5(1)(f), (i) and (j) that a PRO cannot discharge.
6. **Data owners, by 15 January each year:**  hand final volumes by SKU and material to the PRO so it can file by 31 January and keep its licence.
7. **Legal and public affairs teams, through 2027:**  follow the court cases on the regulations and the fee, and check with counsel before relying on any reading of an item.

## Questions for your board

- Which of our Kenyan entities are producers under section 2 of the Act, and does each hold a Form D certificate?
- How many import certificates did we obtain since 14 March 2026, and how were items counted on each?
- Which PRO are we in, does it hold a current Form H licence, and what is our notice date to switch?
- Who owns the life cycle assessment, eco-design and circular economy duties that our PRO cannot carry?
- What would happen to our Kenyan sales if NEMA suspended our PRO's licence under regulation 15?
- Who is tracking the court cases and any gazetted change to the KSh 150 fee?

## What to watch

- **31 Jan 2027:**  individual schemes and PROs file annual reports on 2026 with NEMA (L.N. 176, reg. 19(3)).
- **10 Feb 2027:**  PROs remit 5% of 2026 membership fees to NEMA (reg. 18(3)).
- **2027, date not set:**  KEPRO's validation workshop and a reworked EPR fee structure, following NEMA's directive of 26 June 2026.
- **Date not set:**  the full hearing of the challenges to the regulations and the KSh 150 charge; SPI has not yet confirmed the case numbers.
- **Date not set:**  any gazetted national reuse, recycling and recovery targets, which regulations 13 and 16 refer to but do not state.
- **Date not set:**  the first four-yearly renewals of scheme approvals under regulation 12, which on SPI's count fall from late 2028 for schemes approved soon after commencement.

## Methodology

- **Data used:**  the gazetted text of L.N. 176 of 2024 (Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 196, 4 November 2024); L.N. 62 of 2025 (Supplement No. 46, 24 March 2025) from the Parliament of Kenya Library; NEMA's PDF of the Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022; NEMA's EPR page, its 2026 FAQ, its October 2026 FAQ and the Director General's talking points of 23 August 2023; the Kenya News Agency report of NEMA's 2023 notice; PAKPRO and KEPRO pages; press reports from People Daily, The Standard, Citizen Digital, Kenyans.co.ke, Nation and Streamline Feed; SPI tracker data for [PR-KE-002](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/kenya/pr-ke-002/), [PR-KE-001](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/kenya/pr-ke-001/) and Kenya (14 October 2026). Consulted 4 November 2026 unless stated.
- **Counting rules:**  KES only; the SPI calculations multiply Third Schedule fees by the four-year approval period and KEPRO's tiers by its member count; no figure is converted, summed or ranked across currencies. The South Africa comparison covers design features, not costs.
- **Frameworks and scenarios:**  the four-gate test, the duty groups, the document groups, the producer data marks and the enforcement ladder are SPI's planning tools, not legal interpretations. Scenario member mixes are SPI assumptions.
- **Cut-off:**  4 November 2026.
- **Limitations:**  SPI has not yet confirmed the counting basis that courts will apply to the KSh 150 fee, the case numbers and rulings in the court challenges, the date and content of L.N. 10 of 2025, the text of NEMA's June 2026 directive, the licence status of each PRO, whether HAPROK is the body earlier documents call KEHAPRO, which fund regulation 18(4) refers to, or any national targets. This is not legal advice; check with counsel and NEMA.

## Sources

1. [Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 196 (Legislative Supplement No. 85), L.N. 176 of 2024, Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) Regulations, 2024, copy on the Kenya Clearing House Mechanism](https://ke.chm-cbd.net/sites/ke/files/inline-files/L.N._176-177_%20EPR%20and_Water_quality%29%5B1%5D.pdf), consulted 2026-11-04.
2. [Kenya Law, L.N. 176 of 2024, as at 24 March 2025](https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/ln/2024/176/eng@2025-03-24), consulted 2026-10-14.
3. [Parliament of Kenya Library, L.N. 62 of 2025](https://libraryir.parliament.go.ke/server/api/core/bitstreams/67c54c82-93f8-41e5-bfd0-79816f9deffc/content), Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 2025 (Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 46, 24 March 2025), consulted 2026-11-04.
4. [Parliament of Kenya Library, record for L.N. 62 of 2025](https://libraryir.parliament.go.ke/items/47fbc508-3c10-41b3-8986-5b2ff65e1dda/full), consulted 2026-11-04.
5. [NEMA, Sustainable Waste Management Act, 2022 (No. 31 of 2022)](https://nema.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/SWMA-2022.pdf), consulted 2026-11-04.
6. [NEMA, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) downloads page](https://nema.go.ke/extended-producer-responsibility-epr/), consulted 2026-11-04.
7. [NEMA, Frequently Asked Questions on EPR 2026](https://nema.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Frequently-Asked-Questions-on-EPR-2026.pdf), consulted 2026-11-04.
8. [NEMA, Frequent Asked Questions (FAQs) on EPR](https://nema.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Frequent-Asked-Questions-FAQs-on-EPR.pdf), consulted 2026-11-04.
9. [NEMA, DG talking points during meeting with producers on EPR implementation (23 August 2023)](https://nema.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DG-talking-points-during-meeting-with-producers-on-EPR-implementation.pdf), consulted 2026-11-04.
10. [Kenya News Agency, NEMA issues 60-day Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance notice](https://kenyanews.go.ke/?p=103632), consulted 2026-11-04.
11. [PAKPRO, EPR Regulation (page modified 7 January 2026)](https://pakpro.co.ke/epr-regulation), consulted 2026-11-04.
12. [KEPRO, Membership](https://www.kepro.co.ke/membership/), consulted 2026-11-04.
13. [People Daily (press), NEMA to implement mandatory EPR import certificates starting March 14 (March 2026)](https://peopledaily.digital/business/nema-to-implement-mandatory-epr-import-certificates-starting-march-14), consulted 2026-11-04.
14. [The Standard (press), Manufacturers raise concerns over controversial Sh150 fee (24 March 2026)](https://standardmedia.co.ke/business/amp/enterprise/article/2001543772/manufacturers-raise-concerns-over-controversial-epr-fee), consulted 2026-11-04.
15. [Citizen Digital (press), Kenyan manufacturers renew push for review of EPR charges after court ruling (24 March 2026)](https://citizen.digital/article/kenyan-manufacturers-renew-push-for-review-of-epr-charges-after-court-ruling-n379614), consulted 2026-11-04.
16. [Kenyans.co.ke (press), NEMA orders review of EPR fee collection over compliance concerns (26 June 2026)](https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/124662-nema-orders-review-epr-fee-collection-over-compliance-concerns), consulted 2026-11-04.
17. [Nation (press), Big win for local producers as court blocks new Nema fees (2025)](https://nation.africa/kenya/news/big-win-for-local-producers-as-court-blocks-new-nema-fees-5042672), consulted 2026-11-04.
18. [Streamline Feed (press), Kenyan retailers secure court reprieve against NEMA's plastic rules (16 July 2026)](https://streamlinefeed.co.ke/news/kenyan-retailers-secure-court-reprieve-against-nemas-plastic-rules), consulted 2026-11-04.
19. SPI Regulation Tracker, PR-KE-002, PR-KE-001 and Kenya jurisdiction data, /data/packaging-regulation-tracker/kenya/pr-ke-002/, consulted 2026-10-14.