The High Court has stopped the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from rolling out its updated Current Retail Selling Price (CRSP) schedule for used cars. This provides a temporary break to importers coming just one day before the new rates were supposed to start.
The court issued interim orders on Monday and marked the petition, which opposes the CRSP update, as urgent. The revised schedule was planned to take effect on July 1, 2025.
The court has decided to halt the enforcement of both the KRA circular issued on May 22, 2025 (Ref: C&BC/HQ/1) titled “Forwarding of the Updated CRSP List,” and the public notice that appeared on the authority’s official website on May 30, 2025. This suspension will continue until the case gets a full hearing and ruling.
The petitioner claims that the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) violated constitutional rules by updating the CRSP schedule without proper public involvement.
Citing Articles 10 and 201 of the Constitution, the petitioner argues the process missed key aspects of being open and involving everyone, which are crucial in making laws or handling public money.
KRA insists it held talks with stakeholders before the implementation, but the petitioner counters this by saying those talks were mainly with car dealers leaving out important groups like the consumers and the general public who would feel the effects .
The court has been asked to order KRA to share the names of the stakeholders it says it engaged with and to provide a breakdown of what was discussed and how.
Petition Challenges KRA’s CRSP Rollout
The petition challenges the legal basis of the CRSP schedule. It points out that KRA’s Commissioner for Customs and Border Control and the Commissioner General issued it under Section 122 and the Fourth Schedule of the East African Community (EAC) Customs Act. The petitioner believes this places the schedule under Article 94(6) of the Constitution, which says legislative authority cannot be delegated unless the law permits it.
The petitioner says the updated CRSP schedule counts as a statutory instrument under the Statutory Instruments Act. Because of this, it should have gone through proper legal steps, like being presented to Parliament. The petition claims skipping this step makes the implementation illegal.
The petition argues against the 30-day notice that the Kenya Revenue Authority provided before starting the new CRSP list. It says this timeline is unfair, rushed, and goes against Article 47 of the Constitution, which promises the right to fair administrative actions.
The petitioner states the quick rollout ignores what vehicle importers and buyers expected when they made their orders based on the 2019 CRSP list that had been in use. According to the petitioner, the entire import process, including purchasing, shipping, and clearing customs takes 3 to 6 months in standard industry practice.
With these timelines in place sudden shifts in the system disrupt planned business deals and add financial pressure on importers already working with budgets tied to the old valuation rules. The petition says pushing the new schedule without proper transition steps would punish those who followed the previous regulations in good faith.
Court Cites Flawed Process and Missing Vehicle Models
The High Court has paused the rollout of the updated CRSP list until July 17, 2025. This brings temporary relief to importers and others involved. The court has also ordered that the application petition, and supporting documents be served to the respondents such as the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
The challenged CRSP was put together and contains basic mistakes and gaps that raise doubts about its reliability as a tax base. For example, it leaves out or fails to include many vehicle models that car dealers and individual buyers bring into the country.
“In other instances, it erroneously matches car models with non-existent features including wrong fuel types, chassis numbers and attaches different values to the same car model. Some of these vehicles are already in the high seas enroute to the country,,” the court documents add.
