The Bill proposes that a person intending to manufacture, distribute, store, sell or otherwise deal in tobacco products should obtain a licence from the respective county executive committee member. Retailers and other traders said the proposal could duplicate existing licensing requirements, particularly the Single Business Permit, and increase compliance costs for small businesses.
Retail Trade Association of Kenya (Retrak) chief executive Wambui Mbarire said retailers already operate under numerous licences and warned that another requirement would undermine efforts to simplify the business environment. “With an already existing licence burden, for instance, on average a supermarket requires 39 licences to operate, this bill puts in a new licence that a retailer must get to sell tobacco,” she said.
Mbarire said the additional licence would complicate the operating environment and increase the cost of doing business.