Anti-counterfeit authority introduces digital certification mark to tame fake goods

ACA Board Chairman Nelson Gaichuhie, during the World Anti-Counterfeiting Day 2026, said there is a need to tackle counterfeit trade with the seriousness it deserves to protect citizens from consuming harmful substances.

He intimated that the Authority will actualise Section 34B of the Anti-Counterfeit Act, No. 13 of 2008, which dictates the recording of intellectual property rights in respect of imported goods, and for the issuance of a certification mark in the form of an anti-counterfeit device to be affixed to those goods.

This will mean that there will be an introduction of the Anti-Counterfeit Security Device, a digitally verifiable certification mark to be affixed to designated goods before they enter the Kenyan market. 

"Each device carries a unique identifier. A consumer verifies it with a smartphone. An enforcement officer scans it at the border, in the warehouse, on the shelf. The database is held by the Authority. Every scan generates intelligence. Every genuine product becomes self-declaring," he said.

The enforcement will start with a pilot phase focusing on all products in the health and safety sector.

They include alcoholic beverages, pharmaceuticals, agro-inputs, cosmetics and skin-care products, bottled water and edible oils, food products, electrical and electronic components and automotive safety parts.

"Where the counterfeit kills, the genuine must be visible. Where the counterfeit hides, the genuine must shine. That is the philosophy of this device," Chairman Gaichuhie said.

"Every bottle of alcohol on a Kenyan shelf will carry our mark. Every tablet, every cream, every bag of fertiliser. If it touches life, it must carry the mark."

He revealed that the mark will be applied at the point of manufacture or first importation, under the supervision of the Authority and partner regulators.

To avoid duplication for industry, the Authority will also work with the Kenya Revenue Authority's Excisable Goods Management System and KEBS standardisation marks.

It will also be backed by a public mobile application that allows any Kenyan to verify a product, anywhere in the country.

He urged the Ministry of Trade and Investments to offer support in policy cover, budget support and cross-MDA regulatory alignment to make this rollout a success.

ACA CEO Robi Kinga said that the Authority is making progress in seizing counterfeit goods in the country as goods worth over Ksh.500 million were recovered in the first three quarters of the 2025/26 financial year.

They included imported goods, smartphones and some in warehouses

"Sugar and alcohol topped our 2025 national seizure list. Counterfeit fertilisers and agrochemicals worth more than Ksh.47 million seized between 2020 and 2025," said CEO Kinga.

"Only this month — working with the National Police Service in Trans Nzoia — we dismantled a counterfeit alcohol network, recovering over four hundred litres of industrial ethanol. Each of those numbers is a Kenyan reason to act. Each of them is a name we do not yet know."