G/TBT/W/389  
 
7 April 2014  
(14-2195)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
 
REPLIES TO CONCERNS FROM THE EURO PEAN UNION ON ALCOHOL LABELLING 1  
 
STATEMENT BY KENYA AT THE MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE  
ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE OF 19-20 MARCH 2014 
The following communication, dated 21 March 2014, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Kenya. 
 
_______________ 
  
Kenya takes note of the concerns raised by the delegation from the European Union and 
wishes to respond as follows: 
1.  Concern 1 : The size requirement of the health warn ing label Clause 30 of the notified draft 
states that: "Section 32 of the principal Act is amended—(a) by deleting the word "package" 
appearing in subsection (3) and substituting thereo f the word "label". The EU understands that the 
new text of Section 32 of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, 2010 should read: "The statement and health warning referred to in subsection (2) shall comprise not less than 30% of the total surface area of the label". However, the notified draft amendment Bill contains a Memorandum of objects 
and reasons with a number of clauses. Clause 30 therein reads as follows: "Clause 30 seeks to 
amend section 32 of the Act so as to require that the health warning should be at least thirty percent of the label as opposed to the package – a requirement which the courts have upheld that 
it is impossible to implement. It is proposed in turn that the label should not be less than by 
percent of the total area of the package". The EU would like to receive clarification as regards the 
reasons for setting out the requirement provided in Clause 30, in particular whether more feasible 
size requirements have been considered. In this respect the EU would like to recall Article 2.2 of 
the TBT Agreement, which states that: "Members shall ensure that technical regulations are not 
prepared, adopted or applied with a view to or wi th the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to 
international trade." 
2.  Response:  
a. Section 32 (2) of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, 2010 requires that every alcoholic 
drink package contains two health warnings to comprise not less than 30% of the total 
surface area of the package and not 30% of th e total surface area of the label as per the 
concern herein. The Memorandum of objects and reasons on the other hand requires 
that the label should not be less than fifty 50%  of the total surface area of the package. 
b. The Senate through Senate Bill No. 10 of 2013 has proposed amendments to the 
Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, (ADCA) 2010.  
c. The Alcoholic Drinks Control (Amendment) B ill, 2013 seeks to amend Section 32 of the 
ADCA by deleting the word "package" appearing at Subsection 2 of section 32 of the 
                                               
1 Kenya – Alcohol labelling: the alcoholic drinks control (licensing) regulations, 2010: legal notice no. 
206:2010 (G/TBT/N/KEN/282/Rev.1). G/TBT/W/389 
 
- 2 - 
 
  ADCA and substituting it with the word "lab el". The Bill is currently pending before 
senate, and it is expected to pass in due course. 
d. However it should be noted that Section 32(2) of the ADCA is not currently being 
enforced as the High Court issued conservatory orders in August 2011, and the same 
have not been vacated. 
e. Kenya takes note of the concerns of the EU, and they will be taken into consideration in 
the review of the current law. 
3.  Concern 2 : The EU notes that Section 32 (4) of the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, 2010 
provides that "all the warning labels specified in the Second Schedule shall be randomly displayed in each twelve-month period on a rotational basis and in as equal a number of times as is possible, on every successive fifty packages of each brand of the alcoholic drink and shall be randomly 
distributed in all areas within the Republic.” Th e EU requests the requirement to alternate the 
warning to be applied in a way that would avoid creating unnecessary trade obstacles and unnecessary costs with regard to the legitimate objectives pursued. The European Union would be 
grateful if the above-mentioned comments could be taken into account and replied to before the 
adoption of the notified draft legislation. 
4.  Response: 
a. The requirement seeks to ensure that the four prescribed warnings under schedule IV of 
the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, 2010 are evenly utilized thereby improving public 
awareness and education on the diverse health consequences associated with the consumption of alcohol.  
 
__________