The Environment and Land Court has lifted a ban imposed by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) on the importation of second hand buses and lorries.
Justice Oscar Angote issued temporary orders pending the hearing of a lawsuit filed by rights activist Okiya Omtatah.
“An order is hereby issued to suspend the public notice on the implementation of KS 1515:2019,” the order states.
Kebs announced on its website and in the media that it would prohibit the importation of buses and trucks beginning July 1, this year.
“All used passenger minibuses, large buses, single articulated and bi-articulated business and double-decker buses shall not be allowed for importation,” it stated.
Omtatah filed a lawsuit against Kebs and the Cabinet Secretary for Industry, Trade, and Co-operatives in response to the notice.
Clause 6.1 of KS 1515:2019, he claims, is discriminatory and invalid because it allows new vehicles to conform to the lower Euro 4 standard while imposing unreasonable age limits on imported used vehicles.
In the notice, Kebs claimed that the move is intended to improve road safety.
Omtatah, on the other hand, stated that new European Union regulations on new cars have been imposed since 1992, in response to concerns that air pollutant emissions from motorised transport were making a significant contribution to air quality in Europe.
“It should be noted that all vehicles covered by 4.7.1 to 4.7.4 were built after January 1, 2011, when the Euro 5 emissions standard went into effect.” As a result, they meet the Euro 5 emissions standard,” he argued.
According to Omtatah, it is contradictory that Clause 6.1 exempts new vehicles based on the lower Euro IV/4 (Euro 4) emissions standard while prohibiting the importation of used vehicles manufactured within the last eight years or earlier that meet the higher Euro 5 emissions standard implemented in 2011.
“The respondents jeopardize the environment by allowing local assembly/importation of new vehicles that meet the inferior Euro 4 emissions standard while prohibiting the importation of used vehicles that meet the superior Euro 5 emissions standard.” “As a result, Articles 42(1) and 69(1)(g) of the Constitution are jeopardized,” he claims.
