All mobile phones, tablets, and laptops sold in Kenya must now come with a minimum one-year warranty and a return policy under new consumer protection rules, putting vendors at risk of fines of at least Sh500,000 for breaches.

The new guidelines issued by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) require businesses selling low-powered electronic gadgets to provide a warranty for at least 12 months, allowing customers to return faulty products.

The vendors must also provide buyers with after-sales support, such as repairs throughout the warranty period.

The Communications Equipment Vendor (CEV) Class Licence guidelines capture gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, set-top boxes, remote devices and tracking devices.

The new guidelines tighten control on the sale of refurbished smartphones and laptops imported from markets such as the UAE, the US and the UK, whose dealers have been offering warranties as short as one month.

They also seek to clamp down on sellers who forgo official warranties to reduce costs and sell handsets at lower prices, leaving consumers with little recourse if the device develops faults.

“Ensure that all electronic communications equipment it sells in the Kenyan market shall have at a minimum, a warranty period of one (1) year with a return policy,” the new licence conditions state.

“Provide after‐sales services to customers for the duration of the warranty period.”

Vendors in breach face fines equivalent to 0.2 percent of their annual turnover, with the minimum penalty set at Sh500,000.

Online vendors must provide a physical address, email and telephone number to enable customers to seek support or lodge complaints.

In addition, every refurbished electronic communications device must be clearly labelled as a renovated gadget.

“Ensure that the packaging of each refurbished electronic communications equipment is clearly and permanently labelled as ‘Refurbished’, in a manner that is visible to end‐users,” the terms say.

The CA has also directed vendors to issue official receipts for every sale, whether completed online or in physical shops.

The receipts must include the seller’s name, the device model, serial number and warranty period.

Retailers are also required to provide customers with information on the environmentally sound disposal of electronic communications equipment in line with guidelines issued by the regulator.

The rules further require all advertising and marketing materials relating to device features, performance and network compatibility to be accurate and verifiable.

To curb the sale of counterfeit and substandard gadgets, vendors will only be allowed to source electronic communications equipment from licensed importers, and can only sell devices that have been type-approved, type-accepted, or exempted from type approval by the CA.

The regulator has further directed vendors to retain sale and warranty records for at least three years, and offer CA officers access to their premises, systems, records and equipment for inspections, audits or investigations.

Mobile phones sold in Kenya without manufacturers’ warranty include those originally intended for sale in other countries, such as the UAE or the US.

Warranties of these devices, technically referred to as grey-market imports, are often region-specific and therefore not honoured by authorised service centres in Kenya.

Read: Chaos as Kenya orders immediate ban on low-end phones

Buyers may also unknowingly purchase refurbished, foreign-used or open-box devices whose original manufacturer warranties have already expired.

At the same time, some retailers source devices through unauthorised distributors rather than official manufacturer channels, meaning the brands do not recognise the seller or honour warranty claims.

In such cases, retailers often offer their own limited shop warranties lasting only 30 to 90 days.

The tighter rules bring Kenya closer to consumer protection standards in developed markets such as Europe.

The European Union (EU) requires all goods sold to consumers to carry a minimum two-year legal guarantee, protecting buyers against faulty products or items that do not match their advertised description or performance.

Under the bloc’s consumer protection rules, sellers are liable for defects that emerge within this period and must remedy them at no cost to the customer, including covering labour and delivery.

Consumers whose purchases turn out to be defective can demand that the seller repair or replace the item, reduce its price, or cancel the purchase and receive a full refund where repair or replacement is disproportionately expensive or inconvenient.

Some EU member states have extended statutory liability periods, with Spain and Portugal requiring sellers to provide a three-year legal guarantee.

→ dmusau@ke.nationmedia.com

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