Prohibited and Restricted Imports

Last Updated: 17 January, 2018 - Print

Prohibited imports are goods that may not be imported at all and for which no permits or licenses can be issued.

Restricted Imports are goods which may be imported in pursuance of a license or permit issued by or on behalf of a competent authority. If an attempt is made to import restricted goods without such permit or license, they are regarded as prohibited goods.

Goods requiring import licenses from all sources
  1. Clothing and uniforms designed for military, naval, air force or police use.
  2. Pharmaceuticals i.e.  Medical drugs
  3. Gold, including:-

Unmanufactured gold in any form whatsoever; or
Any article or substance containing such unmanufactured gold, or
Any article consisting of, or containing gold which although manufactured is, as such, not gold coin, an article of commerce, a work of art, or of archaeological interest; or
Gold derived from the smelting or treatment or any manufactured article containing gold.
   4. Sugar.
   5. Any knife having a blade which either:

Opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or any other device in or attached to the handle of the knife sometimes known as a “flick-knife” or “flick-gun”; or
Is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force and which if released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever or other device, sometimes known as "gravity-knife".

   6. Radioactive substances.
   7. Game traps.
   8. Mist nets for the capture of wild birds.
   9. Wild animals, wild animal trophies and wild animal products (including birds and reptiles) and any egg
      produced by such birds or reptiles.
   10. Live fish, including the eggs and spawn thereof.
   11. Bees, honey, unmanufactured beeswax, foundation combs.
   12. Beans, but excluding the following:-
         a. Seed beans in quantities of less than 90 kgs.
         b. Beans which are tinned, bottled or otherwise preserved.

  13. Compound products containing flour, meal residues and other preparations of a kind   suitable only for use
       as animal foodstuffs but excluding the following:-
         a. Chemical additions to animal foodstuffs;
         b. Antibiotic growth stimulants;
         c. Inert fillers;
         d. Trace elements;
         e. Synthetic animal foodstuffs;
         f. Bird seed;
         g. Cat and dog foods; and
         h. Salt-lick for cattle.
  14. Eggs of poultry, whether in shell, pulp or dried forms; eggs of wild birds.
  15. Gram and dhall
  16. Groundnuts
  17. Maize including:-
         a. maize grits;
         b. maize cones;
         c. hominy chop;
         d. maize offals; and
         e. processed maize meals with or without additives.
   18. Oil seeds, oil meal, oil cake, offals and residue from oil seeds.
   19. Potatoes.
   20. Live poultry, including day-old chicks.
   21. Rice.
   22. Rupoko, rupoko meal (finger millets).
   23. Bananas.
   24. Meat.

The importation of all meats, including dressed poultry, is prohibited without prior permission in writing from the Minister of Industry and Trade. The Minister has, however, exempted the following from import licensing control:-
        a. All tinned meat
        b. All potted meat
        c. Meat soaps
        d. Meat pasties
        e. Edible meat fats
        f. Tallow
        g. All cooked or cured meats other than cooked pork, ham and bacon.

The importation of all animals and other animal products require to be certified as free from disease before importation.
   25. Exercise books.
   26. Fertilizers.
   27. Dieldrin.
   28. Aldrin.
   29. Kitchen and table salt.
   30. Ammunitions and guns