The Council of the European Union has elected not to oppose the delegated act that welcomes Kenya back into the Market Access Regulation, while the European Parliament also registered its non-objection at this week's plenary meeting.
As such, the delegated act can reportedly be published before the end of the month and can enter into force on 1 January 2015.
Kenyan exporters will therefore benefit once again from duty-free exports to the EU from 1 January upon presentation of the EUR.1 certificate.
'We are delighted to receive confirmation of this move, which in particular benefits UK importers of Kenyan cut flowers and fresh produce,' said Siân Thomas, communications manager for the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC).
'Thanks to concerted efforts to lobby both EU and Kenyan authorities by FPC and other organisations to avoid a prolonged negative impact on trade, we believe that this early reinstatement of duty-free imports will save the fresh produce industry around £2m (€2.54m) in duties,' she added.
