Background
The State Department for Industry is established under Executive Order No. 1 of January 2023. It is placed under the Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industry. It has the responsibility of Industrial policy planning; overseeing the growth, development, and regulation of the Manufacturing and Industrial sectors.
The mandate for the State Department for Industry includes:
- To Promote and Facilitate Domestic and Foreign Investments.
- Investment policy and attraction.
- Industrial Policy and Planning.
- Buy Kenya - Build Kenya Policy and Strategy
- To Promote Standardization in Industry and Quality Control.
- Promotion and Oversight of the Development of Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks.
- Kenya Property Rights Policy (Patents, Trade Marks, Service Marks, and Innovation).
- Promotion of Value Addition and Agro-Processing.
- Textile Sector Development.
- Leather Sector Development and Promotion of Value Chain.
- Oversight and Regulation of the Scrap Metal Industry.
- Industrial Training and Capacity Development.
- To Combat Counterfeiting, Trade, and Other Dealings in Counterfeit Goods.
- Oversight, Administration, and Enforcement of the Local Content Policy.
Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies
The State Department for Industry has Eleven (11) State Corporations and one (1) training Institution. The State Corporations under the State Department include:
Autonomous Government Agencies:
- East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC)
- Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS)
Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies:
- Kenya National Accreditation Services (State Corporations Act, Cap. 446,
- Kenya National Accreditation Services (KENAS) (Legal Notice No.17 of 2019)
- Rivatex
- East African Portland Cement Co. Ltd (Companies Act, Cap. 486, 435 A, 446)
- Numerical Machining Complex (NMC) (Companies Act, Cap. 486)
- Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI) (Science Technology and Innovation Act, No. 28 of 2013)
- Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) (Kenya Industrial Property Act, 2001)
- Scrap Metal Council (Scrap Metal Act, No. 53 1 of 2015)
- Kenya Industrial Training Institute (KITI) (Industrial Training Act, Cap.237)
- Anti-Counterfeit Authority (Anti-Counterfeit Act, No. 13 of 2008)