A New Era for Assembly, Manufacturing, and E-Mobility in East Africa

Analysing the EAC Assembling and Manufacturing Regulations, 2025

As East Africa positions itself as a regional manufacturing and e-mobility hub, regulatory certainty has become just as critical as access to capital, infrastructure, and skills. Investors, assemblers, and policymakers alike have long faced fragmented rules, inconsistent interpretations, and uneven incentives across the region.

Against this backdrop, the East African Community Assembling and Manufacturing of Products Regulations, 2025, published on 1 July 2025 and taken into effect on 1 July 2026, represent a decisive policy shift. The regulations aim to promote the use of raw materials and goods manufactured within the East African Community (EAC), while encouraging deeper local value addition and harmonising customs practices.

Whereas the regulations are designed to comprehensively govern assembly and manufacturing activities across a wide range of products within the EAC region, this initial framework primarily addresses the automotive sector, including e-mobility.

Why Harmonisation Became Inevitable for the EAC

Prior to the adoption of the regulations, the EAC lacked a harmonised regulatory instrument defining “assembly” and “manufacturing” across sectors. This gap resulted in uneven interpretation and application among member states, particularly with respect to what constituted unassembled motorcycles and motor vehicles.

Some EAC member states relied largely on general customs rules while others such as Kenya had dedicated national regulations governing vehicle and motorcycle assembly from Completely Knock Down (CKD) kits. The introduction of these regulations is significant and timely as they replace any fragmented approaches with a harmonised regional framework.

Kenya had addressed this gap within the automotive sector through Legal Notice 112: The tax procedures (unassembled motorcycles) regulations of 2020 and Legal Notice 84: The tax procedures (manufacture, assembly of motor vehicles, three-wheelers and trailers) regulations of 2019. However, these were national, tax focused instruments rather than regional industrial policy tools.

What the Regulations Are Designed to Achieve

At a regional level, the Regulations seek to:

• Establishing a harmonised registration system for manufacturers and assemblers operating across the EAC.
• Promoting regional sourcing by specifying raw materials and intermediate goods manufactured in EAC that may be used in the assembly and manufacture of products.
• Stipulating incentives applicable to manufacturers and assemblers who utilise EAC produced inputs.

What Manufacturers and Assemblers Must Now Do

The regulations establish harmonised definitions and minimum requirements for assembly and manufacturing within the EAC, applying across motor vehicles, motorcycles, trailers, and related components.

Key provisions include:

• Clear definitions and classifications related to assembly and manufacturing, including distinctions between Semi Knocked Down (SKD) kits and Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits and requirements on local content.
• Mandatory registration requirements for assemblers and manufacturers in the EAC region.
• Establishment of a localisation framework requiring assemblers and manufacturers to prioritise the use of raw materials and components produced within the EAC where such inputs exist, particularly for motor vehicles and motorcycles.
• Establishment of a graduated CKD and SKD framework with clear transition timelines. This is essential, as the region must develop commensurate incentives to encourage progressive transitions to higher levels of local assembly, value addition, and technology transfer.
• Clear definitions of the specific conditions under which imported motorcycle kits qualify as CKDs.

For manufacturers and assemblers, compliance will no longer be assessed solely at the national border. Instead, firms must align operations, sourcing strategies, and expansion plans with a regionally consistent set of rules.

Why the Regulations Matter for EV and E-Mobility Investors

• Recognition of electric vehicles in the CKD and SKD regimes, ensuring that EV assemblers no longer need to rely on interpretations designed mainly for internal combustion engine vehicles. Lowering compliance risk and improves investor confidence, especially for regional operations.
• The regulations also set prospects around progressive localisation. All assemblers including e-mobility players are required to provide time bound localization plans for sourcing raw materials or goods manufactured in EAC in the assembly or manufacturing operations. This pushes firms to plan localisation from the onset.
• The regulations apply a four-tier assembly framework which also apply to electric vehicles:
  • Level 1: Covering simple assembly of an imported SKD
  • Level 2: Medium level of CKD
  • Level 3: Highest level of assembly
  • Level 4: Manufacture of major vehicle components including body chassis and frame.
• The structure pushes EV assemblers toward higher value addition and technology transfer over time.
• The regulations tighten compliance and oversight by introducing detailed records for imported and locally sourced components, allow inspections of premises and records.
• The regulations create a harmonised regional framework that applies uniformly across all EAC Member States. For the e-mobility sector, this reduces regulatory fragmentation, supports regional scale-up, and encourages cross-border EV supply chains.

Conclusion: A Foundation for East Africa’s Industrial and E-Mobility Future

The EAC Assembling and Manufacturing of Products Regulations, 2025 mark a decisive shift toward a harmonised, enforceable regional framework for assembly and manufacturing – firmly integrating e-mobility into East Africa’s industrial development agenda.

By providing clarity on assembly classifications, localisation requirements, and incentives, the Regulations integrate e-mobility into East Africa’s industrial development agenda. For the e-mobility sector, the framework creates opportunities to scale regionally, deepen local value addition, and attract investment, while also raising compliance expectations for industry players.

Ultimately, successful implementation will depend on coordinated action by member states, alignment with national incentive regimes, and sustained support for local EV supply chains to ensure the transition delivers both environmental and industrial benefits for the region.

Promotion of Electric Mobility in Kenya is implemented by GIZ and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).