[1] As noted below, the coming into force of the PBO Act and its possible amendment, as well as the status of several other bills pending in the Kenyan Parliament, remain uncertain at the time of writing. We encourage readers to review the status of the PBO Act and other ongoing legislation to determine if there are any relevant changes to the current legal framework for NPOs in Kenya. II. CREATION, REGISTRATION Permitted purposes The NGO Coordination Act provides that NGOs may be established for the benefit of the general public and to promote social welfare, development, charity or research in the fields of health, emergency relief, agriculture, education, industry and the provision of equipment and services. Document de session No. 1 of 2006, which is the national policy for NGOs, describes the objectives of NGOs as follows: “to promote legitimate economic, social and/or cultural development or the defence or defence of matters of public interest or interest of a group of persons or organizations”. If it is established that the activities or procedures proposed by an applicant NGO are not in the national interest, registration may be refused. This promotion of a fair market also extends to foreign companies: international players benefit from regulation to avoid unfair competition from local brands, as well as a relatively simple process of setting up a business in the country. These favorable framework conditions have led to the successful establishment of more and more foreign companies in recent years. Food retail, in particular, has seen franchise growth. A data subject has the right not to be subject to automated decision-making, including profiling, which may produce legal effects concerning him or her or significantly affect him or her. Where a controller or processor takes a decision based solely on automated processing and that decision is likely to have a significant impact on the data subject or produce legal effects in relation to the data subject, the controller or processor shall not be obliged to inform the data subject in writing of such a decision on the basis of an Inform the processing of the decision taken. According to Article 30(1)(b) of the Act, the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party constitutes a legal basis for the processing of personal data.
In addition, the performance of a contract is considered a legal basis if the processing is necessary to take steps at the request of the data subject before the conclusion of a contract. Since Kenya`s independence, the legal framework has been harmonized and is largely based on the structure of the United Kingdom. This contributed to the post-colonial development of the system, as its precedents had already proved their worth in Britain and Wales. This section describes the legal framework for non-profit organizations (also known as non-governmental organizations or NGOs) in Kenya and provides translations of legislation relating to a foundation or consultant performing an equivalency determination of a foreign beneficiary in accordance with IRS Tax Procedure 92-94. Driven by the potential negative economic impact of interest rate caps, the Ministry of Finance is working to replace statutory caps on commercial loan rates with the Consumer Protection Act No. 46 of 2012. This may include the restructuring of credit reference agencies and the introduction of a mechanism to facilitate risk pricing by lenders. The PBO Act allows an organization to register in various legal forms, but if a corporation registers as a “not-for-profit” corporation to benefit from tax exemptions and other benefits arising from that status, it will no longer be registered under another law (section 6 of the PBO Act; see also Second Schedule to the PBO Act, detailing some of the “benefits of enrollment” as PBO). The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner is established pursuant to Part II of the Act.
The Commissioner was appointed in November 2020 and the ODPC office is currently operational with ongoing efforts to fully implement the law. In fact, the NGO sector has several self-regulatory mechanisms. The NGO Coordination Act does not establish binding rules or standards for internal governance, but is subject to the self-regulatory mechanisms provided for by law, including the NGO Code of Conduct, the Regulatory Committee and the General Assembly of the NGO Council. A large part of the Code of Conduct is devoted to describing how the standards are applied by the industry itself. According to the Code, the NGO Council may summon NGOs and other parties to appear before the Regulatory Committee. The Regulatory Committee has the power to hear or reject complaints, issue warnings, recommend the dismissal of NGOs and remove NGO officials from their functions or from the Council, among other sanctions and penalties. However, the main limitation of this self-regulatory framework is that it relies heavily on the voluntary submission of NGOs to .dem self-regulatory mechanisms (i.e. the Regulatory Committee and the General Assembly). This trust has been misplaced because of the blatant disregard for the Code. Table 3 of the VAT Act also exempts from VAT a wide range of social benefits provided by non-profit organisations. Only exempt civil society organisations can apply for a VAT rebate.
Whether an NGO is applying for tax exemption on imported goods, VAT on goods and services necessary to achieve the organization`s objectives, or income tax for foreign employees, it must apply to the Minister of Finance for exemptions through the council. In accordance with Article 30(2) of the NGO Regulation, on receipt of a request, the Council shall forward it to the Minister of Finance, together with its relevant recommendations.