The High Court in Machakos has suspended implementation of the Tea (Levy) Regulations, 2026, which impose a 0.8 percent levy on the auction value of tea exports, pending the hearing of a petition by the Mazingira Greens Party of Kenya, and the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) has now stopped collecting the levy.
Justice Josephine Mongare certified the constitutional petition as urgent and issued conservatory orders. She ordered that the matter be mentioned on November 19, 2026, for directions and the inter partes hearing. The court clarified that the orders are not a final ruling on the constitutional issues raised.
The party, through its chairman John Bunei, has sued the Tea Board of Kenya, the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary and the Attorney General, with the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) listed as an interested party. It is challenging Regulation 4, which imposes the 0.8 percent levy on the auction value of every export of made tea under Legal Notice No. 56 of 2026.
The petitioner argues that although the levy is charged at the export stage, its burden is passed on to small-scale farmers through reduced earnings from their tea, according to the court documents. It also says farmers were not given a meaningful chance to take part in drawing up the levy and the amendment to the Tea Act that allowed it.
It adds that the levy raises concerns of unequal and potentially disproportionate treatment of industry players, and that nothing guarantees the cost is shared fairly, including among multinational tea companies. The regulations direct the money to road projects, according to the petition.
The court also barred the authorities from denying traders export or import permits solely because they had not paid the levy.
In a notice dated Tuesday, October 27, the Tea Board said it had suspended the demand and collection of the levy on tea exports and imports with immediate effect, after the court restrained it from collecting or enforcing the levy.
It added that it had asked the Kenya Revenue Authority to stop collecting it too. The suspension will stay in force until the board issues further communication, subject to any court directions, and it affects tea buyers, exporters and importers.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Tea Board have defended the levy, saying the 0.8 percent charge is needed to fund international tea marketing, implement provisions of the Tea Act and help stabilise tea prices in major markets.
