Counterfeiting is defined to include manufacturing, production, packaging, re-packaging, labelling or making protected goods in Kenya or elsewhere without the authority of the intellectual property right of the owners whereby those protected goods are imitated in such a manner and to such a degree that those other goods are identical or substantially similar copies of the protected goods. Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) is mandated to prohibit trade in counterfeit goods in Kenya. It was among the 20 agencies affected by the Presidential Directive to exit from the ports of Mombasa and Inland Container Depot Nairobi (ICDN) in the year 2019. Thus, this study seeks to evaluate the impact of ACA’s exit from these ports of entry.

This study used descriptive survey design. Descriptive survey was preferred to other designs due to the fact that it enabled the study to capture the opinions of the respondents. The study used a structured questionnaire to collect data. The survey conducted shows that since ACA exit from the port the respondents rarely reported cases of counterfeiting. The number of intelligence reduced from 53% in 2019 to 28% in 2020. It also revealed that most brand commodities that were inspected, verified and seized were Hardware Goods (30%), Electrical and Electronics (20%), Foodstuff (17%) and Footwear and Clothing (16%). The least were Home appliance and Medical Equipment constituting 3% each.

In addition, majority of the respondents (34.35%) indicated that the trend of inspections, verifications and seizures remained constant in the past 12 months. The research indicated that majority of the respondents (49%) described corruption as the main challenge in the fight against counterfeiting at the ports of entry.