About the project

The Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD) is a public interest Non-governmental Organization in Kenya that works to promote sound management of chemicals and waste to protect the natural environment and well-being of the Kenyan people, especially vulnerable populations. CEJAD has been collaborating with the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) to support the ratification and implementation of the Minamata Convention to phase out mercury-added products in Kenya. As part of this collaboration, CEJAD has implemented various initiatives towards addressing illegal trade in mercury skin-lightening products in Kenya. 

Kenya banned the manufacturing, import and use of mercury-added cosmetics including creams, soaps, gels and lotions through a gazette notice 4310 of 14th August 1998. However, mercury-added cosmetics continue to penetrate the market through on-the-ground trade but also online sales and reach consumers.

To that end, CEJAD has been monitoring illegal trade in mercury skin-lightening products in Kenya. CEJAD conducted an investigative study to map out the informal supply chain of skin-lightening creams in Kenya. In addition, CEJAD has been monitoring the illegal sale of mercury skin-lightening creams in the online platforms since 2019. The results of the monitoring pointed to continued illegal online sales of mercury skin-lightening creams as a growing challenge in Kenya.

To address the current online availability of mercury skin-lightening creams, CEJAD is looking into exploring how the online platforms could take a bigger responsibility in ensuring unsafe and illegal products stay out of sale. For instance, the EU has some regulatory measures, notably the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the Digital Services Act (EU) 2022/2065, the Product Liability Directive (under revision), complementing sectoral legislation such as the Cosmetics Products Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009. Complimentary to those, the EU initiated a voluntary Product Safety Pledge initiative in 2018, where the signatories, large online platforms, committed to taking voluntary actions going beyond legal requirements to remove the listing of unsafe products. More recently, the OECD produced a guidance on product safety pledge

The objective of the consultancy

The overall objective of the consultancy is to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the existing legal and policy frameworks as well as voluntary frameworks or mechanisms that exist in Kenya, for regulating and controlling online/digital services and consumer product safety from online sales.

Interested consultants are required to prepare a capability statement explaining how they will conduct the study, the expected fees as well as the proposed duration (work plan) of the study. 

Please send this to the attention of the Programmes Coordinator, CEJAD, no later than 17:00 hrs. (5:00 pm) on the extended deadline of Monday, 18th November 2024. Please send an email to: [email protected] and a copy to [email protected]

Click here to download the ToRs