Importing Kenyan flowers into Germany: the Union's rules, a 7% VAT, and a border run by the Länder
Germany is Kenya's sixth-largest flower destination by direct exports and the largest market most of the Dutch auction's Kenyan roses end up in. On duty and inspection it is the European Union: the same preference, the same frequency table, the same false codling moth statement. What is German is the VAT rate, the registration of the importer with a Land plant protection service, and the list of airports at which a consignment from Nairobi can be checked. This page states those from the German instruments and leaves the fee line, which the Länder set, marked as not read.
The regime, row by row
- Customs duty
- 0% under the EU–Kenya EPA, conditional on origin; 12% third-country rate The Union tariff applies in every member state. Claimed with proof of origin under the borrowed origin rules the EU page sets out. Source read 25 September 2026
- Value added tax on importation
- 7%, the reduced rate Section 12(2)(1) of the German VAT Act applies the reduced rate to the supply, importation and intra-Community acquisition of the goods listed in Annex 2, and item 8 of Annex 2 is cut flowers and buds, fresh, for bouquets or ornamental purposes, heading 0603. The standard rate is 19%. Source read 26 September 2026
- Phytosanitary certificate
- Required, in general, for imported plants and plant products The Julius Kühn Institute's plant health portal - a phytosanitary certificate is as a rule required for the products you wish to import, issued by the exporting country's plant protection service after inspection. For Kenyan roses it carries the false codling moth statement. Source read 26 September 2026
- Pre-notification
- Electronic, through TRACES, before arrival Applications for import control must be submitted electronically through the TRACES portal - the Union's CHED-PP. Source read 26 September 2026
- Importer registration
- Required, with the plant protection service of the Land in which the importer has its head office Importers of plants and plant products that need a phytosanitary certificate must be registered as professional operators; the competent service is that of the Land of the company's head office. Data must be kept current, with updates by 30 April each year or within 30 days of a change in contact details. Source read 26 September 2026
- Where the check happens
- At a listed border control post, checked by the Land plant protection service The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture's notice of 23 April 2024 lists the border control posts for plants and plant products with their customs offices. Airports listed include Frankfurt (Regierungspräsidium Gießen, Pflanzenschutzdienst Hessen), Munich (Bayerische Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft), Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Hamburg, Berlin-Brandenburg, Leipzig, Hanover and Stuttgart, each with its own Land service. Source read 26 September 2026
- Inspection frequency, Kenyan flowers
- The Union table - roses 25%, carnations 5%, gypsophila 3%, unlisted genera 100% Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2389 applies in every member state; Germany publishes no rate of its own. Source read 26 September 2026
- Official-control fee
- Not read on this site The Union sets minimum fees per check; Germany's Länder set their own charges. No German fee schedule for plant health import checks was among the pages read. Source read 26 September 2026
- Plant passport after clearance
- None for cut flowers Cut flowers are not on the Union's plant passport list, so a consignment cleared at a German airport or at Schiphol moves within Germany without one. Source read 25 September 2026
- Kenya's exports to Germany, 2024
- USD 32.8 million, direct UN Comtrade via WITS, HS 060310, exporter-reported - the sixth-largest destination. Kenyan flowers reaching Germany through the Dutch auction are counted as exports to the Netherlands, so the direct figure understates what German buyers handle. Source read 26 September 2026
These are published requirements, not a landed cost and not a quotation.
What this page is, and what it is not
This is a statement of the German VAT Act, the Julius Kühn Institute's plant health portal and the federal notice of border control posts, with the date each was read, on top of the Union instruments held on the European Union page. It is not legal advice and not a quotation. One line a buyer will meet — the Land's fee for the plant health check — is not on this page because no German schedule was read.
Duty is the Union's, and so is the inspection
Germany applies the Union customs tariff and the Union plant health regime without a German layer on either. Kenyan cut flowers enter at 0% under the EU–Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement when origin is proved, or at 12% without it; Kenyan roses are opened at 25%, carnations at 5%, gypsophila at 3% and any genus not in the Union's table at 100%; roses carry the false codling moth statement. The duty and the origin rules → The inspection table, origin by origin → The false codling moth requirement →
VAT: 7% on cut flowers, on importation too
Germany's VAT Act applies its reduced rate — 7% against a standard 19% — to the supply, the importation and the intra-Community acquisition of the goods in its Annex 2, and item 8 of that annex is cut flowers and buds, fresh, of heading 0603. That is the rate on a consignment entered at Frankfurt and on the same flowers bought from a Dutch importer and sold on to a German wholesaler. It is also why the Dutch proposal to move cut flowers from 9% to 21% matters to German buyers who source through the auction: the German rate stays at 7% either way, but the Dutch stage of the chain would not. The Netherlands, and the VAT proposal →
The importer registers with a Land, not with Berlin
Plant health in Germany is executed by the sixteen Länder. An importer of plants and plant products that need a phytosanitary certificate must be registered as a professional operator, and the competent authority is the plant protection service of the Land in which the company has its head office — a Hessian importer registers in Hesse, a Bavarian one in Bavaria. Registration data must be kept current, with updates by 30 April each year or within 30 days of a change of contact details. The pre-notification of each consignment is made electronically through TRACES, the Union's system, as a CHED-PP. What IPAFFS does on the British lane, for comparison →
Where a Nairobi consignment can be checked
The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture publishes the list of border control posts for plants and plant products under section 12 of the Plant Health Act, with the customs office assigned to each. The notice of 23 April 2024, published in the Federal Gazette on 16 July 2024, lists among the airports Frankfurt, checked by the Regierungspräsidium Gießen as Hesse's plant protection service; Munich, by the Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture; Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Münster/Osnabrück and Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia; Hamburg; Berlin-Brandenburg; Leipzig and Dresden; Hanover; Stuttgart; Hahn and Saarbrücken. The Land service at the airport of entry performs the documentary, identity and physical checks the Union table requires, and the Länder set the fees for doing so. No German fee schedule was among the pages read, and this site states none. What the Union's minimum fees are, and how the Netherlands charges by the minute →
After clearance
No plant passport travels with cut flowers inside the Union, so a consignment released at Frankfurt or at Schiphol moves to a German wholesaler with no further plant health document. Why none is needed →
The lane
Kenya's direct exports to Germany were USD 32.8 million in 2024 on the UN Comtrade series, the sixth-largest destination. The larger flow is indirect: Kenyan roses bought at the Dutch auction and trucked into Germany are Dutch imports in the statistics and German sales in the shops. Where Kenya's flowers go, and why the Dutch figure is so large → The auction route and the direct route → France, the other member-state gateway on this site →
The CHED-PP and the Union's prior-notification rule, which every member state applies →
What to ask
- Direct into a German airport, or via the Netherlands? The Union rules are the same; the border control post, the Land service and the VAT stage differ.
- Is the importer registered with its Land plant protection service, and who files the CHED-PP in TRACES?
- What does the Land charge for the plant health check? This site has not read it; the importer's last invoice has.
- Which additional declaration does the certificate carry? For roses, the false codling moth statement, whichever member state is the point of entry.
What we have not been able to establish
Each of these is a real question a buyer may put to us. None has an answer we can evidence from a source we have read, and we would rather say so than fill the gap.
- The Land fee for the plant health check The Union sets minimum fees per check and the Länder set their own charges. No German schedule was read; Hesse's, for Frankfurt, is the one most Kenyan consignments would meet.
- Which German airport receives most Kenyan flowers flown direct The federal list says where a consignment may be checked, not where the airlines land it, and no German trade statistic by airport was read.
- The registration number and how it appears on the CHED-PP The portal states that importers must register with their Land and that notification is through TRACES; it does not state, on the pages read, how the two are linked.
Considering Germany?
Tell us the flower, stem length, head size, quantity, frequency and the airport - German or Dutch - and we will come back to you.
Questions buyers ask
What VAT applies to Kenyan flowers imported into Germany?
7%, the reduced rate. The German VAT Act applies it to the importation of the goods in its Annex 2, and item 8 of that annex is fresh cut flowers of heading 0603. The standard rate is 19%.
Are Kenyan roses inspected differently in Germany than in the Netherlands?
No. The rate is the Union's — 25% for Kenyan roses, 5% for carnations, 3% for gypsophila, 100% for unlisted genera — in every member state. What differs is who performs the check, a Land plant protection service at a listed German airport, and what it charges.
Which German airports can receive a plant consignment from Nairobi?
Those on the federal list of border control posts for plants — Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Hamburg, Berlin-Brandenburg, Leipzig, Hanover and Stuttgart among them, each checked by its Land plant protection service. Which of them handles a given airline's freight is a question for the forwarder, not the list.
Last verified 26 September 2026
Sources
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Gesetze im Internet — Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG), § 12 and Anlage 2
What we read
Section 12(1) - 19% standard rate; section 12(2)(1) - 7% on the supply, importation and intra-Community acquisition of the goods in Annex 2; Annex 2 item 8 - cut flowers and buds, fresh, for bouquets or ornamental purposes, heading 0603. Read in German.
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Julius Kühn Institute — plant health portal, import from non-EU countries
What we read
A phytosanitary certificate is as a rule required for imported products; applications for import control are submitted electronically through TRACES; importers must be registered with their plant protection service; plants are checked at import by the competent Länder plant protection services. Read in German.
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Julius Kühn Institute — plant health portal, registration of professional operators
What we read
Importers of plants and plant products that need a phytosanitary certificate must register; the competent service is that of the Land of the company's head office; updates by 30 April each year or within 30 days of a change of contact details. Read in German.
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Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture — Notice of the list of border control posts for plants and plant products, 23 April 2024 (BAnz AT 16.07.2024 B2)
What we read
PDF linked from the Julius Kühn Institute's control-posts page. Issued under section 12 of the Plant Health Act; lists the border control posts with their customs offices, including the airports at Stuttgart, Munich, Berlin-Brandenburg, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Hanover, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Münster/Osnabrück, Paderborn, Cologne/Bonn, Hahn, Saarbrücken, Dresden and Leipzig, each with the responsible Land authority. Read in German.
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Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2389 — consolidated text of 15 June 2026
What we read
Annex I - Kenya Rosa 25%, Dianthus 5%, Gypsophila 3%; Article 4(2) - 100% for genera not listed. Applies in every member state.
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WITS (World Bank) — Kenya exports of 060310 Fresh cut flowers and buds, 2024, by partner
What we read
Germany USD 32.8 million, exporter-reported, sixth-largest destination, as read for the destinations page.