In the 1980s the Kenyan economy started to move away from a price control regime with significant state intervention towards a market economy. The Government recognized the need to introduce  the Restrictive Trade Practices, Monopolies and Price Control Act which came into force in 1989 as the first competition law. The Restrictive Trade Practices Monopolies and Price Control Act had a wide-ranging exemptions that excluded regulated sectors of the economy from the scope of the competition law. The law provided for the establishment of the restrictive trade  practices tribunal which was operationalized in 1998 to handle its first case on the disputes arising from the the merger of Price water house and Coopers & Lybrand.

The Monopolies and Price Control Act however had many gaps and there was need to review it and come up with a modern Competition Law which would also have consumer protection provisions. The Kenya Parliament enacted the new competition law in 2010 and repealed the Restrictive Trade Practices Monopolies And Price Control Act of 1989.

Under the new law, a  Competition tribunal was established to adjudicate disputes arising from the decisions of the Competition  Authority of Kenya. Consequently, the new tribunal was operationalized in 2015 to handle dispute arising from the decision of the Competition Authority of Kenya on East Africa Tea Association. To facilitate adjudication of the disputes the Competition Tribunal (Procedure)  rules of 2017 were gazetted and approved by Parliament.