AbstractIn the absence of a small parameter for systematic many‐body analysis (e.g., strongly coupled systems), the construction of an appropriate kinetic theory description necessarily has an uncontrolled, phenomenological component. In this context it is useful to identify selective exact properties of the underlying microscopic description to serve as constraints for guidance in the construction of an approximate kinetic theory. We consider here three such properties: 1) exact local conservation laws; 2) exact stationary solutions; 3) exact relationship of one‐ and two‐ particle reduced density operators. The corresponding conditions on the kinetic description are identified, and a simple “mean field” approximation is indicated as an example.