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The Independence of Morocco's Competition Council

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2022

Rachid El Bazzim*
Affiliation:
Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco

Abstract

Morocco's Competition Council has undergone major reform since 2011. New legislation has elevated the Council from its former role as a consultative authority to an independent, financially autonomous, decision-making authority. Despite these changes, however, many questions have been raised with regard to the Council's independence, and its duty to monitor and enforce free and fair competition, as well as the sufficiency of the guarantees concerning the statutory impartiality and powers that enable the Council to fulfil its mandate independently. The Council's independence merits discussion in the debate on the optimal implementation of a competition authority, as it is relevant to good governance and the rule of law. To regulate competition effectively, it is essential that the competition regulator remains independent. However, within a democratic framework, the Council's independence must be balanced by parliamentary accountability and budgetary control.

Type
Recent Developments
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

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Footnotes

*

Professor of public law, Faculty of Juridical, Economic and Social Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, Morocco.

References

1 A rentier is any natural or legal person who holds a limited quantity of property, goods or services, the use of which is transferred, without competition, in return for a fee. This remuneration, beyond the various names given to it, is an income, legitimized by law, fact or violence, which does not compensate for any immediate or future work, nor the organization or implementation of any work.

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3 In a market economy, supply and demand through free competition should determine prices. In contrast, in a centrally planned economy the government, not consumers and businesses, makes decisions. Most countries today are a combination of planned and market economies.

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5 This is followed in the ninth recommendation of the Washington Consensus, which called for the lifting of regulatory controls. It stems from the transfer of the US experience, initiated by the Carter administration, deepened by the Reagan administration and deemed positive for developing countries. The objective is therefore to eliminate or reduce barriers to market entry and exit, thereby removing barriers to economic initiative and free competition.

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11 During the 2011 protests, citizens called for economic reform and a fight against rents, breaking with hybrid visions of governance and the intertwining of power and money.

12 On 17 November 2018, at the Royal Palace of Rabat, King Mohammed VI appointed economist Driss Guerraoui to serve as president of the Council, and Mohamed Abouelaziz was appointed as the Council's secretary general.

13 Recorded in Official Bulletin No 6,734 (13 December 2018), a decree appointed each of the 12 members of the Council for a term of five years, renewable once. Each member operates according to their different complementary specialties to fulfil the Council's mission.

14 On 20 April 2018, a highly successful campaign designed both to inform and to inflame public opinion was launched on social media, drawing and holding the attention of consumers and observers while calling for change.

15 The function of the original Council was largely consultative. There was a “strong ‘government’ presence in the Council with the Prime Minister and the administration in general being placed at the heart of the competition law regime of Morocco”: M Dabbah Competition Law and Policy in the Middle East (2007, Cambridge University Press) at 141.

16 During the presentation of its programme in 2012, the government emphasized the supporting role of the Council to enable it to fulfil its role as guarantor of free competition in the economic field. However, in reality, the Council has for several years remained or has been forced to remain in abeyance.

17 R El Bazzim Le Conseil de la Concurrence au Maroc: De la Recherche de l'Indépendance à la Régulation du Marché [The Competition Council in Morocco: From the quest for independence to market regulation] (2019, l'Harmattan) at 30.

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19 The president and vice presidents of the Council must, during their term of office, suspend all commercial professional activities in the private sector. They must also suspend their administration of private or public companies.

20 The impartiality must guarantee separation of the prosecuting and judicial authorities.

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26 The vice president judges are currently Abdelghani Asnina and Jihane Ben Youssef.

27 Experts in economics and the field of competition are currently Abdellatif Lamqaddem, Vice President Benyoussef Sabouni, Abdelaziz Talbi, and Abdelkhalek Thami.

28 Vice President Hassan Abou Abdelmajid and Abdellatif Hatimi sit as legal experts.

29 Salwa Karkari Belkziz, Rachid Benali and Laid Mahssoussi represent the production, distribution and services sectors.

30 This is currently Bouazza El Kharrati.

31 French Commercial Code, art L 461-1.

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33 The adversarial principle is undoubtedly the fundamental principle of procedure. It is one of the main concrete expressions of the concept of a fair trial. The adversarial principle guarantees that the parties will not be judged without having been heard or at least called. It also guarantees each party the right to be informed of the factual, legal and evidential arguments on which they will be judged.

34 This states: “The government is represented on the Council by a government commissioner, appointed by decree.”

35 “Although personally opposed to the presence of this Trojan horse that will sit on the Council during the deliberations”, the former chairperson of the Council, Abdelali Benamor, is accommodating and seeks to be positive, saying that the government commissioner shall participate in the meetings of the Council without the right to vote. See “Conseil de la concurrence: Enfin de vrais pouvoirs!” [Competition Council: Real powers at last!] Finances News Hebdo (16 October 2014), available at: <https://www.maghress.com/fr/financesnews/22429> (last accessed 30 August 2022).

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37 In 2016, concentration increased significantly in the cement sector, with the merger of the Lafarge group and Holcim; these two operators now control 78.5% of sales in the cement market.

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40 M Masbah “‘Let it spoil!’ Morocco's boycott and the empowerment of ‘regular’ citizen” (14 November 2018) Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, available at: <https://studies.aljazeera.net/en/reports/2018/11/181114115931285.html> (last accessed 30 August 2022).

41 S Kasraoui “King Mohammed VI orders probe on sanctions against hydrocarbon companies” (28 July 2020) Morocco World News, available at: <https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/07/312791/king-mohammed-vi-orders-probe-on-sanctions-against-hydrocarbon-companies> (last accessed 30 August 2022).

42 “Statement by Royal Office” (22 March 2021) Maroc.ma, available at: <https://www.maroc.ma/en/royal-activities/statement-royal-office-56> (last accessed 30 August 2022).

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44 See A Ottow Market and Competition Authorities: Good Agency Principles (2015, Oxford University Press).

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47 Council decision No 829/12 (4 February 2012).

48 Authorizing officers are responsible for implementing the budget. They commit expenses and issue orders to pay, which are executed by the treasury accountants.

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