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Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review
October 28 , 2006
Coming Online.
Morocco, Volume 111. 23.10.2006
E-commerce is continuing to evolve as Moroccans, in increasing numbers, are connecting to the internet.
So far in 2006, several business-to-consumer sites have been launched. These have largely been in the form of merchant galleries. As most Moroccans remain unequipped with credit cards, these online galleries have adapted to the local market, operating on a cash-on-delivery model.
Since 1995, 400,000 internet users have signed up, 96% of which have broadband. The number of internet subscribers could reach 500,000 by the end of the year. It is also one of the fastest growing broadband markets in the world.
Business-to-business sites are also taking off with companies such as Von Trebber allowing its network of retailers in Morocco to order its IT products online. Sites such as these can also help Moroccan consumers by giving them a wider selection of merchants and products, which could lead to more efficient business practices and knowledge transfer from companies like Von Trebber, which is a German-Moroccan partnership.
This is in addition to the e-commerce platform launched bank in 2001 by Banque Centrale Populaire (BCM), Banque Marocaine du Commerce et de l'Industrie (BMCI), Credit du Maroc, Societe Generale Marocaine de Banques, and Intelcom, a Moroccan company focusing on infrastructure, licensing and security.
The platform, called Maroc Telecommerce, supports about 10 merchant sites, which sell services including hotel reservations, car hire, airline tickets and administrative services for businesses. The site serves both businesses and individual consumers, and includes businesses such as Diala, an auction site, and Laetistyle, which sells specialty gifts.
Yet, the growth of e-commerce continues to be hindered by the small number of credit card holders in the kingdom. There are only about 200,000 at present, compared to about 2m debit cards. To date, only Banque Populaire, BMCI and BMCE Bank have set up internet payment services for certain types of credit cards. In fact, only about 25-35% of the population hold bank accounts, making the cash-on-delivery option necessary to any online retailer in Morocco.
According to regional press, e-commerce will likely be most affected by large businesses that can offer products for mass consumption at good prices, including such utilities as telephone, water and electricity services. La Poste Export Solutions meanwhile says that there is a genuine interest developing the sector in Morocco, and should therefore become quite successful in the future.
And with such developments of course comes the need for greater security. And here Morocco may be ahead of the curve in some areas compared to other emerging markets. A draft law on e-signatures, vital for the growth of the industry, that had lingered for some two years, was passed in March 2006, while other laws on data protection and e-commerce are also due to be passed before the end of the year.
With the coming into force of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the US in January 2006, the country has been beefing up penalties for violations of intellectual property rights. Piracy, for instance, is now punishable by between six months and four years in jail and fines up to $68,000.
According to the Moroccan Copyright Office (BDMA), the country loses some $226m each year through piracy. The government also recently began an information campaign to raise awareness about the issue among its citizens with television and radio announcements.
The FTA contains provisions concerning data protection, which the US State Department says are part of a broader framework in the kingdom. Indeed, Morocco has not been listed on the US Trade Representative's (USTR) Special 301 Report, which monitors the state of copyright protections in countries around the world. While piracy does remain a problem, falling from 100% of music recordings sold to 95% in the past year according to the USTR, government efforts to protect intellectual property rights were acknowledged in a 2006 Special 301 Special Mention by the USTR.
The government is also working on its e-Maroc 2010 project, which is planned to facilitate internet banking, along with all necessary international regulations, checks and norms.
All of these developments are making Morocco increasingly attractive to foreign investment, not least to European IT firms such as leading networking and systems provider SATEC Group, which hit $3bn in 2005, up from only $1.07bn in 2004. Some $2.31bn has already been invested since January of this year.
http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/weekly01.asp?id=2348
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Morocco's draft budget for 2007 to allocate more funds for local communities.
25/10/2006
Morocco's draft budget for 2007, submitted last week to parliament by Privatisation and Finance Minister Fathallah Oualalou, envisages additional financing for local communities through a revision in income tax and local taxation. The new bill states that 1% of all tax proceeds will be allocated to local communities in 2007. With income tax receipts in 2007 projected to reach 25.6 billion dirhams and local taxes to contribute an additional 21.6 billion dirhams, local communities would receive 477m dirhams to finance infrastructure, irrigation and educational projects.
The 2007 draft budget also envisages a separate account for water purification and desalination, a project to be operational from January 2007. Funds will be also allocated for protection of the environment, development of infrastructure, supporting Morocco's candidacy to hold the International Exhibition in Tangier in 2012, and construction of a medical centre in Agadir.
About 70% of funds envisaged for government expenditure will be distributed between several ministries. The Education Ministry will have the largest share, with 35% of total spending. The Interior Ministry comes next with 20%, Health 7%, Finance 1.5% and Justice 1%. (L'Economiste, Le Matin)
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2006/10/25/newsbrief-01
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USDA provides overview of import regulations in Morocco
This report provides the list of certificates required by the government inspectors in charge of controlling food and agricultural imports into Morocco. Samples of newly agreed upon certificates between the Ministry of Agriculture and USDA are also provided for products of particular interest to United States.
At the points of entry, the sanitary control and the conformity with the local regulation for food and agricultural products is carried out primarily by Ministry of Agriculture inspectors. In major ports (Casablanca, Agadir, and Tanger), the importer deals with one Ministry of Agriculture office, the DCQ (Direction de Controle de la Qualité) and the dispatch of the importation documents is done internally depending of the type of product (animal, plant, raw, or processed).
Typically, the clearing process by DCQ inspectors consists of up to three major steps based on the familiarity with commodity, importer’s experience, and origin:
a) The inspector clears the commodity by merely checking the documents provided.
b) The inspector might require physical inspection of the imported commodity before clearance.
c) The inspector might require that samples of the imported goods be drawn and sent to local GOM approved laboratory for analysis.
DCQ inspectors issue a certificate that authorizes the importer to clear customs. Customs officers will not authorize the goods into the country without a certificate issued at the point of entry by the DCQ inspectors.
In order to help DCQ inspector make a quick decision and not request laboratory analysis and especially for the newly imported products, the exporter should provide extensive documentation (description of the products, lab analysis result, certification of approval by the government of the exporting country, etc.). Some importers send samples of newly imported products to the DCQ office before they ship the products to get a feel of what would be required to swiftly clear customs.
Normally, it takes less than a week to clear products through customs. If a sample of food is taken for laboratory analysis, the customs clearance may be delayed up to 8 days.
In addition, the certificates that are typically required by customs office are:
These postings are provided without permission of the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the identified copyright owner. The poster does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the message, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
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