House of Representatives Adopts Four Government Bills on Justice, Press, Finance, and the Millennium Challenge Agency

The House of Representatives adopted, on Monday, June 19, 2023, by a majority of votes, four Government Bills linked to the press and publishing sector, the Millennium Challenge Account – Morocco Agency, the collective investment of capital, and judicial experts. The adoption took place during a legislative plenary sitting chaired by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rachid Talbi El Alami, and attended by the Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication, Mr. Mohammed Mehdi Bensaid; the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi; and the Minister Delegate to the Head of the Government in charge of Relations with the Parliament and Government Spokesperson, Mr. Mustapha Baïtas.

At the onset of the sitting, the Representatives adopted by a majority of votes Government Bill 44.22 amending and supplementing Law 45.00 on judicial experts, which falls within the context of following up the technological, scientific, and digital evolution of the Kingdom. The adopted Bill also invokes the credibility and professionalism that characterizes several public institutions, bureaus, institutes, laboratories, and administrative units affiliated with State services.

The Bill aims to organize the area of judicial expertise and define the scope of resorting to judicial experts by courts. Besides, it also stresses the pivotal role of judicial experts in advancing the area of judicial expertise and filling the existing legal vacuum.

During the same sitting, the Representatives adopted by a majority of votes Government Bill 58.22 amending and supplementing Law 41.05 on bodies for the collective investment of capital, which falls within the scope of the progressive implementation of the various reform axes that His Majesty the King called for, which require core and balanced reforms to modernize and advance the finance sector, in general, and particularly to consolidate the role of Moroccan investment capital production in following up the economic take-off.

The legislative text also intends the creation of a particular regime for the bodies of collective investment of capital devoted to investors and characterized by looser rules regarding the diversification of investments, the possibility of liberalizing the shares of a collective capital investment company, and the possibility of provision of loans by the bodies of collective investment of capital.

Following that, the Representatives adopted by a majority of votes Government Bill 16.23 ratifying Decree-Law 2.23.102 enacting the dissolution and liquidation of the Millennium Challenge  Account -Morocco Agency. The Decree aims to implement the provisions of Law 24.16 creating the Millennium Challenge Account – Morocco Agency. The provisions stipulate the dissolution and liquidation of the Agency within 120 days following the termination of the Charter, which coincides with April 1, 2023.

Moreover, the members of the House of Representatives adopted by a majority of votes Government Bill 15.23 on the creation of an interim Committee in charge of managing the affairs of the sector of press and publishing, which comes to intervene given the impossibility of organization of the elections of the National Press Council despite the extension of its mandate exceptionally. The new Bill aims to redress the unlawful state of the decisions of the Council. The Bill will also result in the preparation of a new regime of the Council on the basis of the principles of good governance and good management by democratic manners, in a way that reflects the aspirations of all the components of the sector of press and publishing, which is a major lever for democratic edifice and contributes to the protection of the freedom of expression and opinion.

By virtue of this Law, the interim Committee will be in charge of providing adequate conditions to advance the sector of press and publishing and conducting an overall evaluation of its situation in order to suggest appropriate measures to support its organizational foundations within nine months of the nomination of its members. The Committee must also prepare for the holding of the elections of the Council members and their organization following the laws and regulations in force.