Ten years after law went into effect, consumers still don’t know their rights

CASABLANCA - President of the Club of Attorneys in Morocco Mourad Elajouti said that consumers’ protection in Morocco is still far lagging behind ten years after the Consumer Protection law went into effect.

“There are several problems related to consumers’ rights, especially during the period of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Elajouti.

“There are very few lawsuits and small compensations besides the absence of the culture of complaints and proof tools to protect consumers,” Elajouti told Middle East Online, adding that the Club’s role was to train consumer-protection associations in a bid to improve their skills in dealing with consumers’ complaints.

The Club of Attorneys in Morocco, in partnership with the National Federation of Consumer Associations (FNAC) organised Wednesday a one-day workshop titled “Practical applications of Consumer Protection Law” about consumerism in the North African kingdom, gathering trainee lawyers and members of several associations.

Among the workshop activities were mock legal cases where both lawyers and members of NGOs had to come up with solutions under the supervision of Fatih Kamal, a specialist in consumer laws.

The consumerist movement in Morocco was created in 1993. However, it had not been very active until the promulgation of the Consumer Protection Law (31-08) in 2011.

“Moroccans don’t know their rights and the procedures they have to follow to claim to their consumer rights,” said Kamal.

“The Consumer Law is not in favour of encouraging the creation and continuity of consumer-protection associations, which hinders their existence and militancy for consumers’ rights,” he added.

The FNAC is campaigning for the right to cancel the commercial transaction in case the consumer does not have access to the information to appear in Law 31-08 in order to give more strength to the commercial transaction and more guarantees of consumer protection in the event of abusive practices.