Minister Ouahbi: The arbitration and mediation bill will allow Morocco to have an integrated legal system in the field of alternative means to solve disputes

Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, has confirmed that the bill number 95-17 related to arbitration and agreement mediation represents a mainstay amid pillars of economic recovery witnessed by the Moroccan Kingdom due to its policy of openness it follows and to facilitate measures to attract foreign investments, activate economic cycle and achieve development in our country.

Minister Ouahbi praised, last Monday April 25, 2022, during his presentation of the bill at the House of Representatives, the big efforts made by MPs to debate positively with targeted and productive spirit which has resulted in several amendments that have brought added value to this text.

Minister Ouahbi has revealed that the bill has been subject to necessary amendments to keep up with changes witnessed by international commerce and the world of finance and business, pointing out that this important bill enters in the context of implementing supreme royal instructions includedin the royal speech of August 20, 2009, on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People, and in the royal message addressed to participants in the second session of the international conference for justice on October 21, 2019 in Marrakech; and also in application of the recommendations and objectives of the charter to reform the judiciary apparatus (broad and deep reform) issued in July 2013, especially the recommendation number 137 aimed at encouraging mediation, reconciliation and arbitration to solve disputes.

Minister Ouahbi has clarified that the importance of alternative means to solve disputes highlights the fact that mediation and arbitration is an efficient mechanism to achieve speed and flexibility in procedures, secrecy in measures, economy in costs, and preservation of economic and trade links among various parties, in addition to establishing social peace.

Because of all those considerations, the Minister said “The Ministry has prepared this bill made up of 105 articles divided into three chapters: chapter one about arbitration divided into three entries, the first one is about introduction and general rules, the second about internal arbitration and the third one is about international arbitration; the second chapter concerns mediation agreement while the third one is about transitional and different provisions”.

Minister Ouahbi added in his intervention “Parliamentarian teams have presented 337 amendments, 203 among them were accepted and voted unanimously by the House of Representatives on June 21, 2021; 160 amendments were also presented by parliamentarian teams at the Second House of Councilors, 108 among them were accepted and voted unanimously on February 1st 2022”.

Minister Ouahbi has reaffirmed that the Ministry has reacted positively with those amendments in a spirit of coordination, complementarity and cooperation that characterize the relationship between the executive power and the legislative power.

Minister Ouahbi has revealed that the bill was submitted to the House of Representatives for a second reading on February 21, 2022 and was adopted unanimously by the commission of justice, legislation and human rights on April 12, 2022, outlining that the adoption of that bill by the nation’s representatives will allow the Moroccan Kingdom to have an integrated harmonious legal system in the field of alternatives means to solve disputes and therefore to encourage investments and achieve economic development in our country.