House of Representatives Adopts Three Government Organic Bills on Justice and Unconstitutionality of Laws
The House of Representatives adopted on Monday, January 03, 2023, three Organic Government Bills on justice and pleading the unconstitutionality of laws. The adoption occurred during a legislative plenary sitting chaired by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Rachid Talbi El Alami, in the presence of the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, and the Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of Relations with the Parliament and Government spokesperson, Mr. Mustapha Baïtas.
During the sitting, the House adopted by unanimity of votes Government Organic Bill 13.22, amending and supplementing Organic Law 100.13 on the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, which aims to ameliorate the conditions and circumstances of the election of the representatives of judges within the Council by granting the latter the power to determine the requirements, means, and places to introduce candidates in a way that guarantees equality and respects the sanctity of justice. The Bill also aims to advance the structures of the Council to enhance its performance, ameliorate its functioning, and increase its efficiency. Besides, it intends to review the legal mechanism to determine the Council's administrative and financial structures, their number, competencies, organization, and functioning modalities.
The approved Government Organic Bill also revises the parties involved in the Joint Authority for Coordination in Judicial Administration, by including the Public Prosecutor's Office. The Bill also enacts new provisions that stipulate new measures to manage the procedure of recruitment of liaison judges attached to the Kingdom’s embassies in some countries with which Morocco engages in this sort of judicial cooperation.
During the same sitting, the Representatives unanimously adopted Government Organic Bill 14.22, amending and supplementing Organic Law 106.13 on the Statute for judges. The amendments introduced by the Bill covered mainly the provisions regulating the formation and conditions of access to the judiciary, the rights and obligations of judges, their status, the disciplinary system, and the definitive cessation of work.
The said Government Organic Bill comes as a reflection of the Royal determination expressed in various speeches and messages, and to implement the recommendations of the Charter for Justice System Reform and the New Development Model.
One of the main amendments introduced by the new Bill is the modification of the duration of the extension of retirement age from one year to two years after the judge's approval starting from 65 years. In addition, the Bill also fixes the limit age for the extension to 75 instead of 70 years. The two amendments aim to address the lack of judiciary expertise, on the one hand, and the shortage of judges, on the other.
The same sitting featured the adoption of Government Organic Bill 86.15 on pleading unconstitutionality of laws, as referred by the House of Councilors, in a second reading. The Bill featured amendments introduced to 12 articles that cover formal and substantive provisions.
One of the main amendments is the addition of a fourth title, "The measures to examine the plea of unconstitutionality of laws before the Constitutional Court." The Title includes provisions that aim to clarify the procedure and measures before the said Court and enables the Public Prosecutor's Office to plead the unconstitutionality of a law in civil cases in which it is engaged as co-plaintiff or co-defendant. The new Bill also stipulates that during its examination of the alleged unconstitutionality of a law related to a matter covers the procedures of inquiries linked to elections, the Constitutional Court shall not suspend its examination of any dispute regarding the election of the members of the Parliament.