House of Representatives Unanimously Adopts Government Bill 25.19 on the Moroccan Office for Copyright And Related Rights

The House of Representatives adopted, on Monday, June 27, 2022, by unanimity of votes, Government Bill 25.19 on the Moroccan Office for Copyright and Related Rights. The adoption took place during a plenary sitting chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Mohamed Sabbari, in the presence of the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, on behalf of the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mr. Mohammed Mehdi Bensaid, and the Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in Charge of the Relations with the Parliament and Civil Society and Government Spokesperson, Mr. Mustapha Baitas.

Government Bill 25.19 comes as part of implementing the directives of His Majesty the King regarding valuing culture and arts, given that they are essential levers of economic and social development. Thanks to this Bill, the Moroccan Office for Copyright and Related Rights will enjoy legal status as a legal person subjected to common law and financial independence. This will enable for the modernization of the ways of its management and administration, consolidation of the governance of collections and distributions, as well as the contribution to the promotion of creators' financial and moral conditions.

The adopted legal text includes several novelties related mainly to the creation of a board of directors that enjoys all the prerogatives necessary for the management of the Office, in addition to a distribution and monitoring board in charge of consultative and orienting missions that aim to promote and protect copyright and related rights, as part of implementing the principle of good governance.

In addition, Law 25.19 devoted an entire chapter to the management rules of copyright and related rights. In this regard, it provides for the payment by the Office of the royalties due to the right holders within a maximum period of two months starting from the end of the fiscal year, during which the Office recovered the revenues from the exploitation of these rights. The Law also provides for creating a social fund in favor of creators and holders of related rights to enable them to benefit from the social security scheme.

Accordingly, the Law is a qualitative leap that will allow for the existence of a modern office with managerial and consultative bodies to accelerate the pace of implementing its pledges toward creators and the consolidation of the culture of intellectual property in Morocco.