The House of Representatives Unanimously Adopts Three Government Bills Related to Firearms, Industrial Zones, and Joint-Stock Companies
The House of Representatives unanimously adopted on Monday, 31 October 2022, three government bills on firearms, industrial zones, and joint-stock companies. The adoption took place during a legislative plenary sitting chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Idriss Chtibi; in the presence of Mr. Abdelouafi Laftit, Minister of the Interior; Mr. Mohamed Abdejelil, Minister of Transport and Logistics, and Mr. Mustapha Baïtas, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of Relations with the Parliament and Spokesman for the Government.
The House unanimously voted in favor of Government Bill No. 86-21 on firearms, their parts, components, accessories, and ammunition. The purpose of this Bill is to modernize and improve the legal arsenal relating to firearms so that it can keep pace with the various legal and procedural developments and modern technological changes and meet the security challenges in this field.
The purpose of the vote on this bill is to support the modernization process being carried out by our country at all levels and in interaction with the various international and national actors involved in the field of firearms, to enable Morocco to have a legal arsenal in line with the various technological and technical changes taken place in this field.
This legal text is also intended to supplement the legal arsenal governing the use of firearms, link the possession of firearms to the practice of hunting or shooting sports, and take into account Morocco's international commitments to combat illicit manufacturing and trafficking in firearms, their parts and components, and ammunition.
Equally, the Members of the House took a unanimous vote on Government Bill No 96-21 amending and supplementing Law No 17-95 on joint-stock companies and laying down transitional provisions on the conversion of bearer shares into registered shares. This law falls within the scope of Morocco's accession on 18 October 2011 to the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. Whereby, the Kingdom commits itself, as a member of this Forum, to comply with international standards related to the register of exchange of information and the identification of shares holders in all cases.
The Bill aims to abolish the issue of shares holders for joint-stock companies, except those issued or transferred as part of the public invitation to subscribe to comply with the country's international commitments, to apply transparency to shares exchanged within monetary companies, and to combat money laundering and tax evasion.
As to Government Bill No. 102-21 on Industrial Zones Bill, the House also passed it unanimously. The Bill aims to boost investment in the industrial sector, by guaranteeing property developed for this purpose and to strengthen the legal arsenal associated with industrial development, management, and upgrading, to improve their quality and combat the phenomenon of real estate speculation.
The Bills lays down provisions specifying the scope of its application in areas designated for the establishment and operation of industrial productive units, except areas modernized and organized under the provisions of Law No. 19-94 on industrial acceleration zones.
It should be noted that this Bill also provides for the preparation of a national plan for industrial zones as a reference document that defines the general policy and strategic guidelines of the State in the field of industrial infrastructure, and the establishment of a system for the development and marketing of industrial zones that defines the requirements, standards and technical specifications related to the planning, development, and marketing of these zones.