This report covers the various areas of competence of the Council, as provided for by Article 166 of the Constitution, the provisions of Law No. 104-12 relating to freedom of prices and competition and Law No. 20-13 relating to the Competition Council, as amended and supplemented, as well as by the texts adopted for their application, as amended and supplemented, indicates this report.
In terms of decision-making output, the preventive control of economic concentrations represented, in volume, the bulk of the deliberative activity of the Competition Council, i.e. more than 98% of all decisions and opinions issued in 2023, specifies the same source.
As for contentious referrals, the Competition Council issued two decisions concerning the hydrocarbons and architects’ fees sectors, the report states.
As part of its advisory missions, the Competition Council issued two opinions on ex officio referrals proposed by the general rapporteur, the report states. The opinions dealt with two important sectors concerning the assessment of the competitive functioning of the insurance and school book markets.
Furthermore, the analysis of the flow of cases processed by the Competition Council during the 2023 financial year shows that the 208 cases closed as part of the work of the various formations of the Competition Council are the result of the stock inherited from previous years in addition to 206 new cases.
He added that the year 2023 was also marked by the judgment of rejection pronounced by the Court of Appeal of Rabat of the request contesting by the National Order of Chartered Accountants the decision of the Competition Council against this professional corporation.
This rejection confirms the decision of the Competition Council No. 80/D/2022 issued on July 28, 2022, imposing a financial penalty on this profession for having adopted and disseminated a directive on the mandatory application of the Budget-Time and Fees standard, setting a minimum average hourly rate, for the calculation of the fees of chartered accountants when carrying out legal or contractual accounting and financial audit missions.
In terms of liquidation of the stock of economic concentration files, the balance sheet at the end of 2023 shows a file liquidation ratio of 91.5%.
As of this date, the remaining applications for authorisation of economic concentration operations still in progress amount to 19 files, including one operation which benefited, upon reasoned request from the parties concerned and following examination of the file, from a derogation from the suspensive effect of the control of economic concentrations, in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of Law No. 104-12 relating to freedom of prices and competition.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of Law No. 20-13 relating to the Competition Council, as amended and supplemented, and Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the implementing decree of Law No. 104-12, as amended and supplemented, the investigation services carried out several investigative acts including hearings, requests for information and market tests.
Specifically for the examination of applications for authorisation of economic concentration operations, more than 200 hearings were held for the purpose of examining said operations and assessing their possible effects on the competitive positioning of the parties as well as on the competitive structure of the relevant markets defined.
These hearings involved the parties to the transactions being investigated, the ministerial departments responsible for supervising the sectors to which the markets concerned relate and the bodies responsible for their regulation, as well as the various private stakeholders in the sectors and industries concerned.
In addition, more than 300 requests for information were drawn up by the investigation services of the Competition Council, either as part of market tests or requests made to administrations or professional representations.
2024-09-04 04:10:29