The House of Representatives approved two controversial bills on Monday regulating the professions of lawyers and notaries, pushing ahead despite ongoing protests, court disruptions and warnings of further escalation from both professions.
Lawmakers passed Bill No. 66.23 on the legal profession in a second reading with 85 votes in favor and 35 against, rejecting opposition requests to delay the vote and send the draft back to the Justice, Legislation and Human Rights Committee.
The draft law will now return to the House of Councillors for a second reading as it moves through the final stages of the legislative process.
The vote came as hundreds of lawyers continued an open-ended sit-in outside Parliament in Rabat, alongside a nationwide boycott of court hearings and several judicial procedures.
The Association of Moroccan Bar Associations has suspended legal aid services and vowed to intensify its campaign if the law takes effect in its current form.
The association has already warned it could take the dispute to court and seek support from international legal organizations.
Speaking during Monday’s parliamentary debate, Ouahbi welcomed the controversy surrounding the bill. “When a law like this generates so much debate and interest, it pleases me,” he told lawmakers.
The legislation sets the maximum age for sitting the bar exam at 45 while keeping graduates of Sharia faculties eligible to become lawyers.
One of its significant provisions places lawyers’ deposit and payment accounts under the oversight of Morocco’s Supreme Audit Institution, giving it authority to verify the legality of financial and accounting operations, including deposits, withdrawals, transfers, payments, balances, interest and expenses.
Lawmakers also approved two last-minute amendments proposed by Ouahbi.
The first amendment revises Article 77 by removing a provision allowing part of lawyers’ fees to be used to manage deposit accounts and deleting a clause that barred bar associations from making further deductions from settled funds.
The second amendment, approved unanimously, revises Article 131 by removing language that counted both consecutive and non-consecutive terms when determining eligibility to run for a bar council seat.
Lawmakers also approved Bill No. 51.26 regulating the notary profession with the same 85-35 vote after revising the text to comply with a June ruling by the Constitutional Court.
The court had found several provisions of the earlier law unconstitutional, particularly rules governing the number of witnesses required for “lafif” testimony and procedures for receiving contracts from people with hearing or speech disabilities.
Ouahbi said the revised wording makes clear that “lafif” testimony, a traditional form of witness testimony used in Moroccan law, can be received by either a male or a female official, rejecting claims that the law requires both a man and a woman to be present at the same time.
The revised bill introduces changes to multiple articles, including conflict-of-interest rules requiring notaries unable to practice to notify regional councils within 15 days.
It also makes the use of interpreters mandatory when communication with clients who have hearing or speech disabilities is difficult.
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