Companies and institutions in Morocco that have been charging extra fees for online bill payments are set to retract these charges starting next month. This follows meetings with the Competition Council, which had previously affirmed that such fees were unjustified.
The retraction of these fees is expected to save millions of dirhams each month for Moroccans, to encourage more people to use online bill payments, which is in line with the country’s digital transformation goals.
The Competition Council had previously issued a statement in mid-May, taking a firm stance against certain practices employed by various companies across economic sectors when invoicing their customers via online services.
The Competition Council President, Ahmed Rahou, said that the majority of public institutions and private companies have agreed to withdraw the fees they previously imposed on citizens for electronic billing.
Rahou stated, “The General Tax Administration, water and electricity distribution companies, Maroc Telecom, and private schools have all committed to withdrawing the charges associated with electronic transactions.”
He clarified that the process of companies and public institutions refraining from collecting the criticized fees will commence “from next month,” with ongoing negotiations taking place between the concerned entities and banks to finalize the matter.
Rahou highlighted that the council has held discussions with private schools regarding this issue, indicating that some schools have already pledged and committed to retracting the additional fees. However, no resolution has been reached with certain other schools, and a deadline until the beginning of September has been given to them for the withdrawal of these charges.
Rahou disclosed to Hespress that the Competition Council discovered that companies were unjustifiably collecting “millions of dirhams per month” from Moroccan citizens through these practices.
He affirmed that the Competition Council maintains a “priority list” of companies engaged in such practices, consisting of around 20 to 30 entities, and this list is evolving rapidly.
He emphasized that the council will communicate with them to urge the retraction of these fee impositions on consumers.
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