Interior ministry confirms upcoming digitization of civil status records

Morocco’s Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit announced that the digitization of civil status records is nearly complete in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra and Casablanca-Settat regions and will soon be extended to the rest of the Kingdom.

Responding to a previously written question from the Social Justice group in the House of Councillors, Laftit explained that “the strategy involves inventorying civil status records, scanning them, and storing the data after it has been thoroughly verified.”

The response also noted that after rolling out the digital system in most civil status offices across the Kingdom, the ministry, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccans Abroad, is now working to expand it to civil status offices in Moroccan consulates and diplomatic services overseas, ensuring the system complies with upcoming legal requirements.

Laftit explained that the enforcement of the new Law 21-36, approved by the government council in 2023, was driven by the need for the central authority, created under the law, to issue rulings that would terminate the use of manual systems and paper records.

The minister also emphasized the establishment of a national digital civil status system, which includes key elements like the civil status portal, the information system for managing civil status, the national civil status register, electronic exchange of civil status data, and the civil-social ID number.

For context, Law 21-36 concerning civil status also features the electronic family booklet, which includes references and summaries of the electronic records for both the husband and wife—or wives, as applicable—along with their children and any relevant marginal data. This is prepared through the civil status management information system.

Article 3 of the law stipulates that “electronic civil status records are subject to the relevant legislation regarding electronic transactions.” Article 59 indicates that “the manual system and paper records will be eliminated in civil status offices where the digital system has been implemented, both within the Kingdom and abroad, based on decisions from the central authority.”