The Competition Council will examine in the next three weeks the legal referral relating to the sensitive fuel market in Morocco. A file eagerly awaited by public opinion which could be explosive, if we are to believe the latest indiscretions around this subject.
After its uncompromising diagnosis of the situation of the drug market in Morocco which revealed the existence of several dysfunctions, the body headed by Driss Guerraoui this time decided to tackle the thorny and burning dossier of hydrocarbons at the heart of an investigation launched in 2016 with the aim of detecting possible anti-competitive practices in the liquid fuels market.
In a briefing note recently made public, the Council thus announced the holding of a “meeting devoted to the examination of the referral registered under number 112 / S / 16 relating to the existence of possible practices anti-competitive in the fuel market ”. This, in application of the provisions of articles 30 and 33 of law 104.12 relating to free prices and competition, specifies the same source.
According to this independent constitutional institution, reactivated by His Majesty King Mohammed VI on November 17, 2018, the date for the meeting devoted to the examination of the referral concerning liquid fuels was set for Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 9 a.m. at its headquarters in Rabat.
The Council, which has a decision-making power as regards the fight against anti-competitive practices and the control of economic concentration operations, as defined in the law relating to free prices and competition, is thus preparing to deliver its verdict after four years of an investigation which wants to be searched. Or as many years after the joint complaint by the National Union of Transport Professionals and the Democratic Labor Confederation (CDT) of possible anti-competitive practices, the day after the price liberalization that took place in December 2015.
The opportunity for public opinion to know a little more about the famous cartel of fuel distributors who would be suspected of unconstitutional practices.
According to certain indiscretions close to the case, 10 fuel operators including Afriquia Gaz, Total, Vivo Energy (Shell) representing 60% of the market share are on the bench.
According to our colleague L’Economiste, these distributors, including those affiliated with the Groupement des petroliers au Maroc (GPM), would be accused of “the existence of a decision of association of companies and concerted practices as well as collection, the exchange and dissemination of sensitive business information ”.
In addition, we learn on the same subject that the professional organization could receive a penalty of 4 million dirhams. If this were to be confirmed, the Council would thus impose the maximum sanction authorized by law.
Regarding the investigation, it should be recalled that it enabled 9 grievances to be established which will give rise to a suspicion of understanding revealing concerted actions and anti-competitive coalitions. This had led the Council to transmit them to the 10 fuel distributors concerned by these accusations.
It should also be noted that this history of fuels was the subject of a parliamentary report in May 2018 which questioned the prices charged on the market. According to the conclusions of this document, the margins earned by distributors had reached 17 billion dirhams more than those collected before liberalization. The parliamentary mission will conclude that consumers have not been the winners of this liberalization.
As he points out in his texts, “the Competition Council is responsible, within the framework of the organization of free and fair competition, for ensuring transparency and fairness in economic relations, in particular through the ‘analysis and regulation of competition in the markets, control of anti-competitive practices, unfair commercial practices and operations of economic concentration and monopoly’.
On its website, we can also read that Law No. 20-13 of June 30, 2014 has broadened and reinforced its powers, giving it broad decision-making, advisory and self-referral powers aimed at improving the competitive functioning of markets.
It should be emphasized that the objective of the Council “is to make free and fair competition a major lever for the creation of wealth, the promotion of employment, the security of supply for the internal market, the protection of the consumer and its purchasing power, the competitiveness of businesses and regions and the attractiveness of the national economy ”.
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