Personal data protection in Morocco

A- Legal framework :

To understand the legal framework governing the protection of personal data in Morocco, we first need to clarify its nomenclature, before briefly presenting its fundamental principles, which guide procedural legal requirements.

Law no. 09-08 defines personal data as "any information of any kind and irrespective of its medium, including sound and image, concerning an identified or identifiable natural person". However, considering that the case in point concerns health data, the law qualifies them as sensitive data, requiring even greater protection.

Processing is defined in the law as any operation or set of operations, whether or not carried out using automated processes and applied to personal data, such as collection, recording and the like.

The controller is the natural or legal person, public authority, department or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of processing personal data.

The legal framework regulating the protection of personal data in Morocco is guided by certain fundamental principles, including the obligation of consent by the data subject, the clarity of the purpose of processing, which must be determined and must not be further processed in a way incompatible with that purpose. These principles are coupled with the obligation of proportionality and the fairness of such processing, implying that the personal data collected is appropriate to the purpose of the processing and that the data subjects are duly informed.

B- Rights and obligations of the persons concerned :

Machine users will have rights relating to the collection of their personal data, which must be protected in order to comply with legal requirements. Inherent

to the first principle mentioned above, users must express their consent freely, by accepting or refusing the collection of their personal information.

These people also have a Right to Information at the time of data collection, meaning that any person whose personal data it is intended to process has the right to be informed in a precise, express and unequivocal manner of the use or storage of data concerning him or her.

They also have a right of access, recognized by article 7 of law n° 09-08. This entitles any person to access information concerning him or her, in order to verify its accuracy. This right is supplemented by the right of rectification, which enables data subjects to request the rectification of inaccurate or incomplete information concerning them.

The law also preserves the right of data subjects to object to direct marketing, enabling anyone whose personal data is processed to object, free of charge, to their data being used for marketing purposes.

This range of user rights is guaranteed by the obligations incumbent on the data controller, who must first of all obtain the express consent of the data subject before processing. The data controller is also required to file prior declarations and authorizations with the CNDP. (See below).

Finally, the person responsible is bound by obligations of confidentiality, security of processing and professional secrecy, implementing all technical and organizational measures to protect personal data, in order to prevent it from being damaged, modified or used by a third party not authorized to access it.

These measures must be reinforced in the case of sensitive data or data relating to health, in accordance with the provisions of article 24.

C- Procedural approach :

Considering that the customer will be collecting health-related data, which the law classifies as sensitive, he is required to file not a prior declaration with the CNDP, but rather a prior authorization for the collection, which can be issued by the CNDP by filling out the form at the following link: https://www.cndp.ma/images/lois/CNDP-Autorisation-Prealable.pdf .

This prior authorization takes into account the delicate nature of sensitive personal data, and enables the CNDP to monitor the protection of personal data and ensure that the data controller complies with the provisions of law no. 09-08.

However, if this data is to be transferred outside Morocco, a transfer request must be made. As a first step, the data controller must ensure that he or she has obtained a receipt of authorization for the data to be transferred, before submitting the transfer request to the CNDP.

Once the receipt has been obtained, the data controller can fill in the CNDP foreign transfer request form on the following link:

https://www.cndp.ma/images/lois/CNDP-Transfert-Etranger.pdf pursuant to articles 43 and 44 of Law 09-08

All personal data collected in this context must be destroyed as soon as the declared or authorized purpose has been achieved.

Our legal and tax team will be happy to provide you with any further information you may require.

Faithfully yours,

Ilham Taha-Bouamri
Independent chartered accountant and tax specialist

Procedure for registering an immovable property

The procedure for registering real estate property is an administrative procedure that allows you to register your property in registers known as "titres fonciers". If your property, whether land or building, has not been registered, the law considers it to be land without a master.

The law on land registration gives as a privilege to the registration of a property, the effect of purge giving rise to the establishment of a land title which cancels all previous titles and/or rights not mentioned therein. The land register therefore acts as the identity of the title.

As mentioned in the definition, the procedure for registering a real estate property involves a series of formalities that must be completed:

 

1-Request deposit
The application for registration may only be filed by the owner or co-owner, the usufructuary, the long leaseholder or holder of a surface right, the beneficiary of land easements with the owner's consent, the creditor who has not paid when due and who may, with a court order, obtain a seizure of the property and apply for registration, and the legal representative of an incapable person or a minor.

The application must be accompanied by any document showing the right of ownership, and sent to the land registry according to the applicant's instructions and in the light of any other topographical document.

After reviewing and approving the application, and paying the land registry fee, the requisition is registered, and a summons is issued to the applicant setting the date and time of the demarcation operations..

 

2-Boundary marking operations
Boundary marking consists of delimiting the property of the person who has made the requisition request. It is carried out by a surveyor-topographer in the presence of the applicant or his representative and the interested parties at the date and time set.

They then draw up a report of their operations, signed by the claimant or his representative and the interested parties, on the date and at the time set. They then plant metal stakes or cement blocks to recognize the property.

 

3- Land surveying and mapping
The surveying operation consists in precisely determining the boundaries, the base and the consistency of the property.

This operation is completed with the drawing up of the final land plan, which is then sent to the land registry, together with the land registry slip.

4- Publication and posting of the boundary closure notice
On receipt of the boundary plan, the registrar publishes a notice of boundary closure in the official bulletin and posts it at the offices of the Court of First Instance, the Local Authority and the Communal Council, where the property concerned is located.

The notice stipulates that for a period of two (02) months from its publication in the official bulletin, objections to the registration will be received at the land registry of the authorities concerned.

5-Opposition to a registration procedure
Opposition to a registration procedure can take place :

- in the event of a dispute over the existence or extent of ownership rights,
- in the event of a dispute over property boundaries,
- in the event of a claim to the exercise of a real right, likely to be registered on the land title to be drawn up.

6-Curator's decision: Registration
Registration is the final step in the process of registering a property.

Having ensured that all the formalities required by law have been completed, that the application is in order, that the documents submitted are sufficient and that no objections have been lodged, the registrar can now register the property and draw up the land title in the owner's name.

Our team is at your disposal to help you carry out these operations.

 

Faithfully yours,

Ilham Taha-Bouamri
Independent chartered accountant and tax specialist

Public holidays in Morocco - Legal provisions

Many foreign investors, company directors and managers are wondering about public holidays in Morocco.

This information note has been drawn up with the latter in mind.

There are 12 public holidays in Morocco, each lasting 24 hours, except for Aïd El fitr and Aïd Al Adha (48 hours).

Please note that the religious holidays of Eid Maoulid and 1st Moharrem are basically 24 hours long (except for public administrations).

In fact, it is only for public administrations that the State provides two public holidays on the occasion of Eid Maoulid. Private companies are not obliged to grant the day after the holiday, in accordance with decree n°2.04.426.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further information.

Best regards,

Faithfully yours,

Ilham Taha-Bouamri
Chartered accountant and tax specialist