The Competition Council holds the sixth session of its Plenary Formation
The Competition Council held, via videoconference, the sixth session of its plenary formation, on Thursday, May 14, 2020, organized extraordinarily,
This session was dedicated to the review and adoption of the annual report for the year 2019, which the President of the Council will submit to His Majesty the King, address to the Head of Government, and present to the Chambers of Parliament.
This report, which was adopted unanimously by the members, presents in the first part, the review of the Council’s activities during the year 2019 in terms of reactivating its deliberative bodies, market regulation, sectoral studies, and legal, economic, and competitive monitoring, administrative and financial governance, national and international partnership, and communication.In the second part, the report presents the Council’s Action Plan for the year 2020 and in the third part, the contribution of the Competition Council to the national debate organized by the Special Commission in charge of the New Development Model.
This session also unanimously adopted the draft opinion on the state of competition in the online card payment market, which raises the issue of market access conditions and the pricing of payment services in this market.
In this context, the Competition Council examined a number of recommendations aimed at removing barriers to entry into this market, regulating barriers to its expansion, and ensuring conditions for healthy and fair competition, while providing solutions to the competitive dysfunctions known in the online payments market, through the proposal of a concerted development of a true national strategy for the promotion of e-commerce, involving all sector stakeholders.
Furthermore, the members of the Competition Council discussed the status of the review of pending referrals within the Council. In this regard, they noted the completion of the investigation phase of these referrals and that the investigation reports concerning them are ready to be submitted to the Council’s deliberation body. However, given the current exceptional circumstances, due to the health emergency situation our country is experiencing, the Competition Council considers that the conditions for organizing deliberation sessions respecting legal provisions and the application of procedures provided in current legislation are not met. These sessions will be held as soon as normal and fair conditions are guaranteed, following the end of the health emergency situation.
Opening speech by Mr.Driss Guerraoui, President of the Competition Council during the sixth session of its plenary session
