Legal status
Electronic bills of lading in Morocco
Morocco has no specific law giving electronic bills of lading or other electronic transferable records the same effect as paper.
- Status
- No framework
- Instrument
- Loi n° 43-20 relative aux services de confiance pour les transactions électroniques (promulgated by Dahir n° 1-20-100 of 31 December 2020)
- MLETR-based
- No
- Enacted
- 31 Dec 2020
- In force since
- —
- Scope
- Law 43-20 is a general trust-services law. It covers electronic signatures, seals, time-stamps, registered electronic delivery and certificates, and it amends the Code of Obligations and Contracts. It has no provisions on electronic transferable records, exclusive control or the transfer of documents of title such as bills of lading.
In more detail
Its general framework is Law 43-20 on trust services for electronic transactions, promulgated on 31 December 2020. Law 43-20 replaced parts of Law 53-05 of 2007 on the electronic exchange of legal data and regulates electronic signatures and related trust services, but not transferability. Morocco is not listed on UNCITRAL's MLETR status page.
What remains unclear
Law 43-20 enters into force on publication of its implementing texts in the Bulletin officiel (Art. 84); Decree No. 2-22-687 of 16 November 2022 was published in the Bulletin officiel of 19 January 2023, but the exact in-force date has not been confirmed. No bill or official reform project on electronic transferable records has been identified. It has not been confirmed whether the maritime commerce code of 1919 or the Code of Obligations and Contracts contains any rule affecting electronic bills of lading.
Sources
- Loi n° 43-20 relative aux services de confiance pour les transactions électroniques (Dahir n° 1-20-100 du 31 décembre 2020)Ministère de la Justice du Royaume du Maroc (Adala portal) · published 18 Mar 2021 · accessed 16 Oct 2026supports: status, instrument, enacted, scope, summary
- Status: UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (2017)UNCITRAL · accessed 16 Oct 2026supports: status, MLETR basis, summary